Kymber Veautour Featured on Kids Sports Psychology Radio
Borrowed from Kidssportspsychology.com:
For a number of reasons, many sports kids don’t believe in
themselves–and that’s bad news for them, their teams and their
coaches.
Here are just a few causes:
–> They doubt their abilities
–> They’re perfectionists and expect too much
–> Their parents pressure them too much
When kids don’t believe in themselves, they hurt their
performance and enjoyment of sports.
Kymber Veautour, 
a Pop Warner cheer coach who has garnered two national wins, says this is the main problem that hurts her team members’ mental game. But she has lots of ideas for overcoming this challenge.
“I continuously have to be an advocate for the children on my
teams. For some reason they have blocks that lead them to
failure. I tell them the only thing that’s stopping themselves is
themselves.”
One of the problems, says Veautour, is parents. They have a hard
time striking that fine balance between pushing kids too hard and
simply supporting them, she says. It’s a hard balance to achieve,
she adds.
“Strong involvement from parents can be detrimental,” she says.
At the same time, parents need to be supportive. They can’t back
off entirely.
“You can see the effects on kids. They try so hard to please
their parents. It affects everything they do.”
Here at Kids’ Sports Psychology, we agree with Veautour and
believe that a number of other factors affect whether kids
believe in themselves…
Often, for whatever reason, kids embrace beliefs that cause them
to doubt themselves. For example, they give themselves negative
labels. “I’m not a good tumbler,” they say. Sometimes, external
factors are the influence. One example is coaches who only focus
on the negative.
Here’s the good news. Veautour–who after all, has garnered a few
national championships–has some strategies for helping these kids.
First of all, she tells kids to take it step by step. If they can
conquer one step in cheering, they’re ready for the next. And the
next…
We call this focusing on the moment—not on outcomes like wins.
Kids need to focus on what they need to do right now to get the
job done.
Second, Veautour uncovers labels. She tells kids they’re all
cheerleaders—not bad tumblers or bad jumpers. She reminds them
that they’re all good at something.
Third, Veautour works one-on-one with kids who have had bad days.
She doesn’t focus on the negatives, but reminds them that
tomorrow is another day. “I tell them to go home, take a shower,
relax and think about what they did. Take it one step at a time.”
And fourth, we’d like to remind parents that kids need to
understand they can’t be perfect every day. It’s okay for sports
kids to have a bad day as long as they grow and learn from their
mistakes—instead of beating themselves up.
Want to learn more about how to be Ultimate Sports Parents and
help your sports kids make the most of their physical talent?
Here at Kids’ Sports Psychology, we can help you do just that.
Our resources include e-books, articles, audios interviews like
the one we did with Veautour, and videos.
For example, these resources are available to exclusive Kids’
Sports Psychology members:
–> Kick Fear of Failure and Perfectionism, an e-book
specifically for sports kids.
–> Building Self-Esteem with Equal Playing Time, an interview
with expert Brian Sanders.
–> When Tennis Kids Pressure Themselves to Be Perfect, an
interview with Jane, a tennis pro and sports mom.
Help your kids cope with perfectionism and develop confidence
faster at Kids’ Sports Psychology!
http://www.kidssportspsychology.com
Sincerely,
Dr. Patrick Cohn and Lisa Cohn
P.S. If you’re an exclusive Kids’ Sports Psychology member, you
can listen to our interview with Veautour–which covers how she
deals with Facebook use, why heavy cheerleaders inspire others
and other issues–go here:
http://www.kidssportspsychology.com/members/463.cfm
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