Understanding your role when training young athletes
Far too often, I see coaches and trainers treating young athletes like older and more mature athletes. It has been talked about a lot recently that being too overbearing and “pushy” with young athletes leads to drop out! I have seen this a lot!
Some issues far to often overlooked are coaches and trainers not being totally aware of the developmental stages of young kids. They do not fully understanding the youth brain and attention levels and how being too verbally aggressive can repress young kids desire to put themselves out there.
I truly believe no coach or trainer purposely try’s to “beat down” a young athlete mentally, but because they may have been treated that way themselves and feel they should do it as well.
The best advice I can give any coach or trainer is to remember back to when you were a youngster and how you handled life. There are so many other things important to our youth. Sports or training is just a blip on their mental screen. I am not saying they shouldn’t be focused and work hard. I’m simply stating don’t make the mistake of pushing so hard that is is no longer fun for them.
Training too much and too hard is a great way to have great potential simply be a story about what could have been versus what is.