Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

The more you understand what motivates your child to play sports, the better position you will be in to help them achieve their goals. Unfortunately, in youth sports many parents either misunderstand or ignore their child’s innate motivations. This is a big reason why 70% of children who participate in youth sports quit by the time their 13 years old.

For example, a parent may think their child is motivated by winning, when the reality is that they just want to be around their friends. A misunderstanding like this could drive a parent to move their child away from their friends to a more competitive team, and in turn take away that child’s main source of motivation.

To avoid this, the best approach is to simply sit down with your child and have a discussion about motivations. Then just ask them what motivates them to play sports instead of trying to play a guessing game.

With that said, here is a list of 10 common motivations to serve as conversation starters to find out what drives your child to intrinsically want to play sports.

1. To prove naysayers wrong
2. To win a specific competition, award, or title
3. Driven to push themselves to be the best at something
4. Setting records
5. To make you happy
6. Love of competition
7. Joy of being around friends and teammates
8. Just to wear the gear and get the swag
9. To help them fit into the community
10. Tradition