Instilling a Growth Mindset in Youth Athletes

A growth mindset in individuals refers to them believing that their talents can be further developed through their own effort and they are in control of their own abilities. This is vastly different from having a fixed mindset where the individuals believe they are talented and feel that they are born with the skill. (Dweck, 2017) As a youth coach, it is important to instill a growth mindset in the youth athletes because it allows the athlete to constantly strive for improvement. This holistically develops the youth not only as an athlete but also as a person.

Not only is it important to advocate a growth mindset, it is also important to eliminate a fixed mindset among youth athletes. With a fixed mindset, youth athletes believe that their ability to reach their goal is not entirely within their control as other important factors like hard work are not taken into consideration.

Implications of lacking growth mindset

• Cheating to get what they want

• Dropping out because they feel that they are not born to do it

• Always looking to prove their abilities and not improve their abilities

• Avoid learning opportunities if their ability is threatened

• Choosing activities that are easy and will never improve

Tips on instilling growth mindset (adapted from "coaching a growth mindset")

• 5 examples of questions to ask to develop growth mindset

• What did they learn from their performance?

• What are the steps taken to make them successful today?

• What are some other strategies they could have used?

• How did they keep on going when things got tough?

• What can they learn from their opponent today?

• 5 examples of feedback comments to help them develop a growth mindset

• “it’s a challenging concept to learn but I believe you can master it’

• “you haven’t got it but you will if you keep working and thinking about it”

• “I really appreciated your effort today”

• “it is ok to take risks because that is how we learn”

• “Getting better takes time and I see you improving”

• Get them to not worry about looking good and advocate a strong desire to learn

• Give challenges and difficult tasks to youth athletes to make them resilient and ensure they stick to this task until they have completed

• Give them cooperative learning strategies

Reference

Crisfield, P. (2013). Definitions. The Psychology of Coaching, Mentoring and Learning, 53-61. doi:10.1002/9781118598276.ch4

Dweck, C. (2016, January 13). What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means. Retrieved July 23, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means

“Coaching a growth mindset” by BelievePHQ

Further readings Video on Viewing youth sport as a development zone Idea of having a purpose in sport Principles of the All Blacks with a growth mindset embedded in