Every person who plays sports has the ability to concentrate and selectively attend to certain performance cues. Your kids must know what they need to focus on in order to throw a baseball or hit a slap shot. Task-relevant performance cues or important skills your kids need to focus on help them perform better.
Once your kids define performance cues and clearly recognize non-relevant cues (or distractions) they are in a better position to become fully focused on the task. This means your kids must put aside outcomes, results, and consequences and focus on the moment-to-moment execution. Ask your kids what they need to think about moment-by-moment or play-by-play to perform their best. Although it’s rewarding for your kids to reach their goals, they should not evaluate or judge whether they are on track to reach them.
Check out The Ultimate Sports Parent website for more sports parenting tips.