Is Assessing a Youth Athlete’s Personality Type Going too Far?
The last few days I have made the case for two things regarding assessing an athlete’s personality type:
- Parents and coaches must work together to identify the personality traits in young athletes.
- Then use this information to tailor methods to develop their self-motivation.
Today, I received some feedback from a reader that this was going too far. The reader suggested that kids should just be left to be kids, and that assessing their personality type amounts to taking sports too seriously.
First I would like to say I appreciate all feedback, even feedback from those that disagree with me. As my dad like’s to say, parenting is art and there is typically no one right answer. However, research shows that there’s also a scientific component that can’t be overlooked.
Find Alternatives to Behaviors that Damage Children Long Term
With that said, I think it’s borderline irresponsible for parents and coaches to ignore this research. Especially research that guides overzealous sport parents to alternative methods of motivating children beyond the carrot and stick. It’s a fact that some parents are willing to do whatever it takes to push their child to success. My goal is to get all sport parents to eliminate behaviors that damage children long term such as:
- punishing children for poor performance,
- using money and other extrinsic awards as motivators,
- and smothering children with pressure
Instead, parents will find that investing in tools and programs that encourage self-motivation will yield much better outcomes. Things like the Clifton’s Youth Strengths Explorer and tailored strategies based on a personality type are ideal.
The bottom line is this. Children are happier and healthier when parent’s focus their energy on helping them develop self-motivation. Furthermore, children are at their best when they’re doing what their best at. So it’s better to go too far learning how to help them in these areas than going too far using fear to motivate them.