How to Win in Youth Sports: Turning Preparation into Performance
- jlsmith44
- May 22
- 3 min read
Updated: May 28
Inspired by our book Coaching Better Athletes
Part 3 of a 3 Part Series
Prepare. Trust. Perform.
With a strong culture and resilient mindset, your athletes are ready to shine. Prepare. Trust. Perform. That's the motto that I employed several years ago with one of my teams. Simply put: After making the effort to prepare, you can trust in your skills and be ready to perform. This motto fits well with your approach to coaching as well. Once you've developed a culture and prepped your players for the game, you can trust that they will go out there and execute.
As a coach, you should be prepared to empower your players, not micro-manage their every move. Use competitions to teach your players how to "feel out" their opponents. Team sports coaches use the phrase "read the game" when talking about this topic. An example might be something like a volleyball player recognizing that a free ball is likely before it ever happens. Basketball or soccer players might do something to anticipate and steal a pass.
Quick Coaching Tip
Something you should always do during competition is, keep feedback concise. Use short phrases to help athletes recall some of the simple stuff you've worked on. And utilize some code words or basic but powerful statements to reinforce your culture.
"...you can trust that your preparation will translate into a strong performance."
Once you've established your performance standards, both for players and coaches, you can trust that your preparation will translate into a strong performance. Your team will be more confident once you've empowered them with all of these tools. A 2024 study from the National Strength and Conditioning Association found that athletes empowered to make decisions in games showed 25% higher confidence levels.
Motivation and Confidence Fuel Success
Set controllable goals—effort, communication, attitude—over outcomes like points. If you want a surefire way to motivate your players to give you all-out effort, celebrate it every chance you get. Remember our blog post on why your athletes play? If not, go check it out. Knowing that will help you spark intrinsic drive in your players. If you want to turbocharge your culture, create games in practice with stakes centered around what you are looking for in a player. Have your teams score points by executing things that you want to see get better. Once motivation gets them moving, create competitions centered around competing. Utilize the fundamental skills that you've given them and think of ways to make the execution of those skills how they score. When they feel their skills in action and watch their teammates execute, you'll see their confidence soar, not just individually, but as a team as well.
Easy Wins
There are lots more relatively easy wins out there for you as a coach. We've all told our players at some point or another that attitude and effort should be a given. How's your attitude? How's your effort? Are you giving in when things get tough? Are you telling yourself, your staff, or even worse, your team negative things with your body language? As a parent once pointed out to me, I'm getting of these things. Over-communicate with a positive demeanor, share your vision for long-term growth, and never neglect to measure success against the standards you are setting for your program. Small wins in those areas add up in a hurry.
Something to Try
Review film with your team, spotlighting three non-scoreboard wins—like a hustle play or quick mistake recovery—to reinforce growth-focused success. Resist the urge to discuss anything related to the scoreboard and make it all about the culture. There is a way to do this in every sport. If you're struggling to think of how you could do this, get creative in how you celebrate your culture on film.
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