October 26, 2009

I was lucky to find two outstanding blogs about parenting in youth sports. One is about the psychology of young athletes, and the other is more focused on finding a place for parents in youth sports. 

Talk about information long overdue!  Where was this stuff for the loons that inhabited the stands in the hockey rinks I grew up playing in?

 

 

youthsportspsychology.com

Dr. Patrick Cohn talks about common human emotions and how they apply to young athletes.  self esteem, confidence, nervousness, stress, etc. Below the outer shell, athletes are very very complex individuals. They compete and throw every ounce of phyical and mental energy into something that is, by and large, trivial when compared to actual life or death struggles. All the while they not only have to satisfy their own inate desires, but also that of coaches, teammates, fans and of course, parents.

 

 

 

youthsportsparents.blogspot.com

Mark Hyman's blog is dedicated to finding a (positive) place for parents in today's youth sports world.  Personally, I think this is where most parents struggle. They want to be involved, but they don't know how to because they lack the proper skillset or knowledge to engage in a positive manner.  So they emotionally throw themselves into the mix and lose their sanity and perspective. The blog is dedicated to giving parent's information on several topics that I had to address while coaching youth hockey,  including energy drinks, drug testing, and concussions.