Young athletes who set high expectations often get frustrated when they don't meet their expectations.

Mike Mancini, a certified mental performance coach, explains why setting process goals is important and gives examples of these goals. The aim is for young athletes to stay grounded in the moment, and avoid focusing on stats, scores or wins.

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As a former college athlete, youth sports coach and sports parent, Eric Collins says his biggest challenge is being a sports parent.

It's sometimes hard for him to let his son follow his own sports journey, he said.

One way to allow kids to embrace their own journey is to encourage them to communicate directly with coaches.

This gives them important skills that will serve them in other areas of their lives, he said.

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Competence, relatedness and autonomy are three characteristics that help sports kids feel intrinsically motivated, said Caleb Chambliss, a licensed mental health counselor, leadership coach and athlete development specialist.

With these three characteristics, young athletes are more likely to feel in control, and as a result, motivated, he said. When sports kids feel out of control, they become demotivated, apathetic and often drop out.

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Often, kids are reluctant to step up as leaders.

They may lack confidence or be afraid of being teased.

Krissy Webb, co-founder and executive director of Student ACES, provides leadership training that focuses on developing core values such as respect and responsibility. This also improves kids' mental health, she said.

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Because hockey can be an emotional game, youth who play hockey need to develop an emotional IQ.

That's the message from Luc Beausoleil and Jeff Jarvis, co-founder of Ventura Vikings, a program for young athletes interested in playing hockey in college and professionally.

The former professional hockey players give tips about how to help kids control their emotions and let go of games and mistakes. Creating a supportive team culture and strong relationships help kids meet these goal, they say.

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When sports kids are feeling burned out, they aren't as interested in going to practices or games. They don't get as excited about wins, says Andrew Simpson, chief vision officer for Player's Fitness and Performance.

But being burned out is a choice, he says. He helps kids understand their choices and suggests ways to avoid burnout--taking a day or a season off or switching to positions that suit them better, for example.

Perfectionists are most likely to burn out, says Simpson. Parents and coaches can help them by suggesting they avoid negative thinking and focus on what they do well.

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Parents of kids as young as 7 or 8 are asking for Ashley Eckermann's help. Most of them are grappling with fear of failure.

Eckermann, founder of Maximize the Mind Mental Performance Coaching, asks for lots of detail about kids' worries and goals so she can tailor her suggestions to each young athlete's situation. She also avoids using the term "be positive" because she thinks it creates high expectations in kids.

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It's possible to speed up young athletes' thinking and reaction time, says Dr. Ryan D'Arcy, a sports dad, professor and president of NeuroCatch, a medical device startup that evaluates cognitive function.

For example, he recently used red light therapy to speed up a football player's cognitive processing by 70 milliseconds.

Speeding up processing this way can help young athletes perform better and avoid concussions, he says.

He provides sports parents tips for optimizing kids' brain health.

Email Dr. D'Arcy at ryan@healthtechconnex.com

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