Tip Of The Week – September Recap

 Coach Monika says… Week 1: Here is an interesting study: According to sports psychologist Travis Dorsch, greater parental spending on athletics is associated with lower levels of athlete enjoyment and motivation in children. 'When parental sports spending goes up, it increases the likelihood either that the child will feel pressure or that the parent will exert it.' Week 2: Given that the drop-out rate in sports is estimated 73% by the age of 12-13 years an excellent resource for coaches and parents is “Stress and the Young Athlete: The Child's Perspective (1993) by Daniel Gould, Charles Gene Wilson, Suzan Tuffey, and Marc Lochbaum (www.humankinetics.com/). Week 3: So, what is stress? When an imbalance between resources and capabilities is perceived young athletes may respond with increased feeling of apprehension, nervousness, tension, fear of failure, or fear of success (pressure to repeat successful performance. Week 4: Personal characteristics such as a high competitive trait anxiety, low self- esteem, lower levels of fun or satisfaction, low personal performance expectancies, and worries about adult evaluation, and peer image.