Write your search in the input below and press enter.
Esc to close.

The Sports Doc Chalk Talk with Dr. Chris Stankovich

Peak Performance:
Not Just for Sports, for Life

  • Products
    • Toolkits
    • Audio
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Apps
  • Services
  • Chalk Talk
    • Recent
    • Athletes
    • Coaching
    • Sports Parenting
    • Sports Administrators
    • Life
    • Administrators
  • About Dr. Stankovich
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Products
    • Toolkits
    • Audio
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Apps
  • Services
  • Chalk Talk
  • About Dr. Stankovich
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

Hello. Sign In

My Account
  • Login
  • Register
0
The Sports Doc Chalk Talk
Subscribe
The Sports Doc Chalk Talk with Dr. Chris Stankovich
  • Recent
  • Athletes
  • Coaching
  • Sports Parenting
  • Life
  • Administrators
Home / Blog / Help Kids Maximize Youth Sports by Using Athletic Transferable Skills

Help Kids Maximize Youth Sports by Using Athletic Transferable Skills

By: Dr. Chris Stankovich | @DrStankovich | Apr 19, 2022

No Comments

Youth and interscholastic coaches are tasked with many challenges, including teaching kids how to develop basic sport skills and play together as a team.  These on-field sport skills, however, are just a part of the bigger picture relating to coach duties, as teaching kids life skills through sport participation is arguably the biggest goal for youth coaches.  Specifically, showing kids that the skills they are learning through sports (i.e. setting goals, working as a team, handling adversity, and developing focus) are actually athletic transferable skills, as they can be applied far beyond the playing field to the classroom, future careers, and almost every other life experience.  Coaches who help kids learn life skills through sports and then apply those skills beyond sports should be applauded by parents, as it is often the athletic transferable skills kids learn playing sports that serve them well after their sports playing days are over.

Athletic transferable skills

Ask any adult today about their youth sport playing days and very often you will hear stories about how impactful youth sports were to their adult success.  While they may not explicitly use the term “athletic transferable skills,” they will talk about how playing on a team and working together helped them develop things like confidence, motivation, and resiliency — traits and skills that still help them today.  Athletic transferable skills often go overlooked because they are so much a part of the everyday experience for athletes that they don’t think about them, or in other cases young athletes simply assume that all kids (including those not playing sports) are learning the same skills.  The reality, however, is quite different as young athletes are learning invaluable life skills through sports, and very few experiences other than sport participation provide for such enormous life skill development growth as sports provide.

So what are examples of athletic transferable skills?  Using a basic definition of skills learned through sports that can be applied to non-sport life experiences and the list can be quite extensive, including the following examples:

  • Goal setting.  Kids regularly set individual and team goals in sports.
  • Communication skills.  Communicating and resolving conflicts are regular occurrences in sports.
  • Focus.  Learning how to focus on the job and ignore distractions is big for sport success.
  • Motivation.  Pursuing goals and developing motivation are key components to reaching one’s potential.
  • Teamwork.  Learning how to get along with teammates is a daily experience for athletes.
  • Resiliency.  Dealing with stress, adversity, frustration, and failure happen all the time in sports.
  • Relaxing under pressure.  Kids are constantly dealing with pressure in sports!

Of course there are countless additional life skills kids learn through sports, but the list above shows many important skills that coaches and parents should discuss with kids on a regular basis — as well as teach kids how to apply these skills to the other life challenges they face outside of sports.

Lifetime skills > sport participation

The odds of making it in sports are quite astronomical when you consider that only about 5% of all kids will move on from high school and play college sports, and of all the college athletes competing today less than 2% will go on to play professional sports.  If a young athlete leaves behind all the life skills he or she learned while playing sports, most will leave these skills behind during their teen years!  Even for the lucky few athletes who do make it to the pros, the average length of a pro sport career is just 3.5 years, providing additional support for the value of using athletic transferable skills long after an athlete’s playing days have ended.

Final thoughts

When you think about it, the life skills your child learns through sport participation might be the best lessons he or she learns through childhood and adolescence.  Sports participation allows for self-growth through personal goals, working successfully with teammates, and overcoming adversity — the same kinds of challenges we face on a daily basis as adults.  Help kids make this connection, and show them how to apply athletic transferable skills to their school work, non-sport activities, friendships, and jobs.  Kids who identify and use athletic transferable skills become more confident people, and experience success beyond the playing field as a result of what they learn through sport competition.

drstankovich.com

athletic, coach, confidence, kids, skills, trasnferable

  • Author
  • Comments
  • Details
Get to Know the Author

Dr. Chris Stankovich

Dr. Stankovich has written/co-written five books, including Positive Transitions for Student Athletes, The ParentsPlaybook, Mind of Steel.

Latest Blog Posts

  • February 6, 2023 Sports Gambling is Suddenly All Over the Place, But is this Good? 
  • February 2, 2023 Accident Prone & Forgetful? Poor Stress Coping May be the Reason
  • January 30, 2023 Your Toughest Competition for Future Success is…YOU!
  • January 25, 2023 The Psychology Behind Breaking Bad Habits
  • January 23, 2023 When it Comes to Mental Health, Words Matter

PREVIOUS POST

Learn Why People Make Poor Choices When Dealing with the Psychology of Group Conformity

NEXT POST

Examining the Effects of Prayer in Youth and Interscholastic Sports

Category

Athletes , Athletic Counseling , Coach , Coaching , Emotional Intelligence , Goal Setting , Leadership and Role Modeling , Parent Training , Prep , Pro and College Sports , psychology , Sport Philosophy , Sport Psychology , Sport Sociology , Sport Transitions , Sports Parenting , Sports Performance Science , Team Building , Uncategorized , Youth Sports

Tags

athletic, coach, confidence, kids, skills, trasnferable

  • Recent Posts
  • Most Read
  • Sports Gambling is Suddenly All Over the Place, But is this Good? 
  • Accident Prone & Forgetful? Poor Stress Coping May be the Reason
  • Your Toughest Competition for Future Success is...YOU!
  • The Psychology Behind Breaking Bad Habits
  • When it Comes to Mental Health, Words Matter
  • Increase Your Chances for Goal Success by Implementing these Strategies
  • Exploring the Indirect Human Development Effects Video Gaming is Having on Kids
  • When it Comes to Happiness, Health, & Productivity, "Easy" isn't an Option
  • What has Happened to Free Play and Recreational Sports for Kids?
  • The Psychology Behind Breaking Bad Habits
  • The Sports Doc on TV

    Catch Dr. Stankovich’s tv, radio, and print interviews and columns here!

    Dr. Chris Stankovich Watch Videos
  • Sport Performance Assessment

    Dr. Chris Stankovich Quickly and accurately test your level of mental toughness in just a few minutes using the Sport Performance Assessment.

    (SPA), an easy-to-use sport psychology system specially designed to help you REACH YOUR FULL ATHLETIC POTENTIAL.

    learn more
  • SportsSuccess360

    Life strategies for performance and character development for coaches, parents, and student athletes competing in youth and interscholastic sports.

    Life Strategies learn more
  • Contact Dr. Stankovich

    1395 Grandview Avenue Suite 6, Columbus OH 43212

    (614) 561-4482
    Media & General Inquiries
    information@drstankovich.com
    Sales & Product Support
    sales@drstankovich.com
  • About Dr. Stankovich

    • Media
    • Blog
    • Testimonials
  • Products

    • Toolkits
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Audio
    • iPhone Apps
  • Services

    • Athlete Performance Training
    • Parent Community Forum
    • Coach Education & Development
    • Athletic Crisis Response and Intervention
    • Drug & Alcohol Assessment
    • Life Success Programs
    • Counseling & Consulting Services
  • Blog
  • YouTube
  • twitter
  • facebook

All rights reserved © 2023 Advanced Human Performance Systems™

↓ ↓