Balance is critical to a youth athlete’s success. And we don’t mean just the kind of balance that keeps you upright during competition!
We mean balance between sports, school, family, friends and other activities. Fortunately, balance away from sports actually will improve balance (and other aspects of performance) during competition.
Why? Because a well-rounded life away from sports frees a youth athlete’s mind when it is time to perform. Which scenario do you think leads to better performance?
- An athlete arrives at a competition physically tired from training, mentally distracted by loose ends in other areas of his/her life and emotionally drained from a singular focus on sport.
- An athlete hits the field mentally comfortable that other aspects of life are in order, and emotionally committed to the moment of competition, already gratified and enriched from interests outside of sports.
We think Responsible Coaches and Sports Parents would agree that the second scenario leads to greater success. But these scenarios only consider how life-balance affects an athlete’s competitive ability, and Responsible Coaches and Sports Parents understand there is more at stake for youth athletes than just competitive results.
The life lessons available through sports are of much greater value to youth athletes who actually have a life outside of sports. Just as athletes apply to the rest of their lives the lessons of determination, teamwork and overcoming adversity they learn from sports, they also can bring to their sports similar lessons learned from their outside lives.
So, how can you help create an environment where players gain those benefits? An important step is to keep sport in perspective and realize it is not the be all and end all of a child’s life. It also helps to be part of a school or organization whose printed, displayed and distributed mission statement commits to education, character-development and other aspects of a well-rounded youth sports experience.
Coaches can deliver on that mission statement by taking care to ask their players about topics other than sports. That lets the athletes know the coach cares for them beyond their ability to contribute to wins. It also helps players see more clearly how excellence in sports translates into excellence in other aspects of life and vice versa. Coaches can reinforce this notion by discussing with players the numerous examples of athletes who also achieve outside of sports.
The environment and specific coaching techniques described here still have coaches and players striving for competitive excellence. But emphasizing more than just scoreboard results can reduce the pressure on players to train at the expense of healthy doses of school, family, friends, relaxation, entertainment and cultivation of other interests.
In the context of such balance, Responsible Coaches and Sports Parents can create activities that eventually feed back into the pursuit of scoreboard results. For example, you might assign players an academic exercise, such as writing an essay on something of importance to them outside of sports; sharing those essays can help teammates discover new bonds. A group outing to the mall, the movies, meals, museums – anywhere away from the field – can be an outstanding team-building exercise.
Letting players choose the activity likely will get them to take more ownership and thus get more out of the activity. If the activity is a fundraiser or collection drive for a local food bank that also may deepen players’ commitment, the opportunity for life lessons and, of course, would deliver a benefit to others in your community.
That shared experience, and whatever your athletes learn about each other and the outside world, can then be re-introduced back at practice. Helping your athletes get to know each other as people will make it more likely they urge each other on in practice, which can contribute to a better team performance. In short, your players will benefit from the Responsible Sports ideal of a Full “Emotional Tank.”
When that happens, your program’s reputation for excellence, especially while encouraging a balanced life, may attract like-minded folks who reinforce the values you are trying to cultivate and help establish an even tighter bond among players. As that success feeds on itself, your efforts to have athletes focus on things other than scoreboard results actually may improve those results.
