Feedback Furthers Fun
Positive feedback is imperative in ensuring our young athletes have fun
Over 170+ editions of The Physical Movement and our readers are responding.
I appreciate the feedback, the thoughts and the discussion. The cause is worth it as we have so much work to do.
Most importantly appreciate all of you spending a few minutes.
This week we will jump into the importance of feedback in making sure youth sport and physical activity are positive.
As parents and coaches, it is our responsibility to view youth sport as a positive outlet for our kids. This is key and opposed to the focus only on the me, me, me. My winning record, my kind making the team, my micro circumstances that root us into comparison and really never allow us to enjoy the moment.
Enjoying the moment is what it is all about, yes?
Participation in youth sport is fueled by fun. The more fun had while playing, the more likely they will return for more. More fun, more movement, more opportunities to develop.
Participation is not the same as competence. Competence is the ability to do something efficiently. We don’t develop competence in sport with repetition. We don’t repeat the activity unless we enjoy it, to enjoy it enough to want to come back even when things are challenging.
A key to wanting to comeback = positive feedback.
A good way to make sure they don’t want to come back = criticism and negative feedback.
“I love watching you play” as opposed to “why did you not do this or that"…
The below feedback from our readers motivates me for the next edition of The Physical Movement.
From Coach Doug, in response to the below article
Hi Greg,
Really enjoyed this post! You are right on the money here!
I remember talking to some 15 year old very talented hockey players a few years ago.
They were playing house league.
I asked them why they weren’t playing rep and they said: “It’s just not any fun playing rep anymore: coaches yelling, tons of pressure, riding home with parents and our team didn’t win very often! Here in house league we have a ball!”
Have a great day, Greg!
Doug
From Speed Coach Phil (Thanks Phil):
Great article Greg!!!
Love this: “The reality is, up to 15 years old there is no “elite”. All kids are learning, and they learn and grow at different rates, so some will stand out more at an early age while others catch up.” There are “elite prices” for parents with resources. Also love this: “Our 9 year-olds don’t need to stack up against the best 9 year-olds 3-5 hours away every weekend in order to have fun, develop and learn.”
I could argue, if they are that good at age 9 and need to compete in best-on-best competitions, they matured quickly and the great majority will be caught and passed by kids maturing normally. At age 9, they need to be kids as you have written over and over! They need to play and have fun while learning how to get along with others in a workgroup setting as preparation for life, but and they do not need to be compared in a best-vs-best system.
I’ve had a few baseball athletes coming for two-session speed technique training express similar opinions. I’ve asked, “Are you excited about playing baseball in college?” The response from several high school seniors is, “I don’t really want to play in college. I’m just burnt out on all the travel.” Not every athlete feels this way, but when you hear this message from several baseball athletes who have the credentials of size, speed and skills to continue paying after high school, it raises the question, what’s happening in baseball to cause this?
Baseball athletes have to know the game early -- too early in my opinion. Baseball is similar to the decathlon in track and field as baseball athletes have to be great at several different sport movements. They have to be great at catching, throwing, batting, and be showcase fast. Each discipline requires a different set of high-level skills, which comes from proper technique and practice. Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” theory applied means thousands of reps in each athletic movement. Baseball is Malcom Gladwell X 4.
How is this going to be resolved? I don’t know. The solutions aren’t easy. I’ve thought about this issue for years and still come up with no answers. All I can do is my part. I work with athletes twice, only twice, to teach them optimal speed technique. I give them my book on why it’s important to practice with optimal technique so when they are at practice or at the performance center, they will get a positive neuroplastic adaptation to their training by using consistent optimal technique.
While I’ve seen a few highly skilled baseball athletes drop out of the sport, I sure do love it when I get follow-up email that an athlete has signed with an university and playing the sport they love. - Phil
From movement educator Valerie:
Great article and very important info. As a movement educator turned movement therapist, I notice that early specialization, and in many cases, early athletics can disable the child’s capacity to just play. They get stuck in those early sport practice moves and often refuse to engage in play that doesn’t look like sports. Adding to the picture is the research that 75% of children who start sports as early quit by the age of 12, burned out, and never go back, right at the age when athletics provide the healthy intensity, risk, and peer to peer challenges that adolescents need. (referencing the below article) - Valerie
From Coach Mike Boyle:
Turning Feedback into Action and Contribution:
Positive feedback to our young athletes.
Positive feedback on their performance.
Positive feedback from the coaches and for the coaches.
Using this feedback as a means to enjoying the moment become opportunities to develop.
Defining victory in progress, and not just wins and losses.
Teaching our kids how to face adversity and overcome it. How to persevere towards progress.
In our house, our young athlete has been through a lot. Most young people would have given up playing in facing some of the obstacles he has. Yet, he has persevered and let his passion for being part of a team lead the way.
We live in a culture that is very quick to criticize and this becomes toxic.
We celebrate progress. Each day is an opportunity to make progress.
Take the time to give that positive feedback to your kid, the way we have tried to do that with ours…and hopefully you have fun moments as well.