Coaching for Positive Youth Development – Developing Mindset

This week, we are starting our outdoor Spring Session with programs across the Twin Cities in Minnesota. In our programs through City partnerships, it’s been nice to see many new and returning players (the latter from last year’s outdoor programs) showcasing the growing interest in learning and developing in the game under our coaching. 

I was particularly gratified to meet an 11 year old returning participant who reminded me how I had helped him last year to develop a more positive mindset. The gist of my coaching was to help him recognize his self critique and how it was limiting his potential. We worked on changing his self-talk to shift the focus from seeking a result to one that makes an effort and puts in more practice. The change in self-talk from “I am no good at this” to “I just need more practice” creates a positive shift in mindset and gets the student developing the effort, patience, and commitment to the process of learning and developing a new skill. It was wonderful to see the student having absorbed this lesson, recounting its impact many months later, and having made a visible change in his mindset. This is an example of positive youth development (PYD) via sports. It showcases the benefits of sports participation and how much we can learn and benefit from being involved in sports. Also, how sports coaching with the principles of PYD strives for an impact on the person, not just the tennis player. When youth develop the mindset to try new things, make an effort, and have the patience and trust in the process, their potential is exponentially higher! The impact of our coaching is exponentially higher too! 

Therefore, positive youth development is a key focus in our program and provides the inspiration for all that we do and strive for with our work in youth tennis!

Harsh Mankad leads Tenicity with 35+ years of experience in tennis as a top player, coach and program leader.