subject: Tips For Properly Motivating Youth Sports Athletes [print this page] One of the most important tasks given to a youth sports coach is making sure that each player on the team stays highly motivated so that they can grow in their skills and abilities. This can be quite a challenge depending on the particular age group of children you have on your team and what their personalities are like. It is important to keep in mind that motivation will come in many different forms, and successful motivation will be different for each child, as each player on the team will have their own unique personality.
There are a lot of different things you can do to motivate youth sports athletes on your team. One of the best things you can do to keep kids motivated is to personally invest some time into each one of the kids on your team. Young people like to feel cared for and as if they are important. Taking some time during each practice to work a few minutes with each child will demonstrate to them that you care about their success and that you are personally invested in seeing them improve. You need to make sure that while you are having this one on one time that you encourage the kids as much as possible. Help build up their confidence as you are teaching them new skills or helping them hone the basics. This speaks volumes to the children, as they will perceive that you truly do believe in them and their success.
Another important tip to keep in mind when motivating youth sports players is your own personal attitude. You need to make sure that you have a positive attitude going into each practice as well as before and after each game that is played. Whether you win or lose you need to be encouraging, even if you need to point out areas where the team did not play at its best. By being positive and enthusiastic, you will spread that attitude to the children and help make the environment pleasant so that they actually enjoy coming to practice and going to games.
You might also consider making yourself available to kids on your youth sports teams should they have concerns or questions. If the kids are aware of an area of weakness in their playing ability, you want them to feel comfortable enough to come up to you and ask you for help, knowing that you care about their success. This builds trust and helps to continue motivating them to practice harder and do better.
