A strategy to help kids excel-By Dr. Patrick Cohn

A sports parent tells us her son really shines on the field
during practice. "He's way beyond all the other boys in terms of
technical and tactical skills during practice."

However, here's the "But." And it's a big one.

During a game, she says, you wouldn't know her son excels in
practice.

Does this sound familiar? Do your sports kids have trouble
transferring skills from practice to games? Read on to learn how
sports parents and coaches can conquer this challenge.

During a game, this parent says, her son plays with no
confidence. "He says he is afraid of losing the ball. He wouldn't
lose the ball if he applied his skills."

This sports parent put her finger right on a common problem: Fear
and lack of trust. That's often what holds kids back during
games. In fact, young athletes who are highly motivated and
--sometimes perfectionists-- experience this challenge.

These athletes love to train, but lack confidence during games.
They tend to analyze and question their technique at precisely
the wrong moment—when they're competing. They're afraid of making
mistakes.

In order to feel confident during games, young athletes need to
strike a balance between what we call the "practice" mindset and
the "performance" mindset.

Many motivated or goal-oriented athletes excel in practice. They
like to improve and love to train.. However, if they focus too
much on improving, they may lose faith in their skills during
competition. They lack trust in what they have learned.

Coaches and sports parents can undermine kids' trust in their
skills when they over-coach kids before games. When kids focus
too much on proper technique during games and attempt to be
"perfect" when performing, they can't react or perform from
memory.

Instead, you need to encourage kids to leave practice on the
field or court or in the gym. Help them switch to a "performer"
or "intuitive" mindset. They need to be more reactive and to keep
things simple. "See the ball and hit it."

Also, tell them to stop analyzing or judging their technique
during competition. They should accept that they can't be perfect.

Want to learn more about how to improve kids' confidence and
transfer what they've learned in practice to competition? Grab
our Kids' Sports Psychology e-book, "Twelve Pre-game Strategies
to Help Athletes Trust in Their Skills."

If you're already an exclusive Kids' Sports Psychology member,
you can download the e-book now. We also have other mental
toughness resources about this topic, including:

*Success stories from Kids' Sports Psychology Members

*Pre-competition Mental Game Review Sheets for Young Athletes

*Interviews with young athletes and our analysis of their mental
game ("Inside the Minds of Young Athletes")

This is just for starters. At Kids' Sports Psychology, you can
download loads of other resources--e-books, audios, videos and
articles designed to help instill confidence and success in young
athletes:

http://www.kidssportspsychology.com/

Your Confidence Coaches,

Patrick Cohn, Ph.D. and Lisa Cohn

P.S. If you're already a Kids' Sports Psychology member, you can
visit this page to download our e-book, "Twelve Pre-game
Strategies to Help Athletes Trust in Their Skills:

http://www.kidssportspsychology.com/public/449.cfm