Tag Archives: Emotional Aptitude in Sports

Sports and Optimism – Part 3

Posted on May 10, 2020 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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Question: Do you think feedback from coaches and parents is helpful?

Evan: Yes, I like it when they compliment me on my effort the most. But it interests me to hear all their observations. It helps me improve.

Jarrod: I typically don’t welcome feedback. I pretty much know why I won or lost. I don’t need their comments…I’m smart, remember?

By reading the initial Q & A from the twins, you can see how one’s mindset affects everything. It’s important to note that the individual’s fixed or growth mindset determines critical life development. The good news is that fixed mindsets don’t have to be permanent. Athletes are not chained to their old belief systems.

In my 30 years of working with National Champions, I’ve found that winners are the ones who choose to master their sport. Mastery stems from devoting your heart and soul, which is emotional aptitude. The beauty is that developing a growth mindset improves not only the athlete’s career but their attitude, relationships, and health.

 

Changing a Fixed Mindset

Ideally, every time you hear your old, pessimistic, fixed mindset making excuses for you, acknowledge that just maybe your fixed mindset is mirroring your own false insecurities, stunting your growth, and limiting your opportunities. Having a growth mindset requires a willingness to try new solutions. Below are six common scenarios that play out in the minds of many athletes. Athletes have to replace their old pessimistic thoughts with new optimistic thoughts. When the fixed mindset states something negative, the new improved growth mindset should answer with a positive solution to the problem.

 

Fixed-Mindset: says, “Maybe I don’t have the talent. I shouldn’t waste my time training 100%.”

Growth-Mindset: answers, “Even if lose a bit now, with a customized development plan and effort I can build the skills necessary to succeed.”

 

Fixed Mindset: says, “Confrontation is so intimidating and frightening. It’s scary and unsettling.”

Growth Mindset: answers, “High-performance sports are confrontational, but it’s not personal, it’s the nature of the environment.”

 

Fixed Mindset: says, “What if I fail… I’ll be seen by peers, friends, and family as a failure.”

Growth Mindset: answers, “Most successful athletes have failed hundreds of times throughout their career. Failure is a natural part of growth.”

 

Fixed Mindset: says, “If I fake an injury or don’t try, I can protect my ego and keep my dignity.”

Growth Mindset: answers, “Lying to myself is an automatic failure. Where’s the integrity in that?”

 

Fixed Mindset: says “If I can’t be perfect, there’s no use in trying.”

Growth Mindset: answers, “champions in every sport are simply excellent not perfect. I’ll shoot for that. Perfectionism is toxic.”

 

Fixed Mindset: says, “It’s not my fault. The coach doesn’t like me. My parents are pushing me…”

Growth Mindset: answers, “Solutions stem from developing life skills like taking responsibility, persistency, resiliency, and better organizational skills. What can I do to progress?”

 

Your voice is your choice

It’s important to note that athletes need to be accountable for their mindset, attitude, and outlook. If you feel you have a bit of a fixed mindset, listen and spot those negative voices. It takes effort and commitment to flip a fixed mindset with a new, proactive growth mindset. Congratulations are in order for those of you willing to improve your mindset.

Along the lines of mindsets, improving one’s life skills promotes a healthier, self-reliant individual. Life skills are universal stepping stones necessary to succeed in sports and life. At the heart of emotional aptitude is the ability to be self-reliant and self-disciplined, two of my favorite life skills.

 

Parents, if you’re hovering over your junior athlete and solving every problem for them, you’re affectionately known as a Helicopter Parent. By doing so, you’re actually stunting the growth of the essential life lesson skills you seek.

 

No matter the age, coping with success and failure, and managing one’s emotions are skills worth developing. The physical value of participating in sports is only the beginning. Champions take life skill development seriously. Ownership of life skills is the pathway toward developing a strong moral character. Virtues such as courage, fortitude, resiliency, and honesty define strong moral character. With these traits, an athlete has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

 

Tough Love Insights to Successful Competitive Tennis- Part 11

Posted on April 9, 2020 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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Advance competitive tennis demands more than simply hitting another basket of balls. Parents and players need to recognize and understand that:

  • To compete at the highest levels, mental, and emotional tennis training must be part of the athlete’s developmental plan.
  • The real issues of competitive failures.
  • Inefficient training routines need to be redirected.

The following posts list some common training missteps that competitive tennis players and parents need to acknowledge and refine to maximize performance.

 

Tough Love Insights to Successful Competitive Tennis

Insight Eleven: Clean strokes will get you into the event, fitness will progress you into the later rounds, but mental and emotional aptitude will win the tournament for you – if you’ve developed it.

Possible Solution: Play practice sets with a specific training goal such as closing out leads, hitting the shot the moment demands, and handling those “creative line callers.”

Eliminating Internal Judgment – Part 2

Posted on August 29, 2018 by in The Soft Science of Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Soft Science of Tennis. Click Here to Order through Amazon

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How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution #2:
Judgments through Comparisons

Judgmental thoughts typically stem from past or future thought comparisons. Typical thoughts of comparison in the heat of battle include, “Jason beat this dude. I can’t lose, I’ve got to prove I’m better than Jason,” “Kristin is ranked below me, and if I lose today, she’ll take my spot on the team,” “What are my parents and coaches going to say if I lose?” “Here I go…Choking again!”

Judgmental thoughts play havoc in the minds of our competitive athletes every day. Athletes in competition, with judgmental comparison thoughts, contaminate the match play process, which results in fighting two opponents, simultaneously- their negative thoughts and the real opponent.

Advanced athletes seeking better results often don’t have to learn more technical skills; they have to shift their attention to developing better self-communication skills. Keep in mind that the athlete’s inner voice will be with them long after they stop competing on the tennis court. Isn’t it worth the time to assist them in developing their lifelong self-coaching tools? Winning is much more likely when our athletes understand the art of self-coaching.

 

How to Strengthen Self Coaching Solution # 3:
Positive Inner Dialog

The third method of conquering the athlete’s negative inner dialog is through positive self-coaching with Neuro Priming. It is estimated that individuals have roughly 60,000 thoughts per day. Trading in a turbulent mental state for a relaxed, calming proactive state is essential.

What is Neuro Priming and why is it an essential addition to an athlete’s preparation? Neuro Priming is the science of preprogramming the athlete’s inner trust in their match solutions.

Mental rehearsals customize each athlete’s positive inner dialog by organizing their physical, mental and emotional solutions into audio recordings in their voice. Listening to one’s inner dialog audio tapes increases tennis IQ, reprograms old pessimistic beliefs, changes negative behaviors, speeds up the learning process, increases focus, assists the athletes in quickly fixing stroke flaws, staying on their script of patterns, coping with stress, nervousness and the fear of failure. Neuro Priming isn’t meant to replace on-court physical training; its purpose is to enhance it. It’s self-coaching at its best. (Visit #1 Best Seller on Amazon: Neuro Priming for Peak Performance, Giampaolo).

 

Importance of Emotional Development

Posted on February 23, 2018 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from Emotional Aptitude In Sports NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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Importance of Emotional Development

 

In competitive sports, our emotions need to be trained as much as our techniques. Why? Because being “clutch” at crunch time is all about confidence, and confidence is an emotional element. In life, research has shown that emotional skills are more important than the memorization of facts, more important than past experience, and even more important than I.Q. Champions understand that managing emotions opens the door to thinking on your feet.

 

Unsuccessful athletes often have a lack of emotional aptitude that limits their ability to adapt, to manage themselves, to manage their teammates or to manage their opponents and to control their athletic environment.

 

Stress is Often Nurtured

Jenny Constantine is a student of mine. She is a tall, lanky 15-year-old elegant athlete from San Diego. She has the appearance of a 1960’s hippie child but with a very short fuse.

Jenny’s dad, Pat, firmly believes that Jenny’s the best athlete in every event, yet is baffled and furious when she loses to less talented opponents most weekends. The ride home after Jenny’s losses resemble a prisoner transport vehicle with Jenny in the back seat getting an abusive interrogation. Pat doesn’t realize that these post-event tirades are just one of the causes of Jenny’s poor performances. (Not only does Jenny suffer the devastating loss on the court, she has to relive the trauma on the drive home from each event.)

Sadly, Pat’s unmet expectations have no basis in reality. These losses don’t stem from poor athleticism, they stem from her underdeveloped emotional aptitude. Jenny’s negative emotional state is a result of Pat’s pessimistic view of the world, which he has successfully nurtured into Jenny.

Pat’s an old school, college athlete. Basketball in fact. He was the kind of athlete that handled his negative emotions the old fashion way, by ignoring and suppressing them.  Pat doesn’t call for any coaching assistance before Jenny’s sectional or national events. He believes that his division 3 college basketball experience is enough to successfully coach his daughter onto the WTA Pro Tour. Pat only contacts me during Jenny’s meltdowns.

A few weeks later at the Super National, Pat’s texts start rolling in as Jenny is mid-match and going down in flames. I texted back, “Obviously it’s too late to preset her protocols and to provide preventative medicine for this event, so let’s just meet for lunch when you get back. Try to enjoy the weekend and the fact that you have such a cool kid!”

A few days later our lunch meeting went like this:

Pat: Thanks for meeting, I’m about to give up. She doesn’t listen to me … She just chokes under pressure. Maybe she’s not cut out for this. She should just quit and be a normal kid.

Frank: Pat, I know you don’t believe in emotional training but what if your old belief system is wrong? What if there was a new approach? Is it possible that there’s another way to look at Jenny’s situation?

Pat: Look, if you have other options…you’ve got my attention. I love my little girl but watching her kick butt in practice sessions and then routinely meltdown in competition is too much for me to handle.

Frank: First of all, thanks for being open enough to hear another person’s point of view. What I’m going to explain to you is what I’m going to teach Jenny. Remember, this isn’t an overnight cure. Jenny’s been stumbling down the same negative pathway in competition for years. It’ll take time to re-route her programming. Does that make sense?

Pat: Yes… I’m all ears.

Frank: Negative emotions, like anger; don’t have to be seen as negative. These emotions are a call for a response. Jenny has preset a pessimistic protocol when angry. She chooses, and I mean chooses, to respond with a self-defeatist attitude. This may sound crazy but anger can have a positive call to action. Anger can start an upward spiral as the new call of duty. Positive verbal triggers might include: I’m not losing to her! Wake up! Let’s go! Right now! You see, we need to link a new response system to Jenny’s negative emotions.

Pat: Oh…I get it. So you’re saying that anger is kinda like fire. It can burn the house down or simply heat the home and help cook the meals… Right?

Frank: Exactly!  Jenny has to be educated to acknowledge her feelings but then change her perception of the feelings. This changes her action plan from her pessimistic downward spiral to her new optimistic upward spiral of actions.

Pat: So her old emotional state doesn’t have to be her future emotional state? I’m embarrassed to say that she gets that from me and I got it from my old man. He was especially stern and very negative … impossible to please! When do we start to fix Jenny? I want to reset her training priorities and set new emotional protocols. Is there anything I can do to help prep her for these sessions?

Frank: Absolutely!  Begin by asking her to jot down five positive memories of her overcoming anger, fear, and/or nervousness in competition. We’ll need to have her choose to systematically manage her competitive memories better. These are the resources needed to flip her pessimistic thought such as: “Here we go again, I always blow it.” “I’m going to choke another one away.” To new optimistic protocols such as:  “I’ve done it before… I’m doing it again.” “I’m trusting myself and playing to win!” These memories are the emotional tools used by successful athletes.  Have her bring her top 5 list next week.

Pat: Got it! Is there anything else I can do to help make this right?

Frank: Yes, apologize to Jenny. Own up to it. Explain to her your history with her grandfather. Realize that these solutions have deeper implications- you are stopping the abuse cycle. You’re not just helping Jenny, you’re helping your future grandkids by stopping this pessimistic cycle. Optimism leads to the growth, confidence and the happiness you seek.

 

Emotional aptitude is not just important for Jenny, it is an essential component to all aspiring high-performance athletes. How important is emotional aptitude in the heat of battle? In my research, I’ve estimated that approximately 80% of winnable competitions were lost for reasons related to emotional inadequacies. Examples include:

  • Weakness in handling fear, pressure or stress.
  • Failure to stay on script (Pre-set plays and patterns.)
  • Powerlessness to control emotions and/or train of thought.
  • Lack of personal leadership qualities in times of conflict.
  • Inabilities to problem solve and adapt.
  • Inability to call up the adrenaline at crunch time.
  • Frailty in handling gamesmanship and intimidation.

 

If any of the above emotional inadequacies resonate with you, proper, customized action needs to be taken. Simply identifying the problem is not the solution, it is just the beginning.

Does Your Child Need Mental/Emotional Training?

Posted on June 24, 2017 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, Emotional Tennis, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

What’s the true cause of your athletes match failure? Is your child non-athletic? Do they possess flawed strokes?  Or do their match failures stem from mental or emotional deficiencies? Take the below quiz to see if a lack of mental, emotional training is keeping your athlete from the results they deserve.  All the Best, Frankblack_ebook_design2

 

DOES YOUR CHILD NEED MENTAL/EMOTIONAL TRAINING?

Understand mental/emotional training is the practical application of finding solutions to common pitfalls. We often hear, “My child has trouble closing out a 5-2 lead”, “My child plays terrific in practice but horribly in matches”, “My son can’t beat a moonball, pusher”, “My daughter can’t handle cheaters!”, “My son has trouble focusing for the whole match!”

Essentially, the mental component consists of the X’s and   O’ of strategy. The emotional component refers to the athlete’s ability to navigate through performance anxieties that many athletes see as challenges. Often, these two component are intertwined.

Parents are often hesitant and a bit unclear about the role of mental or emotional training. This type of instruction involves more than simple fundamental stroke production. Developing the “hidden” skill set within your child’s game is crucial for peak performance. It is a myth that only children with abnormal behavioral problems need mental or emotional guidance.

 

Do we have to change primary coaches to begin working on these issues?

 

No, not at all! A mental training coach can assist your primary coach and become a part of the team. In fact, the most intelligent coaches will encourage their players to seek out such training. It’s a win-win situation for both the client and the professional.

 

Is a lack of Mental/Emotional training holding your child back from getting the results they deserve?

 

TAKE THE QUIZ

The following questions can be used to determine whether your child is in need of mental/emotional training. Good Luck!

  • My child plays incredible on the practice court but often falls apart in matches. Yes/No
  • My child avoids playing full practice matches most week. Yes/No
  • In matches, my child’s focus is only on winning versus actual performance goals. Yes/No
  • My child doesn’t apply proper change over and between point rituals in matches. Yes/No
  • My child is unorganized in planning their weekly training schedules. Yes/No
  • My child has not yet developed his/her secondary strokes. Yes/No
  • My child has super high expectations and expects to perform perfectly every match. Yes/No
  • We haven’t yet put together our entourage of hitters, teachers, and trainers. Yes/No
  • My child hasn’t developed plans or patterns to beat moonball/pushers. Yes/No
  • My child hasn’t developed plans or patterns to beat hard hitting baseliners. Yes/No
  • My child has problems managing their stress, anger, and mistakes. Yes/No
  • My child hasn’t yet developed their groups of proactive patterns. Yes/No
  • We do not understand or utilizes periodization training. Yes/No
  • My child has trouble dealing with external and internal distractions. Yes/No
  • My child doesn’t spot mega points and mini mega points. Yes/No
  • My child doesn’t know the difference between a positive mega point and a negative mega point. Yes/No
  • My child lacks confidence in his/her abilities. Yes/No
  • My child has trouble coping with cheaters. Yes/No
  • In matches, my child’s mind often wanders to the past or the future. Yes/No
  • My child’s training has primarily focused on stroke mechanics. Yes/No
  • My child wants to win so badly it affects his/her performance. Yes/No
  • My child freezes under stress and plays “Not to lose” instead of playing “to win.” Yes/No
  • My child words, “I want to be a pro”, don’t match his/her actions. Yes/No
  • My child doesn’t know how to spot the opponents tendencies in match play. Yes/No
  • My child hasn’t spent time identifying his/her mental game strengths and weaknesses. Yes/No

 

ANSWERS: If you or your child checked “Yes” to any of the above questions, you may want to consider mental and emotional training.

 

Peak performance under stress is not reserved for the gifted few, it’s the “software’ that needs to be developed along with the athletic hardware. Simply put, being mentally or emotionally tough under stress is a learned behavior.

 

Competitive Dramas: Internal Struggles

Posted on May 17, 2017 by in Emotional Tennis, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

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QUESTION: What does emotional conduct have to do with winning?

 

Frank:  Maintaining peak performance is dependent on a player’s emotional intelligence. Let’s look deeper into where an athlete’s focus shifts during competition when they leave their optimal performance state of mind.

Optimal emotional conduct is a performance state of mind which allows a competitor to reach and maintain their peak performance level. It’s important to note that even though stroke mechanics are solidified in a non-stressful practice environment, poor emotional control can cause solid fundamentals to faultier under stressful match conditions.

“Pre-setting appropriate solutions is emotional readiness.”

Champions in their optimal emotional state of mind report being very happy, confident, dialed into the moment, flowing not forcing, feeling confident, safe and secure, performing on script, being ready and optimistic about the match.

Often the difference between a great competitor and good competitor is the understanding and implementation of their optimal emotional conduct.

“Average athletes unknowingly drift in and out of their competitive script – floating through their under and over arousal state of mind. This instability allows their performance level to drop significantly.”

Very few athletes have been taught to be aware of their emotional state of being. An athlete’s optimal emotional state is dependent on their ability to spot their under-arousal and the over-arousal states of mind.

Performance Anxiety Symptoms and Causes

Posted on October 13, 2016 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most on-line retailers!  Click Here to Order

 Frank Giampaolo

Performance Anxiety Symptoms and Causes 

Performance anxieties appear in a broad spectrum. Some athletes seem to fear nothing…some fear everything. Most have their personal anxiety triggers that should be discovered and examined. If you suspect that your child is experiencing excessive performance anxiety, it’s time to look at the common signs. If your athlete’s lack of personal belief is over-riding their actual ability then they’re battling performance anxiety which is part of the emotional development of the game.

Emotional Development is just as important as stroke development.

I’ve listed four categories of common performance anxiety symptoms.  If you suspect that your child’s fear of competition, confrontation or adversity is affecting their performance, it may be time to gather the coaches for an emotional training session. Ask your child to check any below symptoms that they feel describes them on match day. Design a new action plan to overcome each issue.

Match Day Symptoms

Physical Symptoms:

  1. Shallow, fast breathing
  2. Increased muscle tension throughout the body
  3. Increased perspiration
  4. Feeling dizzy and weak in the knees
  5. Feeling that your body is on the court but your mind is somewhere else

Mental Symptoms:

  1. Inability to focus one point at a time
  2. Over thinking (choking)
  3. Under thinking (panicking)
  4. Reoccurring thoughts of failure
  5. 5. Worrying about others opinions of their performance
  6. 6. Obsessing about others rankings & successes

Emotional Symptoms:

  1. Self-doubt in strokes as seen in “pushing”
  2. Self-doubt in stamina & strength as seen in reckless shot selection (to end points prematurely)
  3. Nervousness, hesitation & fearful performance
  4. Stressing about uncontrollable variables
  5. Not taking the time to enjoy the moment

Behavioral Symptoms:

  1. Not performing match day routines & rituals
  2. Hurrying & fast pace walking
  3. Having mini tantrums, racket cracking or mindless fast walking/play
  4. Forgetting the basic ball striking functions
  5. Allowing the opponent or situation to control your playing speeds

Improving Confidence and Low Self Esteem

Posted on August 23, 2016 by in Emotional Aptitude in Sports

I’m excited to announce that my new book: Emotional Aptitude in Sports is scheduled for a fall 2016 release. The below post discusses the role of emotional intelligence in rekindling confidence.

Enjoy the ride!

Frank

IMPROVING CONFIDENCE AND LOW SELF ESTEEMFrank Giampaolo

Regardless of the reason, athletes who begin to doubt their true capabilities need to flip their negative outlook before their negative beliefs ruin their practices and performances.

 

“A positive outlook is a prerequisite to positive performances.”

A lack of confidence can stem from a singular reasons or a combination of reasons. As always, solutions are dictated by their cause.

 

Typical Causes of Low Confidence:

1) Athlete has slacked off in their weekly training regiments…

2) Athlete has not trained efficiently (quality over quantity)…

3) Athlete is injured, sick or are returning to the game after an injury or sickness…

4) Athlete’s pessimistic attitude is getting the best of them…

5) Athlete has under-performed in recent competition and lost a few close matches to players they believe they should beat…

 

Rekindling confidence starts with a rebuilding of the belief systems.

 

“Confidence is a progressive spiral of numerous positive inputs which leads to a positive attitude…which in turn leads to new positive actions that leads to positive results.”

 

Let’s first look deeper into common stepping stones that will help rekindle an athlete’s confidence:

  • Re-Commit to Getting Fit Start with being the best athlete they can be. Hit the gym and hit the track – gain strength and improve stamina, speed and agility.
  • Clear the Mind: Re-Focus on Tennis Teens can get derailed by numerous factors including: school, parties, peer pressure, other sports, hobbies, shopping, etc. Re-organize your weekly planner.
  • Customize the Instruction Practice in the manner in which you are expected to perform. Build a game plan around exposing strengths while hiding weaknesses. Customize the athlete’s style to their brain and body type. Develop and rehearse the critical Top 7 Patterns of play.
  • Promote and Educate Independence Independent problem solving promotes confidence on and off the court. Even though some parents think they are helping, it may be wise to slowly stop doing everything for your little Phenom.
  • Surround Them with Supportive People Positive coaches, trainers and friends with good character are key. Is his new girlfriend pulling his focus in a new direction? Do her new friends at school want to party and shop all the time? Is her coach pessimistic?
  • Help Others Ask your athlete to teach the under privileged kids for free at the park and rec or assist the local food bank once a month and feed the homeless. Seeing the positive attitude of someone less fortunate reminds them how fortunate they truly are…
  • Avoid Negative Comments Derogatory comments, a negative tone of voice, offensive, threatening body language or even facial expressions can tear down a sensitive player’s confidence. Cut out the negative influences in their life. Pessimism is contagious and very toxic.
  • Perfectionists Set the Bar Too High Unrealistic expectations kill confidence. Parents, just because your son won last week’s tournament, don’t expect him to win every one from now on. Players, a sure fire way to disable your confidence is to expect perfection. Even if you’re in the zone for a while, it’s a borrowed experience. No one owns the zone. No one stays in the zone and lives there year around.

 

“Parents and coaches, it’s important to communicate to your athlete that they can’t go back and rewrite a better past…but they can start today and write a better future.”

 

FOCUS ON POSITIVE INFLUENCES

 

“Guidance from a coach or parent with a negative mindset is extremely toxic to a child.”

 

Exposing and destroying pessimistic beliefs and attitudes is an integral part of my daily mission, both personally and professionally. It’s your job as the tennis parent to eliminate these poisons from your athlete’s world. Sadly, it’s often a parent, sibling, friend or coach that’s feeding the negative beliefs and pessimistic attitudes. It is in your best interest to remedy this issue or remove the negative source(s) from the child’s tennis entourage. Parents, just as it is your duty to remove negative psychology, it is your responsibility to teach positive psychology. Teach belief and confidence, find their motivational buttons, develop their desire and hunger for mastering the game and teach them to embrace the challenge. These positive life lessons are part of raising athletic royalty.  If you teach the love of the game and the benefits of commitment, your athlete will progress seamlessly through the losses, technical difficulties, injuries and bad luck that come with athletics.

Allow the tennis teachers to teach, the coaches to coach and the trainers to train because as you know now, the tennis parent’s job description is far too comprehensive to micro manage each entourage’s role.

 

Mind Sets: Fixed versus Growth

Similar to the two sides of psychology, there are also two mind sets. Coaches often see student’s with either a fixed mind set or a growth mind set. While the athlete’s genetic predisposition is undoubtedly present, it’s most often the nurtured opinions of their parents, siblings and coaches that set their outlook.

1) A person with a debilitating fixed mind set truly believes that they cannot change. They are extremely rigid, view the world as black or white and are un-interested in change. Their unwillingness to accept new challenges often results in remaining average at best.

2) A person with a growth mind set believes that their opinions, outlooks, attitudes and abilities can and will change throughout their lives. Growth mind set individuals are more willing and open to accept change in the name of progress/improvement.

 

“Raising athletic royalty is a direction, not a destination. What you choose to teach your children now will live on for generations to come.”

 

I find that parents who encourage both positive psychology and a growth mind set are developing much more than a future athlete, they are developing future leaders.

 

CONTACT: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net