Learning the fundamentals about anything can be tedious, boring, and seemingly never-ending. Sports fundamentals are no different, as millions of kids each year struggle with trying to understand why you, the coach or parent, insist that countless repetitions of otherwise mundane movements take place in order for a skill to be mastered. These fundamentals might include simply dribbling a basketball with the off-hand, transferring a baseball from the glove to throwing hand, or repeatedly getting footwork in place for offensive linemen in football. While the fundamentals aren’t always fun, they do make all the difference when it comes to mental toughness and sport success, making it all that more important to get kids to “buy in” to the process — fortunately, the field of sport psychology can help in this pursuit.
Interestingly, good youth sports coaches are a lot like good teachers in that they find unique ways to sell the importance of mundane tasks. For example, a good math teacher won’t just teach math in the abstract, but will instead look to connect the reasons why kids learn geometry and how having knowledge of geometry helps in many everyday life situations. Similarly, good youth coaches will also help kids connect the dots relating to why a part of each practice has to do with seemingly boring drills — in this example the successful coach will make it a point to illustrate that proper footwork leads to better positioning, which leads to a greater chance for the team to score (and win the game). While it may not seem like much just happened in that example, the opposite is actually true — when kids see that their efforts actually relate to something they will be exponentially more focused and motivated to engage in the fundamentals.
Quick tips for coaching the fundamentals
- Explain to kids the fundamentals of the sport, and how learning fundamentals relates to both individual and team success (connect the dots how being fundamentally sound leads to on-field proficiency)
- Use examples of pro and college athletes who are solid with fundamentals, like Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs (known as “The Big Fundamental”)
- Use live play as a positive reinforcer for helping kids successfully go through the fundamentals in practice (kind of like hanging a carrot in front of them to improve motivation)
- As kids begin to master the fundamentals be sure to move onto more elaborate and complex fundamentals of the game or run the risk of kids becoming too bored and losing interest
- Bring a positive attitude and use praise to highlight when kids succeed in learning fundamentals – not only with the recipient of the praise enjoy your kind words, but it will also motivate his teammates to work just as hard
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