My guest today is Jenn Ireland, and we’re talking about the mental health in youth sports, particularly for teen girls. Jenn shares what youth sports culture looks like today and we discuss teens tying their self-worth to athletic performance. Jenn talks about some of the skills she mentors young female athletes about, like countering your inner-critic voice with your inner-coach. We get into the similarities between parent coaching and coaching young athletes, and we wrap up touching on when to (gently) push your adolescent and effective coaching.  

Takeaways from the show:

• The focus on winning & success in youth sports culture today 
• Being disappointed with a loss versus associating losses with your self-worth 
• Self-worth can’t be tied to performance 
• Being good at a sport takes many life-skills in addition to the necessary athletic skills 
• How to help kids who are stuck in their head or beating themselves up about performance 
• Teens need mentors aside from parents & coaches 
• Countering your inner-critic with your inner-coach 
• Similarities between parent coaching and coaching young athletes - we’re all working on the same skills 
• Parents encouraging/pushing their children into elite sports versus kids who are intrinsically motivated
• How do you know when to push your athlete? When do you hand the decision to play to your adolescent? 
• Telling a teen you love them unconditionally versus making sure they know and believe that you love them unconditionally 
• Building relationships 
• Effective coaching & being connected to your coaches

For more show notes, including transcripts, visit our website here.

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