Why do we see so many times children cry after a loss or even worse, crying when playing not like expected? Throwing with their rackets and shouting is also very common among this young players.

Everything is about a positive selfimage.

A young player that starts with competition should go through 5 stages:

1. play to play (just because it's fun, from the age of 5-10 y)
2. play to learn (9-13 y)
3. learn to train (12-15y)
4. train to compete (14-18y)
5. compete to win (+18y)

Many coaches and parents want to see as quickly as possible a return on energy (time, money and effort) and that is why they often neglect stage 2 and 3. Offcourse they wouldn't do that if they knew how important that is NOT to do ;-))

Wat are the dramatic consequences for the young player;

• learning new skills (development) is often sacrificed to achieve results
• to perform well will become more difficult as time progress (because stage 2 and 3 were neglected)
• the mental pressure will increase beyond their control and the fun will fade away
• the motivation to continue will decrease

The true value of competition is clearly the opportunity to develop all the skills (fysical, technique, tactical and mental)

Listen well to your child, look foremost to their body language, everybody knows 'a picture is worth thousand words'....

Many children (and adults to) have a real challenge with their emotional control when playing competition . How to install a positive selfimage and strong selfconfidence from the beginning is explained in the next article...