In recent years I have received many requests to work with adolescents to prepare them mentally for competitions. This seems to me to be a positive development, as it indicates that in some individual sports there is an awareness of the importance of mental training in youth activity as well. This has happened mainly in relation to certain sports: shooting, golf, tennis, fencing, and sailing; disciplines in which parents necessarily have to invest financially in their children if they want them to have effective competitive and training experiences. Just think of the many competitions in which a young person has to participate each year with a not inconsiderable economic burden on families, rather than the cost of rifle, cartridges, and clay pigeons in shooting or the cost of participating in golf tournaments and training with a good teacher.
It thus becomes evident that when parents perceive the relevance of mental education to sports, the financial investment becomes one of the items of expenditure they have to deal with. I say this because it is very rare for sports organizations to invest in mental coaching in this age group. Mental coaching that when you are 14-17 years old amounts to training the mental approach that is useful to do well. For example, learning at this age to have a positive dialogue with oneself is absolutely easier than when one is an adult, and it mentally educates the boy or girl to know how to encourage himself or herself, to face difficulties with greater serenity, or to correct himself or herself in a positive way and without insulting each other.
I wonder why psychological skills so important in the life of every human being should be taught only in adulthood, and many then don’t even learn it. Could it be that the limitation of young comes from who (managers and coaches) are supposed to be their teachers?
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