Can you do it when the lights come on? How mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness.
I watch parents pour everything they have into their kids’ dreams of being superstar baseball players, soccer players, basketball players, or cheerleaders.
The five-day-a-week practices, the blood, sweat, and tears on and off the field, the travel, the intensity, and the investment from coaches, players, and parents.
Then I get a call from those same parents begging me to help them figure out how the same child can be so gifted on the field and struggle in the classroom.
One of the first questions I ask them is what type of work they have already tried before calling me.
The answer usually is the same response: tutoring.
My conversation reverts to their skilled athlete, and I ask them how they became skilled in their particular sport. Typically the answer is that their child worked with excellent coaches who were able to find their child’s strengths and improve on their weaknesses.
So, they were not tutored. . . . they were coached, correct? That is correct. Perfect.
Let me explain why mental fitness is equally as important as physical fitness.
When you find a coach who can do the same thing for your child’s brain health that you did for their athletic abilities, the classroom will soon become your child’s oyster with endless possibilities.
Brain Coaching
Did you know that most professional athletic teams have brain conditioning coaches?
These teams and players know that it doesn’t matter how well they do in practice if they choke under pressure. They have to be able to excel when the lights come on when the stadiums erupt with noise, and championships are on the line.
That type of focus and mental strength doesn’t come automatically: they train for it.
If you ask parents, teachers, and mental healthcare workers today, they will tell you that the stress and anxiety among our youth are higher than ever.
The pressure they feel in and out of the classroom is real, yet we rarely hear talk about what can be done to help them. If professional athletes need help to perform under pressure, what would it look like if we taught our youth to do the same?
I know what will happen because I have been conditioning brains and coaching kids for years. The results are in their transformation and the testimonials I hear from the parents, but more importantly, the confidence is seen in the kid.
What Football Players Know About Brain Conditioning
One year, I was working with a son of a former NFL player. He sat in on one of our sessions, and at the end of it, he asked me why I did what I did.
At first, I thought he was questioning my approach, but I soon realized he was mesmerized by how I was conditioning his son’s brain, similar to the work that he had experienced with the team’s mental coach.
We took a deep dive into how the intervention that I was providing transfers in the classroom, similarly to how it helped him excel in the field.
What if this was a common practice in our schools today?
Neuroscience & The Classroom
I don’t expect public education to change overnight, but I do hope that parents become aware of the value of mental strength.
If professional athletes benefit from a brain coach, we can’t assume our children are automatically born with the mental strength they need to tackle this ever-changing world.
The answers are found in neuroscience. Our brains are malleable and can continue to grow and change no matter our age.
I would love to work with your child. I love showing parents their child’s potential, coaching them through their tough times, strengthening their brains, and opening their eyes to a world of possibilities.
