Eight guidelines for sports parents to follow
Here are 8 simple tips for sports parents:

1.Sports should be just a game. Treat sports as a game-its not a business. With all the money in professional sports today, it hard for parents to understand that its just a game to young athletes.

2.Your agenda is not your childs. Young athletes play sports for many reasons. They like the competition, social aspect, being part of a group, and enjoying the challenge. You might have a different agenda than your child.

3.Emphasize process not results. We live in a society that focuses on results and winning, but these come from working the process. Teach your child to focus on the process and the challenge of one play at a time.

4.Model composure & poise. When on the sidelines, your child may pick up on your behavior as well as the coachs behavior. You become a role model in how you react to a close game or a bad call.

5.Refrain from game-time coaching. During games, it time to just let them play. This is the time that athletes have to trust all the training they have done and just play. Just do it as the saying goes. Too much coaching can lead to mistakes and cautious play.

6.Detach self-esteem from achievement. To many athletes I work with attach their self-worth to their level of performance. Help your athlete understand that they are a person FIRST who happens to play sport instead an athlete who happens to be a person. Success in sport should not be the determinate of self-esteem.

7.Ask the right questions. Asking the right questions after competition and games will tell you child what you think is important in sports. If you ask: Did you win? your child will thinking winning is important. If you ask: Did you have fun? she will assume having fun is important.

8.Pledge: P.A.Y.S. Parents Code of Ethics. PAYS (Parents Association for Youth Sports) provides a parental handbook and code of ethics that adults must sign before each season. This is a great tool to guide parents in their interaction with young athletes.

The Imperfections of Perfectionism: 2Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

This months newsletter gives perfectionists tips for playing with greater confidence.
Many perfectionists I work with get stuck in a so-called practice or training mindset and find is difficult to develop game self-confidence. They are more comfortable in practice than in competition. When performing, expectations are so high that they become easily frustrated and cant have fun. This months newsletter gives perfectionists tips for playing with greater confidence.

1. Dont expect so much. High expectations can make your feel like a failure no matter what you do. Its just not realistic to expect to throw a no-hitter every game. High expectations make you judge your performance all the time. If you dont reach your expectations, you view your effort as a failure. Setting attainable goals for practice and what you want to accomplish in your sport is a better option.

2. Emphasize fun, not being perfect. You are probably very hard on yourself in practice. The tension and frustration you experience partially results from an overemphasis on trying to be perfect. Try to have fun with practice. Enjoy the time you spend practicing.

3. Dont dwell on shortcomings. If you are a perfectionist, you spend a lot of time dwelling on the mistakes your make and weaknesses. This is unhealthy for your self-confidence and doesnt let you enjoy golf. You are not a failure; you just choose to think more about your faults. You have to make the choice to think about what you did well in practice today and remember the good plays instead of replaying the bad ones repeatedly.

4. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Perfectionists think that anything less than a flawless practice is a failure. You have to accept that you are human and you will have bad days just like everyone else. Sometimes it helps to give yourself permission to make mistakes. Youre not perfect and even the best players in the world make mistakes. Allow yourself the flexibility to hit four or five poor shots a day.

5. Play or Compete as much as your practice. You dont want to get too comfortable with practice and not have the confidence when you play your sport. Try to compete at least as much as you practice your sport. For every four hours of practice, try to get involved in a competition or scrimmage. You want to have the confidence that you can perform in competition, not just in practice.

About the Author

Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is a leading mental game coach who consults with professional and amatuer athletes. He is the author of Going Low, Peak Performance Golf, The Mental Game of Golf and The Mental Art of Putting. For more information call (888) 742-7225. Or sign up for free mental game tips newsletter at: www.peaksports.com.