Many athletes have already or are beginning to return to their sports after the shut-down from the pandemic.  Some of my adolescent patients have expressed frustration that the hiatus from their sport or sports has resulted in regression of skills or loss of skills.  Their parents, coaches and trainers provide much support in establishing expectations and developing the return-to-play conditioning so that the athlete can safely return and enjoy their sport(s).

In my opinion, it is also important to remember that the teen athlete’s mind needs to be considered with return to play or conditioning.   Their mind will obviously need some time to regain the skills of muscle memory and strength.  In addition, these athletes will need some time to regain the skills related to their conditioning or game-day internal dialog that speaks to their mental stamina, dealing with frustration, graciously accepting loss, or graciously accepting success.

I wanted to make the following resources available.  These resources are specifically developed for the teen athlete and consider their unique psychology.

• Mind Gym.  This is a great book for teens and all sports. 

• The Inner Game of Tennis.  This is a classic and although it speaks to tennis, it is very helpful for all other sports.

• Mental Toughness.  The Sport Psychology Library has many sport-specific psychology books.  That is, basketball, baseball, etc.  For example, this is the link to the book for basketball:  https://mentaltoughnessbooks.com/2017/04/sport-psychology-library-basketball/

Should you have concerns regarding your student athlete, we would be happy to help.  Please feel free to call or message your Sunset Pediatrics team.