We’ve shaped our South County Golf Academy junior performance program to develop next-level players. The idea is to create an athlete first and allow the skills and determination needed for success to simply fall into place.
In creating an athlete, we focus on principles that produce success, in addition to having juniors progress through five levels in a fun and motivating way. All of the principles can be applied to life as well:
Be focused: If you can’t be at your best, come back when ready. This can be applied to life by showing that you need to give whatever you’re doing your full attention.
Breathe deeply: This simple task keeps you in control of your body and mind. What a great reminder in stressful life situations, too, that sometimes we need to take a breath to come back to base.
Get up and try again: Whether it’s tripping over a hurdle, missing a putt or losing the game, failure hurts. Being an athlete, you learn that failure is necessary for success, and the best option is to get up and try again. Life brings similar failures but in a more extreme perspective. Does your child have the skills to cope with them?
Rely on your team: The more we lean on those who love us, the more we’ll prosper. Even though golf can be a solitary pursuit, there’s something motivating about everyone wanting the same objective and working together to achieve it.
Food for thought: Athleticism gives us all – but especially children – a natural motivation to eat healthy, because a poor diet can often lead to poor performance and less energy.
Keep it moving: Staying active makes life easier, and one of the nice things about golf is that it can be played for a lifetime, as long as we maintain our health and manage our aches and pains. The earlier children learn this, the better.
Celebrate achievements: All athletes know the pain, sweat and tears that went into every score or performance. When something good happens, celebrate … in moderation. You’ve worked hard; enjoy it.
Have fun: There should be laughter, excitement and determination with any youth athletic program. But isn’t that true in life as well? If you’re constantly sad or feeling defeated, it’s time to make a change.
As a parent or coach it’s also important to remember that kids are full of curiosity and passion and are acquiring knowledge each day. Here are a few more tips for when your child develops an interest in golf, other sports or simply wants guidance for life in general:
Put yourself in their shoes: Look at the technique you’re taking. Would you enjoy it if the roles were reversed? Everything has the opportunity to be fun no matter what it is. Take a moment to adjust your teaching moments, and make them fun.
Let them fall: Sometimes it is important to remember that kids need to go through pain to learn life lessons. Don’t rush to fix every little thing that goes wrong for them. Sometimes it’s better to let them learn on their own through mistakes. That way the lesson will be more prominent in their mind.
Avoid negativity: It’s easy to notice every mistake your child is making. Despite good intentions of trying to help, we need to notice the successes as much as we do the failures. As a rule of thumb, recognize five successes to one fault.
Let them play: Think about what you used to do for fun as a child. For many, it was climbing trees, playing catch, jumping around or making up games. What happened to this mentality? Kids have the opportunity to become great athletes right in their own backyard. We just need to give them the opportunity to do so.
Have patience: Just like anything worthwhile, progression in athletics can take time. Be patient and learn to love the different stages of their learning.
Track progression: This allows you to measure your child’s development and help them recognize improvements. Not only does this help you maintain patience, it helps your young athlete stay motivated and moving forward.
Learn motivators: There are many things that can motivate someone. When dealing with young athletes, recognize the internal motivators that drive them to progression.
Live the example you set: If we talk about honesty, integrity and sportsmanship, we also must set those examples in our daily actions. Kids watch we do, hear what we say and often do things based on we, as adults or coaches, carry ourselves.
Brian Schippel, PGA, and Jentry Fields operate South County Golf Academy at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo. The program’s junior lessons focus on fitness and the golf swing. For information, call (714) 231-0313 or visit bschippel@pga.com.
