This article from Proactive Coaching is an excerpt from the booklet Youth Coaching, Four Keys to Successful Season. It identifies the five factors besides ability that cause young athletes to lose their natural love of playing a game: consistent defeats, negative coaching, mental or physical tiredness, making the game too complex, and outside pressure.
Introduction
This article is an excerpt from the Proactive Coaching booklet, Youth Coaching, Four Keys to Successful Season available on our site.
One of the realities of sports is that everyone who plays eventually reaches a level where they do not have the physical ability to compete. Even the pros eventually get to an age or level where their skills do not allow them to continue. But when working with young athletes we have found that there are five things that cause them to lose their natural love of playing a game besides ability.
1. Consistent Defeats
The best coaches have learned how to create victories in practice allowing young athletes to experience success. Small successes lead to more aggressive, confident, fearless athletes.