Building a well rounded youth athlete outside of the practice and competition field is a large focus of the program. Is my child old enough for the program? Due to the nature of our program and sessions, we accept athletes aged 13 and older into our program.

They were always upbeat and ready to work hard! We even had a few girls really open up to us later in the season and I think you had a lot to do with making them feel comfortable sharing their feelings with us. It was a very cool program. The curriculum is both specific to sport as well as age-appropriate life lessons that can be used as building blocks as they advance in age and in their sport.

Both the instruction and the collateral has been developed to plant seeds of positive thinking, confidence building, and obstacle management. My athletes have been given tools to boost their self-talk, come prepared to play with positive routines to set up for success, and handle challenges with a more positive and resilient approach.

Balancing academics, sports and social activities. He really enjoys meeting with Emily, not just as a Mental Health Coach but also as a friend who cares about how he is doing!

This program brings a much-needed balance to the student athlete! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Bill C. Mental Performance Coaching For Young Athletes.

Mental Performance Coaching For Young Athletes Christie Cereshko T How does Mental Performance Coaching help young athletes? Proactive Confidence. Our Mental Performance Coaching Team has worked with a wide variety of team and individual sports which include:.

Meet our Mental Performance Coaches. Emily Marcinowski, M. Athletic Experience: Began playing youth volleyball, basketball, and softball in 4th grade. Began playing JO travel volleyball at age 11 and continued playing at the elite level until age Played 4 years of Varsity volleyball at Padua Franciscan High School.

Won a DII State Championship my senior year at Padua Franciscan High School. Played 4 years of DI volleyball at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania. Coached at Padua Franciscan High School for 3 seasons and at Maverick Volleyball Club for 3 seasons. Academic Experience: Completed 4 years of MedTrack program at Padua Franciscan High School.

Obtained my counseling license and am a Licensed Professional Counselor LPC. Certified Mental Game Coaching Professional MGCP through training with Sports Psychologist Dr.

Patrick Cohn. Carlie Grandjean M. Abbie Ainslie, M. Frances Bull, M. Braden Bova, M. Michael O'Brien, M. I had many positive memories throughout my athletic career, but also many struggles. So much time commitment, stress of balancing sports and school, high level competition, having teammates and coaches who pushed me to my limits, etc.

I struggled mentally over my career, especially in college. There were times my confidence was shaky, my trust in my abilities wavered, my motivation was hit or miss, my self esteem was torn down, etc.

I cannot imagine how different my experience would have been if I had worked with someone to build these skills in high school or even just had someone to talk to about certain things I was going through throughout my career. Our Goals:. How do I know I need Mental Performance Coaching?

That is fun. And when that happens, their level of play tends to go up because they are enjoying themselves that much more. Nobody wants their emotions to get the best of them, no matter how old you are.

And no parent wants to see their kid losing themselves because of a mistake or being depressed due to a bad game. Mental skills will help your young athlete manage their emotions better.

In fact, this is one of the main reasons I am working with a young athlete right now. To help her manage herself after making a mistake. After a mistake, she would get upset with herself and begin to lose control.

We are working on implementing tools to manage her reactions, so she can let go of mistakes, play better as the game goes on, and enjoy herself more. This benefit covers a broad range of benefits that can be expected from sport psychology, all under the umbrella of performance improvement.

As your young athlete gains valuable mental skills, their physical play will improve. They will understand how to control themselves after a mistake, how to play with more confidence, how to center their focus, and much more.

All of these mental skills will have a positive effect on their play. That gives them a huge edge over the competition. As they get older, they will already have a set of skills that many athletes never obtain, or if they do obtain them, they come much later in life.

The best way for young athletes to learn mental skills is through one-on-one coaching. If you are interested in learning more about the coaching we offer, click here.

In addition to one-on-one coaching, there are certain strategies you can use as a coach or parent that will help your young athlete develop stronger mental skills. For the rest of this article, I am going to break down four sport psychology skills you can begin using today.

Within mental coaching, an enormous amount of focus is placed on understanding and managing thoughts. This is because of the relationship between thoughts and feelings. As you think worrisome thoughts, anxiety increases and confidence decreases. That is disastrous before or during a game.

The same goes for fearful, perfectionist, or any other unhelpful or negative forms of thinking. They drive unhelpful and negative emotions.

We begin with awareness. If an athlete is not aware of their thoughts, there is little hope to change them. Therefore, we must begin with understanding what thought patterns the athlete currently exhibits and how those thoughts are impacting how they feel.

From there, we can begin to think about some more beneficial thoughts and work on implementing them on a regular basis. Now, how can you use this concept?

By following the same idea and applying it to your athlete through the use of a simple exercise. A valuable skill for an athlete at any age is visualization.

This is the practice of mentally rehearsing skills in your mind. There are many different ways visualization can be applied to sports. An athlete can visualize to improve confidence. This happens by imagining yourself performing well on a consistent basis. The more you see yourself succeed in your mind, the more confident you will be when it comes to actually playing in a game.

Another way visualization can be used is to help perform better under pressure. This is done by imagining yourself in a pressure filled situation. Really feel the emotions you typically feel in that environment. Then, switch those feelings for feelings of calm and confidence, and then see yourself perform well.

To use this technique with kids, you can have them either write or explain to you what happens when they play well.

As they do this, they will naturally create a scene in their mind. Once they are comfortable with that, have them close their eyes and mentally rehearse themselves playing.

A great way this can be applied to training is to pause between reps and have the athlete visualize themselves for a brief moment. Before each pitch or before every five pitches have them close their eyes and imagine themselves hitting a nice line drive back up the middle.

This helps to teach them the power of visualization and the importance of using it on a consistent basis. As simple as it is, breathing correctly has a huge impact on performance.

Breath can calm nervousness, improve focus, and make you feel more confident. But the skill of controlling your breath must be developed. The same is true when an athlete is performing. However, breathing is your base.

It dictates so much that it deserves proper attention. But more than that, it deserves training. One is the commonly known effect of calming you down and slowing down your heart rate.

This is because, as you turn your attention onto your breath, you remove it from external factors causing you to be distracted, or worse…anxious and fearful.

An easy way you can help your young athlete control their breath is through a breathing exercise. But sometimes it can be difficult for young athletes to use. Here are the steps for making use of a good count breathing practice:.

This practice helps so much because the count breathing can then be transferred into games. One of the best parts about implementing mental skills training in youth athletes is that once a habit is developed, it will stick with them as they get older. However, this same principle that makes mental training helpful can also be detrimental.

A prime example of this is judging performances in a negative way.

The curriculum is both specific to sport as well as age-appropriate life lessons that can be used as building blocks as they advance in age and in their sport.

Both the instruction and the collateral has been developed to plant seeds of positive thinking, confidence building, and obstacle management.

My athletes have been given tools to boost their self-talk, come prepared to play with positive routines to set up for success, and handle challenges with a more positive and resilient approach.

Balancing academics, sports and social activities. He really enjoys meeting with Emily, not just as a Mental Health Coach but also as a friend who cares about how he is doing!

This program brings a much-needed balance to the student athlete! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Bill C. Mental Performance Coaching For Young Athletes. Mental Performance Coaching For Young Athletes Christie Cereshko T How does Mental Performance Coaching help young athletes?

Proactive Confidence. Our Mental Performance Coaching Team has worked with a wide variety of team and individual sports which include:. Meet our Mental Performance Coaches. Emily Marcinowski, M. Athletic Experience: Began playing youth volleyball, basketball, and softball in 4th grade.

Began playing JO travel volleyball at age 11 and continued playing at the elite level until age Played 4 years of Varsity volleyball at Padua Franciscan High School. Won a DII State Championship my senior year at Padua Franciscan High School. Played 4 years of DI volleyball at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania.

Coached at Padua Franciscan High School for 3 seasons and at Maverick Volleyball Club for 3 seasons. Academic Experience: Completed 4 years of MedTrack program at Padua Franciscan High School.

Obtained my counseling license and am a Licensed Professional Counselor LPC. Certified Mental Game Coaching Professional MGCP through training with Sports Psychologist Dr. Patrick Cohn. Carlie Grandjean M. Abbie Ainslie, M.

Frances Bull, M. Braden Bova, M. Michael O'Brien, M. I had many positive memories throughout my athletic career, but also many struggles.

So much time commitment, stress of balancing sports and school, high level competition, having teammates and coaches who pushed me to my limits, etc. I struggled mentally over my career, especially in college. There were times my confidence was shaky, my trust in my abilities wavered, my motivation was hit or miss, my self esteem was torn down, etc.

I cannot imagine how different my experience would have been if I had worked with someone to build these skills in high school or even just had someone to talk to about certain things I was going through throughout my career.

Our Goals:. How do I know I need Mental Performance Coaching? Mental coaching can help if you: Perform inconsistently in competition.

Lose self-confidence. Become distracted easily. Get upset easily after mistakes. Feel tight or anxious in competition. Have a fear of making mistakes.

They are all learned and can be improved with instruction and practice. At the Ohio Center for Sport Psychology we work with serious athletes of all ages and ability levels to help them learn and sharpen these important skills.

We believe that our work is worthwhile because the same mental skills that athletes use in achieving success in sports can be used to achieve success in other areas of their lives.

These nine mental skills are necessary for performing well in sport as well as in non-sport performance situations. At the Ohio Center for Sport Psychology:. Although each of the nine skills is important, its primary importance will occur during one of three phases: long-term development, immediate preparation for performance, and during performance itself.

Level I - These mental skills constitute a broad base for attaining long-term goals, learning, and sustaining daily practice. They are needed on a day-by-day basis for long periods of time, often months and years.

Level II - These skills are used immediately before performance to prepare for performance. They maybe used just before competition begins, or immediately before a specific performance action, such as a golf shot or a free throw in basketball.

The pyramid below represents the relationship of the nine skills to one another. Each of the higher levels incorporates and is based upon the skills of the preceding levels. The nine mental skills associated with athletic success are the same mental skills associated with performance in a wide variety of non-sport, performance situations.

At the Ohio Center for Sport Psychology we help people develop the important skills necessary for high-level performance in sport and non-sport performance situations.

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The Nine Mental Skills of Successful Athletes Jack J. Lesyk, Ph. A Brief List of the Nine Mental Skills Successful Athletes: Choose and maintain a positive attitude.