Motivating Kids In Sport

The long hours, countless sacrifices and dedication to intense training has paid off – your athletes have finally secured that elusive championship. As much as you try to avoid it, almost immediately talk turns to securing back-to-back titles.

Chasing a title keeps athletes hungry and focused. But when a team becomes champion the chase is over, and suddenly it is now being chased. That can make the season following a championship very stressful for athletes and coaches alike. And, as a result, title-winning teams find it very hard to regain anything resembling championship form.

To you and to the many coaches who have sought my advice after winning a title, I offer these informed suggestions.

In this short blog Leeds Beckett University's and world-renown coaching science expert Andy Abraham makes the case for the need to, without making it complicated, embracing the complexity inherent in coaching young children. Thankfully he also gives us key principles that when observed will make it much more likely that kids both have a great time and learn lots.

Have you ever been frustrated, disappointed, or puzzled by your athletes’ behavior? Of course, happens all the time, right? We all experience those moments when we witness one of our athlete’s making a poor decision, showing lack of focus, or just plain acting out of character.

Winter is Coming! Keep warm with a great read by the fireplace! The iCK Team have created a Practical Summary of the comprehensive Coaching Children Literature Review and The iCK Pledge to provide clear and pragmatic advice to coaches on the ground. 

This literature review is a central piece of iCK. It has provided the necessary evidence to aid the development of a European Coaching Children Curriculum to guide those developing training opportunities for coaches of children and young people in the European Union and beyond. The literature review and the ECCC are also informing the development of three Massive Open Online Courses during 2018 and 2019 that will be the final outputs of the project.

The all too familiar sights (above) at the side of a kid’s sports competition, and the sounds to match.  As an interested observer and listener I find it really interesting to watch and listen to these coaches, and I do wonder…which of the instructions, if any, do the players hear or process?...have the kids been supported and prepared for the situation they’re in, if so much instruction is needed?... and is the communication from the ‘side-lines’ helping the kids develop their decision making ability for the longer term?

Athletes perform best when they learn how to effectively handle competitive pressure. This is most evident in defining moments of important competitions when the consequences of mistakes are highest. Failure in these moments can often be traced to a lack of confidence, resulting in poor decision-making.

Kris Van der Haegen, Director of Coach Education for the Royal Belgian Football Association and a visionary for the development of young footballers, encourage us in this brave blog to stop thinking of football as adults, take our grown-up glasses off and see the game for what it looks like and means to 5 and 6 year olds: a fun game! The Belgian FA has done this and thus changed the competition format for U6 to 2v2, yes 2v2!! Learn the full story here!

We now live in an age where it is common to see young athletes being pushed to play a single sport year-round. Why does early specialization persist despite all the scientific evidence and position statements by leading sport organizations to the contrary?

Dr Wade Gilbert explores this more here.

What makes for a good teammate...? And what can coaches do to help their athletes become one? In his first blog for iCoachKids, Dr Wade Gilbert offers a ton of tips and advice to help coaches create good teammates. Are your ready to take the CREDIT?

What does creativity mean for coaching? Nigel Hetherington tries to convince us in his new blog that We Are Not In Kansas Anymore! Are you ready to follow the yellow brick road? 

Parents are the biggest resource available to coaches. Yet, they can also become a 'bone of contention' in your daily practice. In this blog Spanish acclaimed author, coach and sport psychologist Chema Buceta explains the motivations behind parents behaviours and encourages coaches and clubs to take responsibility to support and educate them. Priceless!

This factsheet is one of a series, produced by sports coach UK and the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF), aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching them in the future. Each factsheet provides insight into the female athlete and her needs, and guidance as to how better to coach and support her.

This PCA 1-on-1 interview features Paul Tough (@paultough) the author of Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why. His previous book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, was translated into 27 languages and spent more than a year on The New York Times hardcover and paperback best-seller lists.

In this podcast, Tough discusses two different "toolboxes" that help children succeed: the connection toolbox and the challenge toolbox.

Mistakes happen. Children, coaches and parents get upset. In this blog, coach and youth sport researcher Sergio Lara-Bercial opens his heart and soul to us to reveal his own struggles with keeping emotions in check and the strategy he has developed to get better at it.

Professor Jim McKenna, Head of the Health and Active Lifestyles Research Centre at Leeds Beckett University (England) discusses the challenges coaches face to support the drive to increase participation and retention in youth sport: Can we deliver the sport experience kids want, not the one we think they need? And is the coaching workforce ready for that?

In this blog USA-based Changing the Game Project founder John O'Sullivan analyses the current picture of youth sport and takes us back to basics. He argues that if we keep our focus on what draws kids towards sport in the first place - enjoyment - we cannot stray too far from the right path. Wise words.

The amazing gold medal winning performances in the recent Olympic Games at Rio brought to mind a topic that coaches and athletes think and dream a lot about but rarely really understand: Winning it all. And fewer still know how to prepare to do it.

Dr. Wade Gilbert discusses this more here.