Pre-Game Prep in Youth Football

Pre-Game: An effective pre-game routine is to discuss specific “worst case scenarios” with your student-athlete and talk about how they will respond.  They have a choice.  Bad stuff will happen regardless of preparation and effort.  Working through possible worst case scenarios beforehand and accepting that mistakes will happen helps reduce game-day pressure and anxiety. 

For example, as a wide receiver one of the most difficult catches to make is the one thrown…slow…and perfectly…while wide open in the end zone with the crowd watching.  That’s just too much time to get up in your head and think “what if this, what if that…”  So work through those kinds of situations.

Help shape the student athlete’s ability to shake off a mistake so they can focus on the next play.