What's Ahead
Parents:
   Managing Your Child’s Development
Coaches:
   Setting Goals
Players:
   Identifying Your Special Talent

Maine Youth Sports
www.maineyouthsports.com
P.O. Box 442
Cumberland, ME 04021
inquiry@maineyouthsports.com
(207) 415-6321

Please feel free to forward this issue to friends and associates. Anyone can subscribe for free:
Just click on the email link below, and make sure you add your first name. You will receive a return email verifying your subscription.

To unsubscribe from this list:
please send an email to: unsubsribe@maineyouthsports.com.

www.maineyouthsports.com

Helping from the Sidelines

Parents are comfortable giving instructions to their child and this comfort naturally spills over into athletic competitions. However, when it comes to game time instruction, coaches, league staff, officials and sports psychologists all have one word of advice - DON’T!

Although it seems like a good idea to yell “pass” or “hustle” from the sidelines, studies show that these instructions cause more distraction than help. These instructions interfere with coach-to-player and player-to-player communications and, more importantly, interfere with children’s ability to learn to think for themselves.

Kids are going to make mistakes while playing sports. But professional athletes do too. Michael Jordan missed three times as many game winning shots as he made and Joe Montana completed only about half of his pass attempts. Kids still learning their sport aren’t going to perform any better and there are many more games ahead in which to improve.

So what can parents do along the sidelines? The answer is cheering and not much else. Parents must let their kids play the game for themselves and develop their own experiences working with peers and coaches. If children make mistakes, learning to deal with those mistakes with their teammates and coaches is just part of the process of growing into an better adult.

Practice Fun

For many youth level coaches, practice time is a precious opportunity to get players ready for the next game. For the younger beginning players, practice is an opportunity to spend time with friends and doing what they like doing. These are not the same goals. To get the most out of their players, coaches have to structure a practice that reaches a compromise between these different goals.

A little fun at the beginning and end of a practice can help kids perform their best when working on stamina or quickness drills in the middle. Coaches should consider turning some drills into quick competitions among groups of players to help build team chemistry and fun, such as relay races instead of simply running or skating.

Dave Tippett, head coach for the Dallas Stars, believes that the best practice from a child’s point of view is a scrimmage. “Kids want to play. I do the same thing with the Dallas Stars. At the end of a practice, I’ll drop two pucks in the middle of the ice and just let them play.”

Fun is important at all ages and getting the most from players involves using their personal motivations to accomplish the team goals. Practice fun goes a long way to building a winning team and makes participation more enjoyable for everyone. Defining your season plans, as well as individual practice plans, is essential to accomplishing the teachings of fundamentals, and making it "fun" for the player.

Is Your Stomach Ready for the Game?

A player’s stomach can be a big factor going into a game or practice. What players put in their stomachs hours before a game can make a big difference in game time energy and performance. If, during a game, players find themselves:

• Feeling sluggish
• Experiencing muscle cramps
• Getting nauseous
• Feeling lightheaded
• Running out of energy
• Playing at a lower level than previous games

Then, eating the right types of foods and at the right times may be factors. It takes time for the human body to convert food into energy, so a quick snack just before a game will have little impact. However, a healthy meal, eaten several hours before, may have a large impact on performance. Players should:

• Eat a healthy meal 3-6 hours before a game.
• Eat a light snack 1-2 hours before a game.
• Drink plenty of water.

Players should avoid:

• Foods or drinks with high sugar or caffeine content to avoid the energy highs and lows that follow.
• Greasy or starchy foods (most fast food).
• Foods or drinks that can make you nauseous such as citrus drinks or milk.

A little “stomach planning” before a game can have a big impact at the game. When a player is in the car on the way to a competition, it is just too late to prepare the body with the energy it will require.

What are you thinking about when you shoot the ball, or throw a pitch? Are you thinking about the shot or are you thinking about the person watching?

It is not always a confidence issue. Oftentimes you have the skills and normally can make the shot or throw that slider with ease. However, if you fill your mind with thoughts of trying to impress someone, or failing in front of a crowd, these thoughts will cloud your mind and affect your performance. Instead of trying to make the shot, you may be trying to avoid missing the shot, which can affect your rhythym and timing.

You may be trying too hard instead of letting those hours of practice do the talking. You may be too concerned about the outcome - whether you make the shot or miss it will affect your confidence level and the way you play if you let the outcome control you. Instead of worrying about the shot, take the shot with confidence.

Two Suggestions:

• The first is that he has to stop thinking about the consequences of a good or a bad shot (and who might be watching). This means focusing on the task and the ingredients of a good shot.
• The second adjustment to make is to regain your natural timing and shoot with freedom. Simply, you need to try less and trust your natural ability. This means look at the target and shoot without trying to make a perfect shot or avoid a bad one. React to the target and trust it will go down.

Appraisals & Market Value - Q & A Q: How is a home's value determined? A: You have several ways to determine the value of a home. An appraisal is a professional estimate of a property's market value, based on recent sales of comparable properties, location, square footage and construction quality. This service varies in cost depending on the price of the home. On average, an appraisal costs about $300 for a $250,000 house. A comparative market analysis is an informal estimate of market value performed by a real estate agent based on similar sales and property attributes. Most agents offer free analyses in the hopes of winning your business. You also can get a comparable sales report for a fee from private companies that specialize in real estate data. You also can find comparable sales information available on various real estate Internet sites.

ATTENTION: You are receiving this newsletter because you have expressed an interest in maintaining and improving the quality of youth sports, or are currently affiliated with Maine Youth Sports, through your childs club or league.

If you'd like to remove yourself from this mailing list, please send an email to: unsubsribe@maineyouthsports.com.

Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy.