Silicon Valley Eagles Blog

Like it or not, sports come with pressure. There will come a time when your young athlete gets the ball with the clock winding down or steps up with the bases loaded. When that happens, mental toughness often determines whether or not they’ll succeed. Even though you can’t be on the field or the court with your young athlete during these situations, there’s plenty you can do to help beforehand. Here are five methods to get you started.

1. Call Your Young Athlete a Competitor

“There goes our little winner” or “Here comes Johnny, our star goalie.” How do you introduce and describe your kid?

Be careful about using descriptors that emphasize only part of their identity. They are not always winners, and they certainly don’t always lose. A parent of an athlete I know once introduced her as “perfect little Sara.” That’s tough to live up to.

Go climb a tree!

No, seriously, it’s good for young brains to climb trees, jump on rocks, balance on a log and many other outdoor activities. Known as proprioceptive tasks, when kids do movements that force them to be aware of their body’s position in space, it forces their brain to multitask and rely on working memory. 

According to a new study out of the University of North Florida (UNF), the improvements to working memory capacity are impressive, beating out more static activities like yoga or sitting in class.

Relationships with coaches can be tricky to navigate, but the key to any solid player-coach relationship can be answered with a simple question:

Does your coach trust you?

There are three simple habits that players (with the help of their parents) can develop that will build trust and immediately strengthen any relationship with any coach.

No matter your sport or age, anyone who’s ever played has felt those pre-game “butterflies” in their stomach. Some of us also get the sweats even before we set foot on the field or in the arena. And in the extreme, you might feel your heart pump so rapidly, you think you’re about to faint.

Although they feel nowhere near normal, these symptoms are actually common to anxiety, clinically known as Cognitive Mental State Anxiety. Other symptoms can include negative thoughts, feelings of apprehension and nervousness. Another form of anxiety is known as Somatic Physical Anxiety, which describes the characteristics you are born with (for example, if you have the habit of vomiting before a big game).

Both types of pre-game anxiety can be overcome, but you must keep in mind that what works for one athlete may not work for another. Therefore, overcoming anxiety requires a wide range of tactics.

Each week in the world’s top soccer leagues, injuries take an expensive toll. Millions of dollars of talent left on the substitutes bench or back in the training room, risking their team’s place in the standings.

In the past, injuries were an accepted part of the game, but new training and prevention techniques and tools have emerged that allow coaches and players to monitor their training load and proactively predict risk factors to avoid downtime.

In the top European leagues, as well as many elite youth leagues, players can play between an average of 1.5 to 2 games per week for a 10-11 month season. Factor in multiple training sessions, travel and the ongoing stress of competition and the likelihood of injuries and missed games increase. Previous research has shown that the most likely predictor of future injuries is a history of a similar injury.