ANDREW J SIMPSON

Can you still have a positive experience and come out on top in your sport if you have an unkind, command and control, never give praise or encouragement kind of coach?

You can if you learn to take back control of 3 things.

Athlete, you do not have to suffer mentally or emotionally just because you have a coach who does not treat you the way you deserve to be treated.

3 Ways to Take Back Control of Your Experience in Sports 

1. Control what you FOCUS on.

I know, your coach never recognizes your progress. Never tells you good job. Always points out where you fall short. And never really gives you guidance and attention to help you improve.

But what DO you have?

• Teammates that you love being around!
  
• A sport you love playing!
• You have skills you have developed!
• You have goals to work towards! 
  
  

What you focus on ends up being your experience, regardless of what your coach says, does, doesn't say, or doesn't do.

2. Control what...

Coach,

Each and everyday I want to encourage you to pick one player minimum, look them in the eyes, and from your heart say to them, "I care about you. You're going to do great things in your lifetime."

This communicates two things to them:

1. "You have value."

2. "You have a purpose beyond athletics. The best is yet to come for you."

So many of the athletes you coach do not yet believe these truths about themselves. 

If you do this every single day, you will hit your entire team multiple times in a single season.

Words change lives.

And a coach's words are among the most life-changing for a young man or woman. This is the Love-Powered Coaching that I talk about in The Youth Truth book.

As a society, I do not think it is right that we blame coaches for the majority of athlete mental health issues (although there are plenty of cases where this is warranted). Blaming does not encourage or...

If we as parents and coaches do not take responsibility to model and teach the pace of grace to our kids, our kids are headed for chronically impatient, anxiety-ridden, dissatisfied, stressful lives.

They will undoubtedly be crippled forever by the fear of falling behind, not measuring up, not being enough, and this ever-present feeling of doubt and anxiety will overtake them.

Ok, Andrew. What's with the bleak blog post?

My heart hurt after meeting with a 10th grader last week who is experiencing MANY of those things above...

We mapped out her entire weekly calendar and not only is it packed beyond anything I have ever seen, but the message that this type of schedule is sending this young lady is the real issue at hand. 

It reminds me exactly of the circumstances Maddy Holleran faced, a young lady who chose to end her own life in college.

Our Kids Need to See and Experience The Pace of Grace

• Do you...