The Sports Doc Chalk Talk

I believe the time is now that we make concerted efforts to better educate and prepare families for their child’s eventual sport retirement.  With sports being as big as they are in this country, its a shame that so many athletes are still left to themselves to figure out who they are, what their talents are beyond sports, and what future paths exist for them when in the midst of the sport retirement transition.  Fortunately, most athletes do not fall into the worst-case scenarios of suicide (as with the recent passing of Junior Seau), but literally millions of athletes from various sports, backgrounds, and types, experience great distress during sport retirement – often resulting in depression, anxiety, role confusion, and poor future planning.  In order to cope with this distress, many athletes turn to drug and alcohol abuse, aggression, and reckless behaviors (like gambling).

The message I am sending today is designed to promote more action in the ways of better educating sports families about the athletic identity, and how kids often develop an exclusive athletic identity that hinders them when they end their careers in sports.  With so many kids now specializing in one sport and playing it nearly year-round, it becomes easy to see how athletes develop their self-worth around “athlete.”  Their social identities (or how others view them), are also constructed around the athletic identity, too (like when we immediately ask about the game before anything else).  None of this is “bad” necessarily, but it all leads to the fact that most kids never play beyond high school (only about 5% do), making the sport retirement transition usually an abrupt and unplanned one. Without better educational efforts, families will continue to struggle when their kids (who are often just teenagers without great coping skills due to their youth) experience distress during this period — making it that much more important that we make things better.

Help is Here!

One approach that we have developed is Sport Success 360, a licensed educational system designed to help schools and youth sport leagues by providing key psychosocial information, tips, and strategies designed to help kids have a safe, fun, and meaningful athletic experience.  I encourage you to learn more about Sport Success 360 by watching this introductory video — Sport Success 360 includes a broad range of topics (including sport retirement), complimentary videos, and free downloads of Sport Success 360 and Sport Success 360 PLUS audio program.

If you are reading this blog, then it can be assumed you have an interest in youth and interscholastic sports (probably as either a parent, athlete, or coach).  While you may not be a decision-maker in your school or youth league, you can help raise awareness by mentioning Sport Success 360, or other great sport education programs out there that can help kids not only better prepare for sport retirement, but also learn about key psychosocial issues like the dangers of performance enhancing supplements, youth sport burnout, hazing, and many more issues.  In all likelihood you have also experienced more traditional issues, like playing time, cuts, sportsmanship, tough coaches (or parents), and travel leagues – Sport Success 360 covers those topics, too.

Education Helps On and Off the Field

Mental toughness is needed on the field, but it’s not limited to just wins and losses — we need to help families learn the culture of sports today, and successful strategies to help kids cope with the pressures they commonly experience in sports.  Just as important as the X’s and O’s are, we need to help kids with performance anxiety, as well as the resiliency needed to bounce back from adversity.  Ironically, these are really life skills and not limited to sports, making these kinds of sport education efforts that much more vital.

Better and more prevalent education does not imply that sports are bad, or that all kids who play sports have terrible experiences — far from it.  Instead, we need to realize that the days of a handful of casual summer games played on the local sandlot are long gone — replaced by high-level, intense, pressure-filled travel league sports schedules for kids who sometimes struggle to keep up.  Of course, these are not bad kids, either – they are just that, kids, vulnerable to kid mistakes when trying to deal with pressure.

Helping Kids – Even the Ones that Don’t Speak Up

Kids don’t always speak up when they feel pressure – be it from their parents or team expectations.  In some cases kids have a talent for a specific sport, but don’t love playing the sport — yet still refrain from speaking out because the see the time, money, and energy being invested in their athletic career.  Some kids have a lot of trouble multi-tasking other activities – like school and social activities — while others have difficulty dealing with resiliency that sometimes manifests into unsportsmanlike behavior and/or uncontrolled aggression.

When we view youth sports through the lens of it being an often intense, complex, and radically different experience than generations of the past, it helps us better frame the educational approach to youth sports as being one of “keeping up with the times” than one that needs to be done because of “problems.”  Introducing new and more advanced ways of delivering contemporary sport education is not an admission that an athletic department or youth league has gone out of control, but instead an example of sports leaders making important budgetary decisions that go beyond the traditional basics.  Of course, finding new revenue streams is never easy, but when issues become important enough people become resourceful – this is often referred to as a “tipping point.”  Are we there yet?  I think so, and from my experiences with many sports people, it sounds like there is increasingly more support to improve future efforts.  I personally believe this will happen, and I hope you do, too.

www.drstankovich.com

Sport Success 360 is the premier sport education system, designed to improve the culture of your youth or interscholastic team/league!

In today’s youth and interscholastic sports world, the sport specialist (an athlete who plays a single sport rather than sampling different sports throughout the year) has become an increasingly more common sighting (AHPS).  In some cases the child makes this decision, while other times parents, coaches, and other influential people encourage the student athlete to specialize rather than sample different sports.  The main reason for sport specialization, according to most sport psychologists and physicians, is to devote more time and energy toward a specific sport with the idea that more training = better athletic skill acquisition for that specific sport.

While it is likely true that most kids who specialize in a sport will get better at that sport (and at a faster rate), it’s also true that the chances for youth sport burnout increase dramatically as well.  In addition to sports burnout, kids who specialize (and train year-round) might also be running a significantly higher risk for physical injury as a recent Yahoo story revealed:

Repetitive stress injuries are also on the rise. The days of lettering in several different varsity sports are gone; instead, students are encouraged to focus on a single sport starting at a very young age — as early as kindergarten, in some places — and stick with it throughout high school and college. Sometimes, they’re urged to do so by coaches hoping to hone a particular skill. Other times, they’re pushed by parents or driven to land a rare college scholarship. But the intense training in one sport over a long period of time can take a toll, even on young and fit bodies.

“Probably the thing that we’re seeing the most right now is any type of overuse injury, from stress fractures to low-level muscle injuries,” Charlie Thompson, chair of the NATA College/University Athletic Trainers’ Committee and the head athletic trainer at Princeton University, told Yahoo! Shine. “Off-season programs start too soon after the end of a long season, and we’re not allowing recovery to happen.”

So what does this all mean for the typical American sports parent?  The short answer may be that “more doesn’t always = better,” especially if ongoing injuries prevent a young athlete from actually benefiting from specializing in one sport.  It appears as though more sports medicine physicians, trainers, and other helping professionals are becoming aware of the health concerns surrounding sport specialization, and if you are a sports parent today, maybe you should pay attention to this news, too.  As with any important decision, pros and cons should be examined within your family before deciding whether to specialize or sample youth sports.

www.drstankovich.com

Sport Success 360 is designed to help you with the contemporary issues in youth and interscholastic sports – like sport specialization — check it out today!

Sport Success 360 is the premier sport education system on the market today, designed to provide coaches, parents, and student athletes with key information pertaining to today’s commonly experienced problems, issues, and trends in youth and interscholastic sports.  Whether its youth sport burnout, dealing with irate parents, playing time, travel leagues, or the decision around sport specialization vs. sampling, Sport Success 360 delivers professional advice designed to help kids use sports as a vehicle for life success.  Improve the sports safety at your league or school by delivering easy-to-understand tips and advice specific to coaches, student athletes, and parents – providing the “360″ advantage!

Benefits of Sport Success 360

• A 24/7 resource for coaches, student athletes, and parents
• Immediate and practical advice, as well as short videos to help with even deeper insights around today’s psychosocial issues in sports
• A built-in coach exam to test for proficiency
• FREE Sport Success 360 book and audio file downloads
• Finally, a product designed to help with the overall culture of your athletic department or youth sport organization!

Visit Sport Success 360 today and watch the short demo to learn more about individual purchases as well as school/league licensing.  Do your part to help the kids in your league or sport organization have a safe, fun, and meaningful athletic experience – check out Sport Success 360 today!

www.drstankovich.com

In sports, unlike most other life endeavors, participants are often more readily known and recognized because of their number as much as they are their name.  In basketball, #23 will always be Michael Jordan’s number, and in hockey #99 belongs to “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky.  Baseball fans know that Derek Jeter is #2 (another number the Yankees will undoubtedly retire once Jeter calls it a career), and there are dozens more numbers that we have come to associate with famous sports figures over the years. Unlike non-athletes (the majority of society) who go to work each day without wearing a numbered jersey, athletes are unique in that they often become one with their number, which contributes to their unique “athletic identity.” (Sport Success 360)

Even though few athletes will become successful enough in their athletic careers to have their number retired one day, most do become closely associated with their number, sometimes as early as pee-wee youth sports.  Similar to how the professional athlete becomes his or her number, amateur athletes involved in youth and interscholastic sports often begin their association with their number quite early in life, which in turn becomes their major identity in many cases.  This in itself is not a good or bad thing, but it does present an interesting view and better understanding of the life of an athlete (even amateur athletes), and how much of who they are is tied to their athletic persona and player number.

The Implications of Athletic Identity

The Benefits:

• For many kids having a sports number and developing an athletic identity is a great thing, as it gives them (and the world) a lens to view them through  — “she’s #20 on the soccer team.”
• Kids often take pride and develop self-confidence in their role and status on a team, allowing them to appreciate the privilege of being a part of a team.
• When kids are proud of their team and number, they are often more committed and motivated to continue pursuing team and individual goals.

The Negatives

• When an athletic identity and sports number becomes the exclusive identity of a child, it could be too limiting and actually stunt the growth of the child’s overall identity.  While being an athlete is great, most kids also have other parts of their identity that are important to embrace and nurture — including academic, artistic, musical, and social interests.  In other words, “#20 on the soccer team” might also want to be known for her abilities in the classroom, as well as her above-average talent in playing a musical instrument.
• Scientific studies have shown that the more exclusive an athletic identity, the less likely an athlete will be prepared for his or her inevitable sport retirement transition.  This inverse relationship makes sense when you think about it — the more exclusive (and often rigid) we are with our identity, the less prepared we are to move ahead in life without it (and have to develop an entirely new identity).

The sports number and athletic identity are very unique to sports, and as such bring a host of related issues for us to learn about.  While we want all athletes to take pride in their sports number, we also want to make sure that they don’t over-invest in this single identity at the expense of developing holistically as people.

Do your part and learn as much as you can about your kids or the kids you coach and the implications of their sports identities – for more help on this topic, check out Positive Transitions for Student Athletes or Sport Success 360 today!

www.drstankovich.com

ESPN premiered “The Marinovich Project” last week, offering up close and personal views of the way Todd Marinovich was raised to play football under his father Marv’s relentless training.  This story was especially interesting to me, as I am about the same age as Todd, and even back in the 1980′s (before the internet!) I remember hearing about this “bionic QB” being built out in California by his dad.  Unlike today, where high school athletes are regularly talked about on ESPN and other national sport outlets, for us to even hear — much less watch video — of a high school quarterback from the west coast was simply unheard of.  I remember seeing Marinovich on television and hearing about all the hype surrounding how he was literally “built” to play football – and how his dad controlled his every meal and put him through unbelievable training workouts.

Since first hearing about Marinovich in high school, I continued to watch from afar as he went on to play college and professional football, and I went on to graduate school to study human thinking and behavior.  While I never obsessed on Marinovich, he was always in the back of my mind, especially later in my professional counseling career when meeting with parents at my office that seemed to be obsessed with their kid’s athletic development. After watching Marinovich burn out from football, his story (sadly) served as an example I used with parents who were clearly going too hard with their kid.

What one famous behaviorist once said…

Interestingly, I remember in graduate school learning about the famous behaviorist John Watson, and specifically learning about his claims that if he could control all the surroundings of a kid from birth onto adulthood, that he could essentially develop the kid into anything he wanted (i.e. a doctor, artist, accountant, etc.).  His argument was that environment, not genetics, play a much bigger role when it comes to human development.  In the Marinovich example, one could easily say Watson’s theory may have held up – at least for a short while.  While Marv did seemingly develop his kid into an elite-level QB, the price they both paid for the efforts seems to have been a hefty one indeed (ESPN revealed their personal struggles in the program – Todd with drugs, and Marv with failed marriages).

Some of my other observations from the Marinovich program included:

• This was a perfect example of erroneous human thinking – we often believe if somebody is “good” at something, they must also love doing it.  Todd admitted he liked playing football, but to objectively parse out that he “loved” playing was rather difficult, especially with his militant-style father never giving him a chance to experience life without football.
• The pursuit of playing in the NFL seemed to serve as a utopia for the Marinovich’s, leaving Todd in no-mans land once he finally made it to the league.  What do you do for the rest of your life once you have played in the NFL at the age of 21??  Todd struggled with this, and admitted on the program he really didn’t know what to do “next” as this was his end-all, be-all lifelong pursuit.
• Marv Marinovich appeared to be a very loving and caring father, but also a troubled one.  He clearly obsessed with Todd’s development, even to the point of losing jobs and marriages.  Supporting your child is one thing, but living your entire life through your child is another.
• It was really no surprise for me to learn about the drug usage Todd admitted to while playing football.  Of course, it’s never advised to recklessly use street drugs, but in the case of Todd Marinovich it’s easy to see why he would turn to drugs (or anything for that matter) that would provide a respite from all the pressure and expectations placed upon him.  Again, this doesn’t excuse or endorse the behavior, but instead hopes to explain it.
• I found Todd to be a very interesting, thoughtful, and caring guy.  Most of us simply saw him as some kind of super-human machine when we first heard of him in the 1980′s, but after all that he has been through he came off in the program as a level-headed and cerebral guy.  No bitterness, no animosity, and no hatred toward his dad (or anyone else).  If anything, he appeared more confused by all that has happened the last 25+ years of his life – almost as if he had been on the sidelines watching his life play out based on a story written by his dad.

I’m sure there are other parents out there today similar to Marv Marinovich, obsessed with their child’s athletic development to the point where all other life pursuits are thwarted.  This is unfortunate for a number of reasons, the least being the fact that even with 24/7 training the pursuit of one day becoming a professional is still an unbelievable long-shot for most kids (even if John Watson would think differently if he were alive today!).  Not only are the odds against “making it” (even Todd Marinovich admitted to his God-given talents being just as, if not more important as his training was), but leading an imbalanced life as Todd did often sets people up to be unprepared in many other important ways.  Even in the best-case scenario when an athlete does “make it,” the average professional sports career is only 3-4 years, making holistic life skill development that much more important than exclusive sport training.

Every sports family should watch the Todd Marinovich story and talk openly as a family about the tradeoffs that often come part and parcel with 100% devoting to sport development.  At the end of the day, we should, at minimum, learn a few basic things from this story:

- While it sounds great in theory, John Watson’s original idea of creating a persona (i.e. a football quarterback) is really more of a talking point for balancing nature vs. nurture when it comes to personality development. To try an control a young persons surroundings like Marv Marinovich did is not only unhealthy, but potentially dangerous.

- When people feel overwhelmed, pressured, and don’t see a way out of their circumstances, it is very common for them to turn to drugs, alcohol, or a number of other reckless and dangerous behaviors.  The short answer for this is that they provide a temporary “break,” or respite, so that the individual doesn’t have to continue to stress out over his or her circumstances.

- Perhaps the biggest oversight by Marv Marinovich was that while he taught his son how to succeed on the field, he apparently stopped short of teaching Todd how to use his athletic skills off the field.  When an athlete compartmentalizes all his learning through sport into only being useful in sports, he has missed an incredibly invaluable learning opportunity.  Ironically, Todd Marinovich learned countless athletic transferable skills (i.e. discipline, teamwork, goal setting, etc.), yet was never taught how to parlay those skills into everyday life experiences (like learning how to successfully deal with stress).

Check out our entire line of sport and life skill products at the AHPS website!

www.drstankovich.com

I have very exciting news to report – now, for the first time, Sport Success 360 is available to individual users including parents, coaches, and student athletes!  Previously only available to sports leagues, Sport Success 360 is now offered to anyone involved in youth sports wishing to learn more about how to make sports a fun, safe, and meaningful experience.

Benefits of Sport Success 360

• The most comprehensive sport education on the market today, offering professional tips and advice for parents, coaches, and student athletes
• A state-of-the-art interface that allows you to quickly learn about specific topics that are most important to you
• Unique learning system that provides perspectives to issues from multiple views, including coach, athlete, and parent angles (providing the 360 degree learning system)
• Videos to compliment each learning module
• Bonus Sport Success 360 pdf and Sport Success 360 audio program offered FREE with the program (a $25 value!)
• Built-in assessment that certifies users after they complete the Sport Success 360 quiz (great for getting everyone uniformly certified)
• The easiest way to quickly learn everything you need to know about youth sports, including sports burnout, communicating effectively with coaches, quitting, performance supplements, the mental aspects of injuries, hazing, travel leagues, sport specialization, plus much more!

Never be left out of the loop again when it comes to successfully handling the many challenges commonly seen in youth sports today.  Sport Success 360 is designed to help you navigate the sports landscape and prevent problems from occurring, while at the same time equip you with the knowledge needed for kids to maximize their athletic experience.

Easy, convenient, and affordable – that’s Sport Success 360!

while leagues and schools slowly implemnt training, you can stay ahead of the curve

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!

www.drstankovich.com

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!

www.drstankovich.com

If you are an athlete — or a coach/parent involved with kids who play sports — be sure to check out The Sport Performance Assessment (SPA) available for the iphone, ipad, and ipod!  The SPA is the world’s first professionally designed mental toughness assessment, and was created to help athletes quickly and easily improve their mental toughness, and ultimately their athletic talent!

The SPA is currently being used by athletes worldwide and is becoming a must-have for serious athletes.  The original SPA is only $3.99, with sport specific SPA apps retailing at only $1.99.  Later this summer the SPA-Soccer, SPA-Basketball, and SPA-Football will be available, adding to our growing line of sport performance apps.

Learn more by clicking on the link below:

Sport Performance Assessment

Most athletes, even young athletes, take ownership of their personal identity role of “athlete”.  Often when you ask an athlete to tell about him- or herself, the athlete will lead by saying something to the effect of “I play for _________ team.”  In addition to the self-descriptors athletes use, they often regularly adorn themselves in team “gear” (i.e. t-shirts, letterman’s jackets, hats, etc.), furthering solidifying their status as “athlete.”  This is what we call our social identity, or how others perceive us (Positive Transitions for Student Athletes).

Every person develops a personal (or self) identity, which is actually a quite healthy life process.  When you describe yourself as a parent, employee of a company, and community organization member, you are actually revealing your personal identity to the world.  Again, this is quite normal.

For athletes, though, there is a potentially dangerous identity status that can lead to future unforeseen problems.  What I am talking about is when athletes go through an identity foreclosure status, where they prematurely and exclusively only see themselves as athletes.  When a person forecloses their identity, problems can develop since all other life development and exploration is suspended in light of the one single identity role.

Identity foreclosure is not unique to sports, as people from other walks of life sometimes “foreclose” their identity at an early phase of their life.  For example, take a person whose parents, grandparents, and great grandparents have always run the family farm.  In this example it’s quite probable the person will begin seeing himself as only a farmer quite early in life (and foreclose on that identity rather than explore other career options).  This premature foreclosure may not be such a big deal, as it is quite likely the family farm will be available to work on in the future.

Identity foreclosure can be a big problem for athletes, however.  When it comes to playing professional sports, only a very select few athletes are skilled enough to reach that level.  What this means is that most athletes who have prematurely foreclosed on being an “athlete” will need to eventually completely redesign and overhaul their athletic identity – something that is far easier to talk about than to actually do.  With only about 5% of all high school athletes able to play at the college level, and less than 2% of all college athletes talented enough to play professional sports, it’s easy to see why premature identity foreclosure for athletes may lead to serious consequences.

If you are a parent (or coach) it is important to gauge how closely the kids you are around identify – and over-identify – with their identity as an athlete.  When a youngster only sees himself as an athlete and overlooks all the other great parts about his personality and life experiences, he may be unknowingly setting himself up for an incredibly difficult eventual sport retirement.  It is for this reason that we as adults make regular attempts to discuss and reinforcement all the facets of a kid’s personality – not just athletics.  Be sure to recognize the other roles kids often experience, like student, club member, volunteer, musician, and artist.  Holistic identity development will not limit athletic success, but it will instead enhance all facets of the human experience!

www.drstankovich.com