Coaching soccer is a great way to help kids learn valuable life lessons. From teamwork, focus, positive attitude, effort, to communication, training sessions are a great way to get through to the youth while having fun. That is why you will find me at a park Monday through Sunday, holding youth strength based coaching sessions focused on fitness and mental strength building. As much as I love watching a player improve their soccer skills and build their confidence, there's no reward more substantial than hearing from a parent that the soccer sessions are having a positive impact in your child's lives off the field. While some groups are learning life lessons during their workout, others are taking it one step further. Not only do they learn lessons while training, but we also set weekly goals and hold discussions after each hard workout. No workout is complete unless it includes both physical and mental strengthening. This is Superhero coaching.
Superhero coaching is "life-coaching" for kids. It is a program designed to help children develop and become the person they want to be. It is designed to support children to stop focusing on what they do not have and focus on what they do have. Most of us, especially children, are not conscious of why we do what we do. Moreover, we often do not necessarily know the real reasons why we act the way we do. Superhero coaching helps our youth focus on what they want to move towards versus what they want to get away from. It is about shifting focus, learning techniques and strategies, and building an identity that will help your child become their true self. Our identity impacts our behaviors. We need to be sure we have the correct identity of ourselves if we want to start taking action to becoming the person we want to be.
This past week during a Superhero coaching session, we focused on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It was a lesson to help the players understand how our thoughts can affect our emotions, and our emotions can lead to our behaviors. Step one for the players this week was to think about a time when you behaved in a manner you were not proud about and fill in the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors triangle. Step two, was complete the triangle again, only this time start with focusing on positive thoughts and then fill in the rest. Here's an example below.
Superhero coaching was created to bring out the Superhero in us all and propel us on a path towards our purpose.