Youth-Athlete's Sport Blog

The best athletes can have slumps, underachieve, and fail if they focus on the wrong success factors.  During these times of poor performance they are unable to let go of setbacks, errors, and mental mistakes that can be compounded by lack of self-confidence, fear of failure, unrealistic expectations.  As an athlete, leaving the mental side of performance to chance make you more susceptible to performance problems.  As a coach, a working knowledge of mental and sports psychology skills will help you develop athletes with more self-confidence, motivation, and experience peak performance.  Finally, as a parent, the principals of sport psychology, can help you encourage your child to reach their peak performance and develop mental toughness that enhances their self-esteem to achieve greatness, not only in their sport, but also in the bigger picture of life.  More...

This is the fourth and final post on the SPARQ rating and training system.  The previous post answer the questions: what is SPARQ training, why an athlete should care about the rating system , and what it tests?  In this post, I will insights into the commitment required for the training to be successful and a few results of athletes that have gone through the program. More...

SPARQ (an acronym for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness) tests an athlete's overall athleticism.   The follow up training is to help athletes improve in all of those areas through dynamic training. More...

In modern day sports, we keep track of every stat, no matter how small.  But until the SPARQ training and rating system was created in 2004, there was never a way to measure a main component in a competitive athlete's success ... their pure athletic ability.  The goal of the SPARQ system is to boil down a player's athleticism into one number that represents the player’s overall athletic skill—pinpointing what areas he or she is good at, and which areas they need to improve. More...

Nike is making a push in the athletic training equipment business with the 2008 winter launch of their SPARQ training equipment line.  The initial product launch featured San Diego Charger running back Ladainian Tomlinson hosting a press conference about "his better."  If you watched any sporting event during the March to June 2008 timeframe, you will recognize the commercial.  But all this hype begs the questions: what is SPARQ training, why should you care, and what does it test?  Let's dig in and see if we can find some answers.  More...

On Saturday April 26, 2008 in the Div 2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball finals between Western Oregon and Central Washington, Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace demonstrate an incredible act of sportsmanship after Sara Tucholsky hit a home run and is injured rounding first base.  What did Mallory and Liz do?  They carried the opponents outfielder around the bases, making sure Sara touched them all, for what eventually turned out to be the winning run.  Although Central Washington lost the game 4-2, Mallory and Liz act of kindness demonstrated sportsmanship that will be used as an example by parents and coaches for years to come.  More...

This story about golf balls in a jar highlights the fact that there are very few life priorities, but a lot of activities that can distract you from those things that are important things. More...

Over the past seven years of coaching, I do not believe I have seen anything more devastating to a team or player's ability than lack of belief in one's ability.  Individuals can move mountains and a player can carry a team through a tough game, if they believe they can do it.  Teams that are the bottom of the standings can competitively play the top ranked team, if they believe. It is mind or physical matter.   When a team is playing in an age or grade appropriate league or tournament, the difference between two teams is much less the physical difference than the mental difference.  Competitive sports is 10% physical and 90% mental.  More...

A good sport's season experience for your child begins with you: the youth athlete's parent. It is up to each of you to make being a youth athlete enjoyable, and to make the season a greater learning experience for your child.  No matter how much you enjoy it, this is for your child.

I would like to share my top 7 thoughts on how to make this a better learning experience for your child and you. These ideas will help to make the next season more fun for your child, more enjoyable for you, and easier on those people who volunteer their time and skills. More...

Let us be clear:  coaching pre-teen youth sports is different than coaching teen recreational and teen competitive youth sports.  The goal of coaching pre-teen sports team is about player development and having fun, the top priority is not about winning.  Too many times I have seen coaches of pre-teen sports teams either play to win at all costs or coach the team around their child.  When this happens some youth players sit out games, loose their interest, and never re-consider rejoining the sport at a later date.

Considerations for coaching pre-teens

Your biggest concerns when coaching kids at the lower levels (pre-teen) should be: More...