#YouthSports are a wonderful way, but not without risks.
- SITUATION:?#YouthSports are a wonderful channel for age-appropriate character development. Clear benefits include development of athleticism and fitness, cognitive and mental acuity, social and emotional maturity, sportsmanship and leadership, perseverance and resilience, and possibly even a college scholarship or a future pro sports career.
- The premise is that a fun, engaging, focused, organized physical activity will expose your youth to a myriad of situations which, with proper coaching and mentorship, will result in #GrowthMindset, #Grit, positive patterns and reinforcement of behavior and proper core values to fuel your youth's success in the face of life’s future #PerformanceEvents.
- Life’s #PerformanceEvents are defined across three dimensions: (1) a finite period (e.g., game clock, baseball innings, SAT/ACT start/end time); (2) a quantitative/relative measure of effort (e.g., game score, SAT/ACT score, report card grade, pass/fail, go/no-go); and finally (3) an outsized impact on future opportunities (e.g., million dollar endorsements after winning the Super Bowl, admission to dream college after acing the SAT/ACT)
- And we know that life is full of #PerformanceEvents: the Super Bowl, the gold-medal finals of the Olympic Games, opening night for the lead actor in a Broadway musical, an interview for your dream job or internship, delivering a $50M sales pitch to NVIDIA, asking the love of your life to marry you, and even the SAT/ACT.?
- COMPLICATION:?Yet faithful participation in #YouthSports can never guarantee development of those most desirous traits, as they are neither themselves the explicit objective of #YouthSports, nor does a defined syllabus exist for every youth to have the same developmental experience. This holds true regardless of the competitiveness of the youth or league.
- #YouthSports are also not without risks: physical injury and concussions, mental and emotional strain, bullying and exclusion, and too early of sports specialization are not unrealistic outcomes.
- In some other situations, participation in #YouthSports may actually reinforce negative feedback and create unintended #PerformanceAnxiety: we all know about cringy and horrible parents’ behavior at games and crushed self-esteem driven by parents' excessive pressure on their youth to succeed.
- Additionally, many youth have a passion for more artistic and academic endeavors to include writing and literature, gaming and technology, art and design, music and theater.??
- So how should you think about the most effective means to develop #MentalPerseverance, #Grit, and #Resilience in your youth?
- RESOLUTION:?Invicta Mentis prepares youth, regardless of their specific passion, for #ElitePerformance in life’s #PerformanceEvents, through #GrowthMindset, #Resilience, and #MentalPerseverance training.
- We prepare students for the rigors of life’s #PerformanceEvents by employing the same proven performance science that elite pro athletes, business leaders, and military warfighters utilize to maximize performance when it matters most, whether it be on the soccer pitch, the executive boardroom, the VUCA battlefield, or the SAT/ACT.
Learn more about #InvictaMentis and how we are preparing youth for life’s #PerformanceEvents.? www.InvictaMentis.com
#InvictaMentis #TestAnxiety #PerformanceAnxiety #GrowthMindset #ElitePerformance #SAT #ACT #GMAT #MCAT #LSAT #CollegeAdmissions #PerformanceEvent
