The Power of the Mind in Youth Sports
Many youth players don’t realize how the power of their minds can benefit them when it comes to sports. Obviously, if the mind is focused, a player can achieve much more than when it isn’t. Any player with ‘athletic ADD’ is going to have problems whether they are trying to hit a baseball/softball with a bat, catch a football, or score a goal in hockey, basketball, soccer or lacrosse. Please note that I’m not referring to kids who have ADD, but kids who don’t focus when they’re playing sports.
As many East Indian gurus have told us there is a monkey in the back of the mind that is always trying to distract us. A player must focus and refocus to stay in the present and prevent emotions from taking hold.
It is also true that both winning and losing can be mindsets. To transition from a losing mindset to a winning mindset, the whole team has to be focused on every play. It requires steadfast alignment of the collective thinking of the team that they can win. They must stay focused throughout the game and think about the outcome after the game is over. If players are focused on the outcome then they aren’t in the moment.
We’ve all seen teams with big leads lose games and that happens because the players aren’t thinking in the present. This is true for all actions in life and it’s certainly easier said than done, but coaches and captains need to be aware of the power of the mind.
