Athletes, do you have parents who mean well, but sometimes give you advice or suggestions that get you angry?
Watch this video to learn how to make the most out of sports parenting advice by taking their suggestions and using it to your advantage…
How To Get The Most Out OF Your Sports Parents Advice..
“My Dad, who is so annoying, constantly telling me I am doing things wrong and I need to do better and I am not as good as I could be. So how do you deal with that?”
You need to TRANSLATE what he is saying. So what is he really saying?
Think about it – Does your Dad do that because he wants to hurt your self-esteem? Is that the truth? No. Why does he do that? “Cause he wants me to be good?”
Right… because he cares about you. He wants you to be as best as you can be. So that’s what you’re going to translate when you hear those words from him. You’re going to go in your mind and you’re going to make that translation. You’re going to go… Dad cares about me. What can I take out of what he is saying? Why is he giving me some feedback here?
I have an eBook called, “The 10 Commandments for a Great Sports Parent” containing sports parenting advice. Parents need training on how to support their athlete and that’s a good book to give them.
We can’t count on parents and coaches being useful and helpful and supportive to us. You’re going to get some jerk coaches somewhere in your career – if you haven’t already. Who here has had some jerk coaches? Exactly! Not yet? You will at some point if you keep playing.
So the translation is: “Wow! Dad cares about me and he is showing me something that I can work on. Great! How great is it that I have a Dad who cares about me and is smart enough to know something I can work on right now? I am taking that and running with that and using that to improve upon myself.”
So what you’ve been doing is saying: “I must suck. Dad is disappointed. I’m no good – right?” See that is the self talk. So what we do with self talk… whenever you catch yourself doing negativity like that is you go like this… (popping the wrist rubber band). Cancel! If you ever catch yourself, saying: “I suck, I’m no good, I can’t do this.” (Pop the rubber band.) “Cancel!” Then you say the opposite. It is okay to acknowledge (pop the rubber band) and say cancel!
You can say, “That’s the way I used to be. Now I am improving every day, on top of my game, working on what it takes to be the greatest volleyball player in my league.”
I promise you it works this way. It always works this way.
Welcome To The Winners Circle!
Craig Sigl, the Mental Toughness Trainer