Attitude Is What Creates Standout Young Athletes

A young athlete’s success depends much more on a good attitude than on physical prowess, concludes a recent survey of youth sport coaches.

In a study presented at this year’s annual meeting of the American Psychological Assn., Shari Young Kuchenbecker of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles reported that “coaches describe young athletes’ positive psychological adjustment--not physical gifts--as the most important underpinning of athletic success.”

Kuchenbecker surveyed 658 coaches of girls and boys ages 3 to 22, who participated in 43 sports including soccer, baseball, basketball, softball, swimming, martial arts and diving. She asked them to “describe a young athlete who is a real winner” by picking five attributes from a checklist that included 64 physical and 64 psychological characteristics. Overwhelmingly, the coaches selected psychological qualities.

*

The most frequently mentioned attributes were “loves to play” (43%), “positive attitude” (33%), “coachable” (30%), “self-motivated” (27%) and “team player” (26%). The other qualities rounding out the top 10 were “strives to improve” (21%), “dedicated” (21%), “gives best effort always” (19%), “good sportsmanship” (16%), “encourages/praises others” (15%).

Surprisingly, physical skills rated very low. The first physical characteristic mentioned--”natural physical athlete”--came in 19th on the list of top qualities and was selected by just 11% of coaches.

“Physically pushes self” was 20th on the list, cited by 10% of coaches; “good eye-hand coordination” was 21st, mentioned by 9% of coaches; and “physically gifted” was 24th, mentioned by 6% of coaches.

“Coaches also cited two top damaging forces to developing young athletes--criticism and pressure,” said Kuchenbecker, who noted that male and female coaches gave similar responses.

*

Regardless of gender, coaches surveyed placed the strongest emphasis on psychological aspects when describing “a real winner.”

Parents who want their children to succeed in sports--and in life--should encourage and support these positive psychological attributes, says Kuchenbecker, a research psychologist specializing in children’s sports and human development. Currently, an estimated 22 million American youngsters play organized sports, a number she says “surpasses in size, diversity and gender mix any other in American history.

“Most parents have limited personal athletic experience,” she notes, “and many feel unprepared to face the challenge of guiding a youngster in sports.”

*

Her advice: After a game or practice, ask a young athlete, “How did you play?” This question is preferable to “Did you win?” she says, because it isn’t about the outcome--winning or losing--which may be beyond a youngster’s control. Instead, it’s about the much more important, and controllable, aspect of the game--a youngster’s thoughts and feelings about his or her sports experience.

“A parent’s role is to listen and support the positive,” Kuchenbecker says.

Many of sports’ most important lessons occur off the field, notes Kuchenbecker, whose three children--two in college and one in high school--all played sports. “Kids need to learn that sometimes you play, and sometimes you don’t play,” she says. “Riding the bench, yet still having a good attitude, is an important life skill.”