12 FUNdamental Principles for Building Young and Healthy Athletes

A Coaches Dozen: 12 FUNdamental Principles for Building Young and Healthy Athletes

Avery D. Faigenbaum, Ed.D. Larry Meadors, Ph.D. Strongkid.com
The College of New Jersey Sports Spectrum Training
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Under the guidance of a qualified youth coach, young athletes can learn the technical and tactical skills of a sport, gain confidence in their physical abilities, develop leadership qualities, and work towards a common goal. Furthermore, youth coaches who model appropriate behaviors and develop a coaching philosophy that is consistent with the physical and psychosocial uniqueness of young athletes are able to teach positive lifelong lessons to young people they inspire. But how much confidence should parents have in a youth coach who has no basic understanding of pediatric exercise science or believed that young athletes are simply miniature adults?

Principles for Mental Training

USOC Sport Psychology’s “TOP TEN” Guiding Principles for Mental Training
By Sean McCann, Ph.D. USOC Sport Psychologist
OLYMPIC COACH VOLUME 19 NUMBER 3
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1. MENTAL TRAINING CAN’T REPLACE PHYSICAL TRAINING AND TALENT.

We haven’t seen any Olympic Athlete who succeeded without doing the physical and technical work, even though we have worked with some of the most mentally talented athletes in the world. The reality is that even an exceptionally talented athlete who has not prepared well physically loses confidence and is vulnerable in competition. The best and easiest confidence is that which comes from the knowledge that you are as prepared, or more prepared, than your competitors, and that you are physically capable of a winning performance.