Do you have strategies in place to help your child succeed in their sport? Do you have a plan to be the best sports parent possible? What are you doing now that helps your child reach their fullest potential?

As President of The International Mental Game Coaching Association, one of my goals is to spread the concepts of mental toughness and self-coaching throughout the world. I want children to become more self-reliant, have higher self-esteem, make better decisions, learn better judgment, manage their stress, engage the zone in performance and achieve to their full potential. As their parent, you are an integral part of this success path.

Here are some sports parenting success strategies you can use to help your child.

1. Create a supportive, organized environment the day of competitions.

2. Help them get enough practice before games to make their performance automatic and confident.

3. Manage their schedule so they have balance between sports, school and social activities.

4. Reduce their overall life stress so they can be refreshed and relaxed going into practices and games.

5. Help them create and maintain realistic expectations about their sport.

6. Be a great listener and be empathic when they need to share strong emotions, especially after a loss.

7. Get to know their coaches, and understand their coaching styles, systems and expectations, and help your child work within these.

8. Make sports participation fun and stress learning and life lessons.

9. Allow your child to make as many of their own sports decisions as possible, and to learn from those decisions. Don’t shield them from the reality of their behaviors. Allow natural consequences to teach them about the world.

10. View sports as a life-long learning process, one that you and your child can share.

So there you have it, the top 10 success strategies sports parents can use to make their kids experiences in sport excellent.

To read our companion article, The Fears Kids Have In Sport: How Parents Can Help Their Child Succeed In Sports
By Identifying And Processing Their Child’s Mental
And Emotional Concerns, go here:

http://www.mentalgamecoaching.com/IMGCAArticles/ParentsAndSports/KidsFearsInSport.html

For a comprehensive overview of your child’s mental abilities you need an assessment instrument that identifies their complete mental strengths and weaknesses. For a free, easy-to-take sports psychology assessment tool, visit:
http://www.mentalgamecoach.com/Assessments/MentalGameOfSports.html



We also offer extensive resources with which to improve your child’s entire mental game.

Bill Cole, MS, MA
http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/top-ten-sports-parenting-success-strategies-to-help-maximize-your-childs-sports-experience-87530.html