When is the right time to start mental training? Our child only plays sports recreationally, why would they need mental training? What are the benefits of mental training for such young children? Given the high interest in this topic, we often get asked: ‘Is my child too young for mental training?’ and many similar questions. Let’s dive into our response.
We view mental training as an essential part of preparation, just like technical-tactical, conditioning, and any other training. Many athletes have recognized the need to work on the psychological aspect of preparation. However, there are still many athletes, coaches, and parents of young athletes who doubt the importance of mental preparation and give it too little significance, both in daily training and in competitions.
Why Mental Training for Child Athletes?
- Research shows that nearly 75% of children quit sports after the age of 13
- For children, training becomes less and less fun, and competitions bring stress they don’t know how to handle
- Children show much less in competition than they do in training – they lack the skills to control tension and concentration
- Through unsuccessful and stressful competitions, children develop a poor self-image and a lack of confidence
We understand the concern and worry about working with primary school-aged children, so we will provide you with insight based on our experience
Respecting individual differences among children
First of all, we must take into account that one 10-year-old child, in terms of their abilities and psychophysical development, is not the same as another 10-year-old. In Children vary significantly in the earlier stages of sports development, so we must respect these differences. Similarly, we cannot assume that every 10-year-old will be cognitively mature enough to handle the demands of mental preparation.
After getting to know the child, we and the parents decide whether the child is mature enough to start working or if it would be better to wait another year or so.
Experience tells us that children can begin working on mental preparation as early as 9-10 years old. Questions that are likely going through most parents’ minds now are: ‘Isn’t this too early? Why so early?’
Why Mental Training for Primary School Students?
Today’s demands in sports, the increasingly early involvement of children in sports, early specialization, and the competitive system from a young age lead to children starting to train like adult athletes from a very young age. Not to mention the school obligations and balancing sports and school. Often, it seems that children are thrust into the whirlwind of sports without knowing how to handle it. They are simply not prepared to meet all the demands placed before them. This is entirely understandable because no one has had the opportunity to teach them how to cope with defeat, how to calm themselves when under pressure, or how to focus.
How many times have we heard phrases at practice like: ‘Focus! Where is your head?’
A child doesn’t know how to focus, doesn’t know how to calm down, and doesn’t have a better way to handle pressure. Often, we see children in front of us and behave as if they were adults. In this situation, coaches are often the least to blame. We believe that coaches are doing the best they can and know-how but the exceptional demands of the job, a busy training schedule, and the large number of children prevent them from being able to fully dedicate themselves to each child.
There are some limitations regarding what aspects of mental preparation are suitable for working with children and which methods are more appropriate. For this reason, we have also decided on involving children in group mental training, which we currently offer exclusively in collaboration with sports clubs.
Benefits of Group Mental Training:
- Working in a small group contributes to children opening up and relaxing more quickly
- Children hear the experiences of other young athletes in the group and realize that similar situations happen to everyone
- Continuous monitoring of athletes in the group during the mental training sessions
- Mutual encouragement to work and group support in achieving goals
Of course, the techniques covered and practiced (such as relaxation methods, goal setting, visualization, learning positive self-talk, and others) are adapted to the age group we work with. The techniques themselves are not difficult to understand, and continuous group work allows us to monitor the success of adopting mental preparation techniques.
In my time, that didn’t exist
Yes, unfortunately, we believe that wasn’t the case. Perhaps today there would be more mature people in Croatia and around the world involved in sports. We also believe that the demands placed on children today are much greater than they used to be. Times are changing, whether we accept it or not.
What do children actually learn through Mental Training?
Applicability to school – we are always amazed at how many different mental preparation methods and techniques children manage to apply in a school context 🙂
Focus in key moments – children learn to maintain concentration during crucial moments of competition, leading to better results
Calmness under pressure – they practice methods to achieve calmness during
Consistency of motivation – by focusing on well-set goals, children maintain strong motivation
Focus during competition – with well-set goals and directing their efforts toward tasks that help achieve those goals, children achieve better results in competitions
We hope we’ve helped you understand the importance of mental preparation starting from primary school. If you have any questions or would like your child to start mental training, please feel free to contact us. We are here to support your children!
Luka Škrinjarić, MSc psych.
Mental Training, Director
