Tag: youth sport

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Psychological Development in Youth Swimmers

Andy Driska

Here’s a great video on psychological development in youth swimmers. The speaker is Dr. Dan Gould at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University. I think the discussion of maintaining consistency after races is something that swimming coaches and researchers need to explore. There is always a reason to celebrate a good performance, and it’s important to acknowledge that a string of good races creates a sense of positive momentum in a swimmer’s mind (it can also contribute positive momentum to others by inspiring teammates). However, each race is a separate entity in a swim … Continue reading Psychological Development in Youth Swimmers

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Coaching with compassion

Andy Driska

Coaching in a positive way allows the person being coached to open up and be more perceptive. Coaching in such a way where the person being coached feels angry or guilty may cause this person to shut down. These findings come from neuro-scientists at Case Western have examined the brain’s response pathways to different coaching styles. I should point out here that coaching in these cases refers more to the type of coaching you would experience in the business world… arguably, there are many carry-overs to sports coaching. This video would suggest that coaches should give communication in a positive … Continue reading Coaching with compassion

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Great Insights at the 2011 Midwest AASP Conference

Andy Driska

Life skill acquisition. Sport and gender. Mental toughness. The culture of high-performance youth sport. These topics and more were discussed at the 2011 Midwest AASP conference (Feb 18-19), hosted by Miami University in Oxford, OH. The conference was heavily student-driven, and included over twenty presentations of research and research proposals. There was a strong contingent of undergraduate presenters… always good to see undergrads getting involved early. I’ll discuss a few of the presentations that resonated with me in my post below. Eric Martin from Miami University presented an interesting piece on passion and burnout in college sports. He spoke about … Continue reading Great Insights at the 2011 Midwest AASP Conference