Mental Skills

Tips from your fellow coaches for implementing mental skills/training:

• Prioritize creating relationships with the kids. Emphasize effort and enjoyment over results.

• Implement different challenges in the go to drills in order to create a different lesson each time it is played. The drills and games can teach teamwork, perseverance, hardworking, honesty and many other important lessons to be used in sports and in the rest of life. 

•  Use certain drills that focus on life skills, and make sure that those are known to the campers

• Having a discussion after the games (even within a water break right after) asking what we learned from it. 

• Encourage behaviours associated with good sportsmanship and patience (ex. Give your partner a high five after every game or activity or say one thing your partner did well in this activity). 

• allow campers to reflect on the drills and interact with one another 

• Set achievable goals within the activity and track progress. This teaches goal-setting skills and the importance of celebrating small wins. 

• Drills/games can not only have sports skills, but also can require decision making and planning skills as well. By requiring campers to the strategize and plan before the game of a successful approach, allowing the camper to think more in this way will build these planning skills. 

• A lot of drills in any sport can teach resilience as campers are bound to make errors and it is our job to teach them that it is ok and necessary for learning. Most games as well teach teamwork and communication skills as talking and working together is typically needed to succeed at most drills. 

• Rather than focus on strictly achieving a physical feat, I can focus certain activities on the mentality or mindset that players should have. Rather than focus on the accomplishment, I can focus on the effort, or the fun, or the critical thinking. 

• MAke games purposefully challenging so they can find the way around it. For example, the human pretzal game requires a lot of communication and is impossible to do siwhtout talking and communicationg. Boring drills may teach dicipline. These are skills that go beyond sport and are valuable in life later on. 

• This year I would really like to emphasize teamwork and integrity in my camps! I think I want to really focus on integrity meaning that I want campers to think about how they carry themselves through life and what do they do when no one is watching. So for instance, do they sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the team? Do they hold the door for other campers? Do they take time to clean up after others without being told? 

• Use your own skill sets! For example, someone who knows nutrition could encouraging healthy eating habits by bringing up random facts about the food a camper is eating (ex. Bananas are great for energy and lessening muscle cramps).  

• Get to know something little about each camper in your group as to connect with them better as well as talking and having discussions with them during breaks etc instead of just eating/ignoring them for example.

• Have the campers discuss with each other what to do better instead of me telling them right away. 

• You can ask the campers how they think a specific activity relates to their sport or how they think the activity could be improved. The drills/games can also teach values such as teamwork, focus, or confidence. 

• "safe pressure": having pressure points in the tennis match will help kids deal with pressure in real life. 

• I enjoy adding teamwork and sportsmanship components to my activities to make them more holistic – such as encouraging campers to celebrate each other’s achievements, along with their own (ex. Tell me one thing you think you did well in this drill). This usually creates a positive environment and boosts the morale of the group – thus lessening the chance of conflict. Aside from sports skills, these kinds of activities can teach the campers about sportsmanship and to focus on their own growth instead of doubting themselves when they see others succeed in the activities they had trouble with. 

• We can make games more holistic by getting the kids involved and having them explain what certain mental skills are required to be successful at the task. From their we can make it a camp wide goal to be conscious of our mental process to activity alongside the physical. 

• You can teach skills such as honing in and focusing, as well as reflecting on a activity and changing behaviour in order to become better. This can teach self reflection skills and other holistic skills needed to complete tasks in life. 

• Kinaesthetic awareness: For track and field especially, a lot of the drills require patience and communication. A lot of field is technical and I always try to ask athletes prompting questions about how they felt and what they may have thought they did (to develop spatial and kinaesthetic body awareness), but it also prompts them to practice effective communication skills as well, while they have to think about how to accurately communicate physical sensations or motions that may otherwise be difficult to articulate. It also may take multiple attempts to attain a certain skill (like pushing hips up and arching your back in high jump), so you have to encourage resiliency, patience, and believing in your own ability (which could be done by asking about another time in their life where they may have had to do this skills, talking about my own experience or another popular athlete's experience, or asking the camper how they may be able to do that). 

• I can take the time before we start a drill to explain that this activity will help them in the future for example in staying positive, therefore they can improve in that and see past just the skill itself. 

• Incorporating a problem solving aspect to teach how to overcome obstacles 

• introduce them to games that involve communication and emphasizing how important and easier the game will be with clear communication. 

Consider these tips gathered from your fellow coaches during staff training for ways to embed mental training into your coaching:

• Life Skill Tips

  • Respect Tips

    • Cleaning up a space as part of a game: play a game to put all the balls in the bin 

    • Listening to coaches and helping put away equipment 

    • Others have different interests when it comes to activities or sports

    • Respect; have them do this by being honest and playing fair and respecting rule enforcers of the game  

  • Fair Play Tips

    • Have a coach intentionally cheat during Beach Bum. Discuss how it makes the game less fun - nobody is an exception to the rules. Being honest makes it fun. 

    • Always shaking hands with your opponent acknowledging sportsmanship, or giving a high five or fist bump to three opponents after completion of a game.

  • Teamwork & Communication Tips

    • If you are planning to play a cooperative game with a new group of campers, consider doing a ice breaker game where they can all learn their names first. 

    • Play games that emphasize teamwork and working together to solve the problem/win

    • Any team game, would work for incorporating the life skill of the importance of communication. You can do one round where no one can talk to each other, so they can see how much more difficult it is to navigate a game as a team when no one can communicate to each other. Then one round where you can talk to each other and make a plan and work together as a team. Then reflect after which one worked better and why

    • Could encourage teamwork and communication in a lengthening throw-and-catch activity. 

    • Playing blob tag or freeze tag where you have to work together in a team to win the game 

    • Playing "don't touch the lava"/Chocolate River. The coach assigns different people different challenges (for example some people have to wear a blindfold, cannot talk, etc.) The objective is to make it across the gym without touching the floor once, and since there are challenges for certain people, everyone has to help each other in order to get across. One rule we had is that if a limb touches the "lava" you lose that limb, so if your hand touches the gym floor, you are no longer allowed to use that arm. Values such as leadership can also be encouraged in this game, as campers will have to take charge to decide how to use the objects to get from point A to B.

    • Working as a team to complete an obstacle course/relay race. By having athletes engage in a race which involves collaborating: ex passing a ball without dropping it to the other side of the gym to every teammate, players will develop communication skills and teamwork. 

    • You could use the life skill teamwork in the game capture the flag, as teams must work together to free their teammates from jail.

    • Cooperation by having campers work together to achieve a common goal like in the ants on a log game. 

    • You could embed communication into a game by choosing a team game where the campers either have to pass a ball or a game in which the campers have invade the other teams' territory. They will have to communicate together to form a strategy. 

    • Communication, seeing partner needs to guide blindfolded partner through an activity.

    • Practicing working together without talking during a silent game.

    • Everyone on the team has to score once to win.

    • In the game ball tag, you could emphasize the life skill teamwork into it. When explaining the rules of the game, it would be important to emphasize the fact that when you are holding the ball, you cannot move your feet, so you need to use your teammates to move the ball around and tag players from the other team. Reminders would be to call out your teammate's name, yell that you're open and communicate. 

    • In the game of dodgeball I suggest embedding teamwork into the game so that the team has to work together to win. You could help others out on your team when they are struggling. 

    • Playing bucketball, a huge life skill that can be embedded in the game is communication. Since you can't move as soon as you have the ball, it is important to communicate with your teammates to have someone to pass to, to move the ball down the court.

    • When playing a sport or game that is not the focused sport, values of teamwork and group cohesiveness should be stressed as very important. A way to instill this into the campers would be to continuously point out the importance of teamwork and the importance of working together to a complete a common goal like in capture the flag, dodgeball, basketball or other team based games. 

    • Cheering each other on as part of teamwork

    • During the game have campers call out each others name before making a pass. If they do not know the other campers name or do not call their name at all then they cannot make the pass. This will help campers learn others names and learn the importance of communication during games to succeed as a team and develop communication skills. Make sure campers aren't just passing to the campers that they know by name constantly, they should make a pass to everyone by the end of the game. 

    • Communication. During passing drill, have campers call for the ball and use body language to show that they are open.

    • Having them work with a new partner every 5 mins to I still the life skill of working together.

    • Have teams and allow them to make a plan or strategy for the game.

• Other Life Skill Tips

  • Taking turns in games helps with patience 

  • Learning how to deal with failure and not being good at something the first time 

  • Time management - add a time limit to games with multiple steps and force campers to prioritize. 

  • Leadership - allow campers to take a leadership role such as being the card holder in ace masters to teach them leadership skills 

  • Fun - before the start of each small game get the campers to show their biggest smile 

  • Play name ball - memorize your other campers name requires cooperation and concentration 

  • The importance of not cheating in games or in life. in a game you get a penalty and in real life when you don't follow rules or laws the consequences are much worse 

  • Importance of Rest: Our activities can take a lot of energy and rest is just as important as training

  • During an activity where kids may have to wait their turn. You can talk with kids about how they can support or cheer on their peers while they wait instead of being unfocused and impatient as they wait 

• Performance Skill Tips

  • Activation Control Tips

    • graveyard is a great one as not only do players need to manage their energy levels so do those not playing as to not interrupt the game.

  • Confidence Tips

    • If playing a soccer activity a student who is typically strong in sports like basketball comes up to you and says they can't play soccer because they aren't good enough, this would be a great opportunity to teach students the importance of confidence and self talk. This can enhance their performance skills. 

    • Build confidence amongst campers by giving them a chance to succeed and thrive in a specific game. 

    • Tell the children that they are doing awesome and give specific encouraging feedback.

  • Goal Setting Tips

    • Could ask campers to set process goals that they would like to focus on during the activity and give them a chance to self-evaluate whether or not they successful in reaching their goal. 

    • Goal setting is one that I like to weave into multi-sport games. Having the campers work out their own scoring systems and, in some cases, objectives allows them to have involvement in their goals while building friendly competition. It can also be helpful to have the campers try a game and then ask for feedback, then rework the game to match their objectives later if possible. This way, the campers are engaged and building their own athletic goals. 

    • For throw and catch, play peas in a pod. They do this once and they are told the time of how fast they did it in. Next they pick a goal time for them to complete this, depending on the age group sometimes they select "unrealistic" goals (20 seconds), but then they get to learn and see how to set achievable goals while working on strategies for how to achieve that goal (smaller distance passes rather than out of control long tosses). 

  • Imagery Tips

    • If we are doing a harder drill and some of the kids are struggling with it, I would suggest trying to use visualization/imagery in order to help them succeed

    • Practice imagery before trying a new skill 

    • If you have campers in a soccer sport specific block, you could do a drill such as practicing taking penalty shots/corner kicks, and encourage the campers to utilize imagery. I.e. have the campers imagine themselves placing the ball in a specific spot, (or on net) and how the movement would feel

    • Imagery - regardless of the drill being done, encouraging campers to visualize themselves being successful (i.e. clearing the bar, hitting the target, etc.) Could also tie in positive self-talk here. 

  • Self-talk Tips

    • Add in positive self talk by having campers recite and affirmation before an in game activity 

    • A really good way to incorporate self-talk for athletes in a basketball block is during a shoot drill, allowing the drill to begin as normal. After everyone has taken a few shots, stopping athletes and asking all of them to either in their head or verbally to tell themselves they are going to make the shot before they take it. After this has occurred for awhile you can stop and ask athletes if they saw an increase in their shots made and if they did not you can ask them if telling themselves they were going to succeed felt better than either nothing at all or if they were thinking about missing prior to the intervention! 

    • I like to teach self-talk to young athletes by asking them to tell me or their team how they felt about a skill or about how their team is doing *before* sharing my own thoughts as a coach. Externalizing their self talk builds communication and also gives the campers context even before they're old enough to understand the idea of self-talk. Essentially, taking time for campers to give themselves feedback lays the foundation for later mental training. It also makes them want to improve. 

  • Focus/High Pressure Situation Tips

    • One of the performance skills I can embed is focus through games that has many things going on at once. An example of this can be a game where you have your own pinnie and you have to not only focus on protecting yours, but you also have to try to grab others. Focusing comes into play where there are many things you have to keep in mind 

    • Playing dead fish in volleyball, when the teams get down to the last player, or last few players. Talk about confidence and positive self-talk in a high-pressure situation, knowing you can make the serve and you will. 

    • (Vball) have them serve 5 times making all of them in a row and then taking a minute of standing and doing nothing (simulating a timeout) and then going back and making the serve in. 

    • (Bball) Playing bump in a basketball session would allow for players to improve their free throws, lay ups and also get used to performing under pressure. 

    • (Bball) have other kids make noise during free throw competition 

    • If someone is about to win the game, I like to build pressure and have all campers watch. This teaches students how to deal with pressure situations. 

    • Focus - for example before batting in baseball get them to stare at the pitcher/ball for a count of 3 

    • Practicing focus so the audience could either be making a lot of noise during the free throw or the audience could be completely silent. This will make the person throwing have to focus. 

  • Routine Tips

    • When playing a serving game, have the camper practice getting in the 'zone' in order to make the serve if there is distracting noises

    • Get the campers to make up a pre-skill routine 

• Values Tips

  • I would embed value into a game by teaching the campers to identify and acknowledge effort of the other campers. Not all young athletes are going to have a high set of skills or abilities compared to other athletes but it is important that they understand that the most important aspect is that they come everyday to camp to give their best effort. I would encourage the campers and coaches to share positive words of encouragement with each other based on campers showing great levels of effort (does not mean that campers should not be acknowledged for showing skill improvement at all) 

  • I would embed a (personal) value of progress over perfection into the young athletes. One way I could do this is through a batting practice game with campers. At the beginning of the week, I could take note of how different campers are with batting, maybe physically noting down how far they are able to hit or if they are completely unable at the time to get the swing of things. This will feel a lot more rewarding towards the end of the week, where I can pull up their stats and remind them how much they have progressed, and how this is something to be proud of (no matter their performance amongst other peers)

  • Helping others who are not familiar with the game/sport