Goal Setting In Sports

Kids play sports for fun and to get in shape. One day, they become competitive and want to win and become the best. When this happens, you have to find positive ways to encourage their drive. Goals and goal setting are the best ways to do so. Getting better can mean so many things. Goals start with putting the work in.

I think the physical goals are the easiest to think about. Kids always want to be bigger, faster and stronger, but how do we help them achieve that as parents. There are personal trainers that specialize on 1 on 1 and even group workouts. There are sport specific camps run by former athletes, colleges and pros. There are also gym memberships and personal trainers you can use there as well. What will the goal be though? The younger the kid, the easier the goal. A commitment to training and going could be the goal or for older athletes, a particular time, pace or physical test they need to pass like a 5-minute mile.

Mentally, kids often miss the idea of studying the sport they want to become better in. Your child can always take time to break down old film of sports or watch classic games to understand the theory and strategy of sports. They can learn pre snap coverages, alignments/assignment duties and formation weaknesses all from watching film. The goal here might be to learn a new offense, be able to explain different dig techniques or possibly break down their best performance and be able to coach themselves up

Finally, I believe kids should be setting team goals. Not what the team is going to do or where they are going to finish, but goals looking into them becoming better teammates with proper sportsmanship. Making it a goal to support our teammates better. Working with your athlete on ways to be a better teammate in bad situations. Talking to your athlete about how it feels when they play bad and how they could be picked up. This teaches them how to pick up their teammates. Making goals on high fives, fist bumps and compliments instead of just wins and stats.

Overall, I am hoping you start talking more to your athlete about their feelings and experiences on and off the field. Opening them up to the social interactions that happen within the game and how to make that team bond even better. Talking to your athlete about what they want in sports and then helping make goals to achieve it. Your kid may not go from the bench to the star in one off-season, but he can go from the bench to a consistent player in a summer. By teaching our kids about goals and then achieving them, we are teaching our kids how to succeed in life and overcome obstacles.