Coaching Kids Sports

Troy Horne here. Your mental-toughness guide! I am here to help parents understand how to help your young athlete navigate this mental-toughness journey. I know where you are, and I know how to help you help your young athlete find their mental toughness.

Are you looking to take your kids' soccer game to the next level? Check out this guide for youth soccer players (under 15 years) used by coaches, parents and players alike. Soccer is the most popular team sport in the world. It is perfect for kids to play. It is safe, simple, and the skills required can be easily acquired. Becoming an expert player requires high levels of dedication, natural athleticism, and innate skills. Any girl or boy can take to the sport and find enjoyment at their own level.

The modern day youth sports environment has taken the enjoyment out of athletics for our children. Currently, 70% of kids drop out of organized sports by the age of 13, which has given rise to a generation of overweight, unhealthy young adults. There is a solution. John O'Sullivan shares the secrets of the coaches and parents who have not only raised elite athletes, but have done so by creating an environment that promotes positive core values and teaches life lessons instead of focusing on wins and losses.

Happy Feet is the ultimate resource for soccer parents. Written by best-selling author, Dan Blank, it will give you a better understanding of the game, its rules and terminology. This remarkable book includes links to seven excellent videos that help explain soccer's more mysterious concepts such as offside, the advantage rule and systems of play. By the end of Section 1, parents with no soccer background will have a working vocabulary of this strange sport and an understanding of all its moving pieces.

In 2009, former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals Mike Matheny penned a strongly worded letter urging parents and coaches to view youth baseball not as a stepping stone to the Major Leagues, but as a guide to teaching children discipline, the value of hard work, and the virtue of humility. That letter quickly went viral and became the basis of the New York Times bestseller, The Matheny Manifesto. Now, in The Dad Coach, Matheny puts his philosophy in action and provides a template for coaches and parents to develop solid fundamentals and a strong sense of character in their players.