The Sports Doc Chalk Talk

Many athletes struggle with sport retirement, and not because they have all experienced brain damage or concussions (although that sometimes occurs).  The more prevalent reasons for difficulties experienced during sport retirement have to do with psychosocial factors, including the identity and athlete develops, as well as the lack of programming available to athletes when they are no longer able to play.  Of course, every athlete experiences sport retirement in his or her own unique ways, but on this video I discuss some of the common issues athletes experience during this abrupt and often difficult transition.

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The inevitable retirement transition from sports that all athletes eventually experience has always fascinated me, mostly because it usually happens relatively early in life, and rarely is it noticed or cared about by society.  Thousands of elite-level athletes retire from sports annually, and hundreds of thousands more will end their careers by the time they are teenagers.  For some athletes the transition is a welcomed one, while others seem relatively indifferent.  Still, there are many athletes who experience tremendous stress, frustration, anger, depression, and anxiety while facing the end of their sports careers (AHPS).

In the mid-1990′s, a colleague of mine (Ohio State athletic counselor Darin Meeker) and I created the nation’s first sport transition course at Ohio State, Positive Transitions for Student Athletes. In fact, I studied the efficacy of this course for my doctoral dissertation, finding mountains of empirical evidence that suggested many athletes do indeed experience an unplanned and life-changing event when they are faced with the sport retirement transition.  Most athletes we studied experienced issues with their post-athlete identity, role confusion, poor future planning, poor career development, and in some cases mood disorders.

Today it’s 2012, and if anything we have learned that we were really just scratching the surface looking back to our work in the 1990′s.  With the internet and social media, it seems commonplace these days to hear stories about athletes experiencing difficulty at the ends of their careers — stories that include financial hardships, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and even suicide.  Of course, it would be crazy to think that all of these stories could be averted, but sadly, many of them could have turned out a lot better had more aggressive advances by high schools, colleges, and professional teams taken place since our early work.

Instead of seeing a surge in the number of courses and programs designed to help athlete at the ends of their careers, there’s been a flat line.  Sadly, when an athlete plays his or her final game, there is usually a harsh reality the individual faces: Few people seem to truly care. Rather than help the exiting athlete, schools and professional teams usually abandon them, turning their attention to the “next” great athlete coming to the team.

Sport psychologists and college athletic counselors help athletes when they can, but there are still only a select number of schools employing these types of professionals designated to help athletes transition out of sport.  Instead, it’s the “elephant in the room” — the schools/teams know that retirement looms, and that the athletes will likely be unprepared, yet usually don’t acknowledge it and instead casually look the other way.  This is not due to spite, or even negligence, but instead more likely due to the fact that the sportsworld lives by a “what have you done for me lately” philosophy – and retiring athletes are not of much worth.

It’s both fascinating to me that sport retirement is still as important to learn about today as it was 15-20 years ago, but frustrating that we really haven’t seen much academic or professional growth during this time.  In fact, our book, Positive Transitions for Student Athletes, is still just as relevant today (if not more) than it was in 1999.

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Being a youth or interscholastic coach can be an awesome experience filled with countless exciting life experiences, including building healthy relationship with kids, pursuing team championships, and coming together as a team when faced with stress, adversity, and dealing with losses (Sport Success 360).  Unfortunately, for some coaches, the experience quickly becomes overwhelming as they become an unfortunate victim to things like their own perfectionism and control, inability to work with kids, and unwillingness to build relationships with parents.

Coaching, like most things in life, is really what you make of it. Successful coaches have realistic personal expectations and team goals, and make sure to prioritize their own health and family before their role as a coach. Of course, there’s more to it than just those simple reminders, including a few more ideas to consider below:

• Make downtime a priority. Today, even youth and interscholastic coaches are at-risk for burnout as it is becoming commonplace to see these coaches put in unbelievable amounts of time into their coaching.  Similar to college and pro coaches, amateur coaches sometimes go too hard for too long, resulting in a host of physical, emotional, and social problems.  Consequently, it is vitally important to keep a schedule that allows you to take breaks and get away when needed.  Sure, this may not be easy to do, but if you don’t do it not only will coaching soon become a lot less fun, but your team will also likely suffer as a result.
• Keep up with training. There are so many changes in youth sports today and many leading sport psychologists, sport educators, and sports medicine personnel have developed important educational training to help meet these needs.  While some leagues and states require specific training, it is important to consider going above the minimum in order to stay abreast of emerging trends – like sports burnout.  Unfortunately, some coaches only do the minimum when it comes to training, and view anything above that as “punitive” rather than educational.
• Teach kids about athletic transferable skills. I talk about these skills a lot, and that’s because they are the essence of the youth sport experience!  Be sure the kids you coach do not minimize the value of the skills they learn in sports, nor falsely assume that all kids have learned the same skills.  Be sure to talk regularly about how things like mental toughness, confidence, discipline, and resiliency are not only skills for sport success, but also life success.
• Involve parents. Quite often the #1 complaint I hear from coaches is “parents.”  The main reason coaches feel this way has to do with how parents feel their child should be used compared to how the coach is actually using the child.  The disconnect seems to exist on every youth and interscholastic sports team to some extent, making it an issue coaches need to be proactive with when deciding upon their personal philosophy.  Successful coaches often have pre-season meetings to kick off the start of the season, and talk about their coaching philosophy and how parents can be a positive and active part of the team.  Some coaches even set up ways for parents to ask constructive questions about their child and how he/she can improve, and possibly even earn more playing time in the future.  Regardless of how you develop your philosophy, one thing is certain — when parents feel disconnected and under-appreciated, they often let their feelings be known, which can in turn make for a very long season.
• Emphasize the positives!!!! High fives, emphatic praise, and a general positive attitude can go a long, long way when it comes to sports.  Choose your daily attitude and be sure to “catch” kids doing things right, especially when they give great effort (even if the results aren’t always great).

For more information about youth and interscholastic coaching success, check out Sport Success 360 or visit Advanced Human Performance Systems today!

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If you are a parent of a young athlete, it’s likely (and normal) that you haven’t spent much time thinking about the eventual end of his or her sports career (Positive Transitions).  Lets face it, it’s a lot more fun to think about your child making the winning goal or hitting the game-winning homerun, than it is to think about the eventual day when he or she will no longer be able to play competitive organized sports.  Unfortunately, sport retirement is something every sports parent will experience with their child at some point, hence the reason for the importance of understanding this unique transition.

Unlike traditional career retirement that usually occurs when a person approaches their mid-sixties (and plans for the retirement), sport retirement is unique in that it is often unplanned for, and happens at a relatively young age.  In fact, studies show that 93% of all high school athletes will end their athletic careers at the conclusion of their high school career – a figure that surprises many parents.  What this means is that most kids will experience sport retirement by the end of high school, if not sooner.

Back in the mid-1990’s I researched the sport retirement transition of elite-level athletes, which lead to Positive Transitions, the nation’s first sport transition class for student athletes. Interestingly, I learned firsthand just how terribly difficult, isolating, and confusing this transition was to most college student athletes, prompting me to think about the ways we could better prepare young athletes for this inevitable transition.  While it may seem premature to talk about sport retirement with your 12 year old, it may be a responsible thing to do when you consider how many athletes experience anxiety, depression, role confusion, identity confusion, and sometimes substance abuse and suicidal ideation during the sport retirement transition.

The advice here is not to paint a dreary picture of sport retirement for your child, but to instead have ongoing conversations about how challenging it is to play sports past high school – much less college or the pros.  Prepare as a family for your child’s eventual exit from sports, and watch for warning signs that he or she might not be handling the transition so well.  Kids who show the most trauma when dealing with sport retirement are those who over-identify (or only identify) themselves with being an athlete; who have no future plans beyond being an athlete; and who have an over-estimation of their odds of “making it” in sports.  If your child fits into one of these categories, she may be more at-risk for a difficult transition.

For more information on sport retirement, and tips to help you with your child’s eventual exit from sports, check out Positive Transitions for Student Athletes

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As the end of summer youth sports nears, many families are nervously awaiting to learn whether their young athlete has been selected to be a member of his or her leagues all-star team.  At the same time, coaches across the country are faced with the dubious task of making critical, often subjective, appraisals about which kids should make the all-star team (AHPS). As with any selection process, errors, oversights, and omissions will occur – sometimes resulting in hard feelings between families and coaches.  The strife some families feel during the all-star selection process is often blamed on the “politics” of sports (Sport Success 360).

The “science” behind all-star selections

While the field of sport psychology has allowed us to learn many powerful skills to enhance athletic abilities, it has yet to yield a cook-book recipe for coaches when it comes to all-star decisions.  In other words, there is no science – only each coach’s own ability to evaluate talent while maintaining a level of integrity in the process.  What this means is that while there are always some statistics to examine, individual comparisons are never “apple-to-apple.”  The “X” factors that include mental toughness are rarely captured in a box score, yet coaches often use these factors when evaluating talent.

Many parents become upset and disenfranchised by the all-star selection process because they subjectively see their child as better than he or she really is — and/or they don’t see the talents of another athlete who was chosen over their son or daughter.  Additionally, while its not the norm for coaches to purposely pick only the kids they personally like (politics), this does occasionally occur (though not nearly to the level upset parents think).

The reality

Selecting all-stars can be a brutal task for coaches and league operators involved in youth sports, as it is inevitable that some deserving kids will be left off teams while other seemingly less talented kids will end up making all-star teams.  Similarly, many parents struggle accepting the news that their child has been left off a sports all-star team, and in some situations feel as though their child was “done wrong” in the process.  Since this disconnect happens so regularly, I have provided a few quick tips for both coaches and parents so that the all-star selection process goes smoothly and with fewer problems around how the kids were selected:

What coaches can do

• Try to use as much objective data as possible.  Statistics like goals scored, batting average, fielding percentage, and stolen bases are examples of data you can use to not only help in the selection process, but also to offer up when people question your decisions.
• Take time to critically evaluate the kids.  Of course, some all-star selections will be quite easy, but after the first couple of kids it usually gets a lot tougher to discern the small differences between kids.  When you consider the heartfelt responses that usually follow all-star team selections, it certainly warrants that you take the process serious and do your homework when making decisions.
• Vote on players.  Leaving the decisions up to just one coach is never a good thing, so be sure to have multiple sources available to offer opinions.
• Be respectful when announcing the team.  Keep in mind that as soon as the team is announced there will be some families who feel as though their child was treated unfairly, and may even let you know about it.  Be sure to prepare for this and try to be understanding if you get approached by a distraught parent, keeping in mind their level of hurt seeing their child left off the team.

What parents can do

• Understand just how difficult all-star selections are for coaches!  At every level of sport competition we see criticism around what players make the team and what players don’t.  Keep in mind all the unseen variables coaches often take into account (i.e. hustle, team needs, particular position needs, etc.), and try not to immediately use the excuse that “politics” were to blame.
• Talk to your child (if he or she didn’t make the team) about stress, failure, and adversity – and how they can be used for motivation and future success.  Many kids come back the following year and make the all-star team because of the motivation they developed after missing the team a year earlier.
• If you feel it’s important to learn more about why your child didn’t make the team, be sure to remain respectful and considerate toward the coach.  It’s always better to ask about what areas your child can improve in for the future rather than argue why your child should have made the team over another kid who was selected.

Help your child succeed on and off the field – check out our ever-expanding line of peak performance products for student athletes, coaches, and parents!

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One question I regularly receive from parents with kids involved in youth sports is whether they should play their child up in age due to their son or daughter’s above-average athletic abilities.  While this is obviously a unique decision for each family that examines this option, it is important to outline some of the pros and cons associated with the decision (Sport Success 360):

Pros

-       The most obvious is better competition.  For kids who are physically and emotionally ready, they may benefit from playing against other talented kids as compared to dominating kids their own age.

-       Possibly more games.  When kids go from recreation to travel leagues (or elite leagues), they often play more games.  In theory, playing more games usually leads to more rapid skill acquisition and development.

-       A fast litmus test to see whether the sport will be of long-term interest.  For kids who have only played a handful of games against inferior opponents, they may only come to realize their interest (or lack thereof) for a particular sport once they play against similarly talented athletes.

Cons

-       For most kids, playing against other kids their age makes perfect sense and allows for even and fair competition.  When kids “play up,” they usually struggle with the transition, resulting in a deterioration of their self-confidence for that sport.  The loss of confidence will almost certainly impact sport development, success, and long-term commitment.

-       Increased risk for injury.  When kids play against bigger and more mature kids, the risk of injury increases as well.

-       Loss of interest in the sport.  Kids excel in sports when they “lock in” to playing.  This means that focus, motivation, and resiliency are at their highest levels when kids feel as though they have a real chance to compete (and win), versus playing against kids they fear and believe they will lose to.

The Bottom Line

For the vast majority of kids, playing against other kids their own age and skill level makes the most sense.  In fact, kids are more likely to get “in the zone” when they are fairly matched against similarly talented kids and teams.  Unfortunately, when some kids play up a league, they begin to experience self-doubt, which results in increased anxiety and poor athletic experiences.

Think about sports the same way you do academics.  Would your child be better off with honors or AP classes, or is she better suited for the standard educational curriculum offered at her school?  The pros and cons are similar to sports in many ways, as not all kids will benefit by getting in over their heads (in school or in sports).  Make a decision that’s best for your family, and be sure to revisit the decision annually in order for the best results to occur.

Check out our performance enhancing products for athletes here!

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Sport statistics are a really big part of sports today, as nearly every sport has it’s own way of measuring a player’s on-field athletic abilities (Sport Success 360).  Interestingly, sport statistics are now being collected and analyzed at youth and interscholastic levels, creating new pressures for young athletes that previously didn’t exist.  Unlike the old days of sizing up players by only watching their on-field abilities, today’s young athletes are now regularly reminded of their status through various data providers, including traditional media like newspapers as well as new social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and chat rooms.

It is important for adults to talk to kids about sport statistics and remind them that while having great stats is a nice thing, it can also be a very temporary and misleading way for players to self-evaluate.  In other words, a child may feel great today about his stats, but then go on to have a few bad games and all of a sudden end up devastated that his numbers have dropped as much as they have.

Sport statistics can also sometimes be misleading, as not all key variables are counted and measured.  Sure, a batting average is easy enough to compute, but how do you measure mental toughness variables like motivation, focus, concentration, and resiliency? Ask any sport talent evaluator or scout about what the toughest thing is to measure and they will almost immediately tell you heart (or the passion and drive to be successful).  Unfortunately, no box score in the world will ever be able to measure this vitally important aspect to sport success.

Sport statistics can also lead to self-fulfilling prophecies – for better or for worse.  What this means is that some kids will “play up” their efforts because they have developed self-confidence from reading about their good statistics.  On the other hand, many kids struggle with self-image and motivation to improve their athletic abilities when they only look at their stats when their numbers are low.  Sport performance, therefore, can fluctuate dramatically based on beliefs.

Sport statistics will always be a part of sports, and more and more kids are tuning in to what their numbers reveal.  Be sure to sit down with your child this season and make sure she knows that while stats can be helpful, they are by no means the only way to evaluate athletic talent.

Check out Sport Success 360, the resource for families involved in sports!

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If you are a sports parent, coach, or any other person helping kids successfully participate in youth sports, you have probably witnessed firsthand the many fears kids can quickly develop from playing sports (Sport Success 360).  The sports fears kids usually struggle with are experienced both physically (i.e. the experience of being tackled hard) and emotionally (i.e. the embarrassment of striking out).  Sports fear can also develop in kids through vicarious learning, (by watching other kids get hurt from being tackled or laughed at after striking out).  In order for kids to overcome their sport fears, they need to improve their mental toughness by learning more about why sports fears develop.

It’s actually quite natural for young athletes to develop some level of sports anxiety and fear, which is really not much different than the fears we experience as adults – even if it’s not on the playing field.  While adults may not be afraid of getting tackled at the office, we do often stress over fears around failure.  The reason I remind us of this point is so that we don’t misinterpret the fears we see in the eyes of our young athletes, as they are certainly not “wimps” for occasionally struggling with confidence development when faced with their biggest sport stressors.

One approach I like to use when talking to youth-level athletes about sports fears and phobias (more prolonged and intense fears) is to help them understand that the fear they experience is usually not as much physical as it is emotional. While serious injuries can happen in sports (and occasionally do), youth sport equipment today is the best it’s ever been, and rules are regularly being improved to protect kids from serious injuries in sports.  Getting knocked down might hurt for a moment, but that pales in comparison to the days, weeks, and months of anxiety usually associated with awaiting the moment of the first knock-down!

When kids begin to normalize the risk associated with physical injury and pain, they can then begin to focus on their emotional, or irrational, fears.  It is important at this point to help kids understand that their perceptions are often at the root of their fear, and that by looking at sport situations as challenges rather than threats they can quickly develop the confidence needed for sport success.  While striking out might feel embarrassing, there is nothing to be worried about as it applies to physical safety.  Furthermore, we all fail in life, and yes, many of us have even struck out before, too.

After establishing an understanding that emotional fear is different than physical fear, half the battle is won.  From this point, it is important to normalize stress, adversity, and failure in life – and how it is important to develop coping skills to prepare for the next time any one of these things happens in the future.  This is called stress inoculation, and in theory works in the same way as a flu shot.

Developing coping skills allows kids to take the biggest step in maximizing their athletic potential — the ability to turn the failure into a teachable moment and learn from the experience.

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Sport Success 360 is sports leadership training course designed to help youth sport leagues quickly and conveniently prepare youth coaches for the common psychosocial issues, trends, and problems commonly seen in youth sports today.  Packed with state-of-the art learning modules that help coaches not only understand specific issues in youth sports, but also helps by allowing coaches to see how parents and student athletes might deal with the same situation from their unique perspective.When leagues sign up to use Sport Success 360, coaches will gain professioanl advice, insights,a nd tips that can be immediatley put into action on and off the feld.  Some of the topics Sport Success 360 covers includes:

• Youth sport burnout
• Playing time
• Controlling emotions
• Performance supplements
• Hazing
• Handling cuts
• Playing your best
• Sport specialization
• Travel leagues
• Plus much more!!!

In addition to the course, coaches will also receive a FREE pdf copy of Sport Success 360 and Sport Success 360 PLUS audio file!  Move your youth sports league ahead by learning more about how you can get started today!

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John O’Connor, head basketball coach at Holy Family University, was caught on video last week shoving one of his players to the ground with a forearm to the neck.  Since the incident occurred, the video has gone viral and caused people nationwide to talk about where the line should be drawn when it comes to coaching athletes (Peak Performance for Coaches).  While coaches like Bobby Knight once routinely yelled, cursed, embarrassed, humiliated, and even physically grabbed his players, the reality is that those techniques simply don’t work if you want to motivate players and help them reach their full athletic potential.  Unfortunately, a few loose cannons (like Knight) have fooled fans into thinking that the authoritarian, dictatorship leadership style is a winning style.

Coaching players in sports should be viewed no differently than parenting kids at home, leading employees, or teaching kids in the classroom — regardless of the relationship, all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  Unfortunately when it comes to sports, some coaches have gotten away with being intimidating toward their players for far too long, at times even crossing the line into physical aggression.  Sadly, this type of behavior has often been viewed as “normal” when it comes to coaching, especially when the team wins and it becomes assumed that the aggressive coaching style is the cause of the success.

What Coach O’Connor did was wrong, regardless of how you spin it.  A coach should never aggressively put his hands on a player in order to make a point, nor should coaches ever feel as though they need to resort to berating, humiliating, or intimidating their athletes.  Coaches who do these things are the problem, not the kids who are trying to master the drill!  Aggressive coaches do not help with team chemistry and team cohesion, but instead create a team atmosphere that threatens and intimidates players.  Instead, more effective and healthier coaching approaches include the following:

• Unconditional respect toward players
• Positive reinforcement and praise when teaching players skills
• Open communication, including strong listening skills
• Team rules and penalties developed by using fairness and  integrity
• Opportunities for players to offer their ideas and suggestions to better team culture and cohesion

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