When a child finds joy and fulfillment in sports, seeking self-improvement becomes a natural desire. It’s crucial to establish a thoughtful system of responses in this journey. Rewards and punishments do serve as fundamental tools that shape which neural pathways are reinforced and which are diminished. Your role as a parent is to foster and nurture the player’s internal drive and passion for the sport.

This innate ability allows them to become completely absorbed in the moment. However, parents sometimes unknowingly can interrupt this state of flow by intruding into their children’s thoughts. It’s important to remember that less is often more in these situations.

Children thrive when they have the freedom to experiment, test ideas, and explore different strategies. This process naturally involves making mistakes, which are crucial for learning. If parents are not accepting of mistakes, it can create doubt, uncertainty, and a fear of disappointment in the child’s mind. How parents react to these mistakes is crucial.

Transferring these skills into a match setting is crucial, and how parents react after the match plays a significant role in shaping the child’s conscious. Your reactions afterward will influence whether the child feels confident or cautious, fearless or fearful, relaxed or tense.  Learn to appreciate what you want to occur again in the future and learn not to react at all in the same way. Less is more, and the player must feel that you like him the same, whether he wins or loses.

If a child is motivated, focused, learns well and is not afraid to take risks during the game. Creative results will come on their own. Sport itself offers a great number of opportunities for personal development and the goal should be not only to build a great player but first and foremost a great person.