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Whether a parent, coach or player is just starting in youth sports or a seasoned veteran, Sports Esteem provides publications and insights for everyone involved.
While here, be sure to download our FREE book Building All-Star Kids.
Habit - A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.-- The American Heritage® Dictionary
Each activity in sports has a correct way to perform and a way that only gets by. Whether throwing a ball, shooting a basket or passing a puck, there are techniques that provide better accuracy, distance and success. Excelling and playing at advanced levels requires the mastery of these better techniques.Replacing old techniques with new ones is not easy. The ability of the human body to walk and move without much thought also makes it difficult to change techniques.
Many experts estimate that it takes approximately 21 days to break old habits and create new ones. For players, this means that learning new skills may require weeks of consistent thought and effort until these new skills are mastered. Like many things in life, consistency and patience are the keys to success.
When something doesn't work out as planned, there are always three courses of action any player can take. The first course is to do nothing and just hope that things will be different the next time. The second course is to quit and find other things to spend time on. The third course, and the one that Michael Jordan took, is to use the situation as a challenge and work harder.
Each challenge a player faces can only be answered from within. Coaches and parents can give advice, but only the player can determine the course taken. Not everyone who is challenged grows up to be Michael Jordan. And, not all challenges a player faces are in sports. However, every time a player quits when faced with a challenge, there is little hope of future success.
Before players can listen, they must be first be ready to listen. No player is good enough or smart enough to have it all figured out. If this were the case, then professional sports teams wouldn't require coaches. Players must have an attitude that allows them to hear how to do things better or differently, no matter what level their skill or experience.
With a good attitude as a start, the next step is for players to listen and analyze comments. An instruction from a coach that a player hasn't thought about is fairly easy to process. However, if a player is hearing something that the player thinks is already being done, it may be time for a talk with the coach. There may be a miscommunication between coach and player that requires more discussion.
The last step in sports listening is doing. Putting into practice the things a player hears is the only way for coaches to determine if players listen and the message is understood.