Maximize Potential by Nurturing the Nature of Athletes in Youth Sports
I’m a firm believer in the idea of nurturing the nature of a child in order to maximize potential. However, I didn’t always think this way. Rather, it took researching the concepts of strengths psychology made popular by Don Clifton to convince me. Through this research I became a big fan of the concepts shared in the Strengths Based Parenting book by Mary Reckmeyer.
My favorite quote in this book is one that specifically promotes the idea of nurturing nature:
Our job as parents is to nurture our children’s nature, to be detectives and discover who our children already are and who they are becoming, to be coaches and create pathways that play to their strengths and manage their weaknesses.
Nurturing Nature in Youth Sports
I believe applying the “nurture nature” thinking is imperative for maximizing the potential of a young athlete. Particularly when it comes to practice. In my experience, there are three types of practice methods widely used to teach skills in youth sports:
- Repetitive drills
- Video review
- Structured play
In order to nurture an athletes nature it’s up to the parents and coaches to make sure they choose the right methods.
First, the parents must be “detectives and discover” which one of these methods works best for their young athlete. Then, they must be sure to find coaches who know how to best deliver the practice method or methods that their child needs.
On the other hand, coaches must remain flexible in their approach to practice. I notice that many youth coaches are very rigid in their approach to practice. Most never use video review or structured play to teach. Instead, they overuse repetitive drills in practice and yell at the kids who get bored with these drills.
Coaches must utilize all three of these methods so they can reach all of their athletes. What’s more, coaches should also work as detectives to discover what makes a particular athlete tick, then find ways to nurture that nature to maximize potential.