Were car rides to AAA games and practice TENSE?

💥 Did your kid have a rough season?

Were the car rides to and from the rink just TENSE?

As a Performance Coach who works with 15 to 21 year old athletes I know how hard it can be to give a player support… when they DON’T want to hear it

As a parent you’ve probably asked your kid 100 times:

- “What happened out there?”

But often when players hear questions like this they don’t hear “this conversation is going to help you”

They hear something like a “disappointed coach” and they already dealt with that type of person 30 minutes before they went to the car.

That’s why I reccomend for parents to just ask questions at the start, get the player’s side of the story out and have your kid feel you’re hearing what they have to say

It will be much easier to have that harder conversation once the player has gotten out the thoughts that are dominating their head.

Like emptying a glass of water, you gotta make room for the advice or hard conversation often beforehand.

Because you already know as a parent you want your kid coming to you when there’s an issue.

You get to build that type of trust that naturally leads to that type of dynamic when your kid has some room to just vent for a few minutes.

So keep asking questions, and once you feel that there’s space to give your take, go ahead ✅