Youth sports can provide incredible opportunities for children to develop confidence, discipline, resilience, leadership, and lifelong friendships. But the environment surrounding an athlete matters just as much as the sport itself.
For young athletes, that environment doesn't end when practice or competition is over. It follows them home.
At SPMI, this is one of the most common challenges we see among athletes who are just entering our program. Athletes and parents often seek out our services because of a frustrating pattern: the athlete consistently underperforms in competition despite demonstrating a much higher level of performance in practice.
Parents will tell us, “I don't understand. I've seen what they're capable of. They look like a completely different athlete in practice.”
And they're often right.
One of the most common questions I receive from parents is, "How much should my child be training?"
One of the biggest misconceptions in sports is the belief that successful athletes are always motivated. In reality, even the most accomplished athletes experience days when they do not feel like training, competing, or putting in the work necessary to improve. The difference is not that they have more motivation. The difference is that they have developed discipline.
Every parent wants their child to be confident. They cheer from the sidelines, invest countless hours driving to practices and tournaments, and provide support in ways that often go unnoticed. Yet despite their best intentions, some common parent behaviors can unintentionally damage an athlete's confidence over time.
One of the greatest challenges we see at SPMI is emotional control, particularly anger. Parents often reach out to us because their young athlete's emotions are interfering with their ability to perform at their full potential. Over the years, we have helped thousands of athletes improve and, in many cases, master their emotional control both in sport and in life. Yet anger remains one of the most common and visible struggles athletes face.
At SPMI, we work with athletes of all ages and across a wide range of sports, but one of the most consistent patterns we see is this: the athletes who make the greatest leaps in performance are the ones who take full advantage of the summer. More specifically, they are the ones who commit not only to physical training, but also to developing their mental game during this critical window.
At SPMI, we’ve observed a significant rise in social media and video game overuse, particularly since 2020. This trend has increasingly impacted the development of young athletes, affecting areas such as goal achievement, mood, focus, and social behavior. As a result, we believe it is essential to address this issue and provide guidance on how to manage it effectively, so athletes can reach their full potential both in and outside of sport.
