Some of the most important work I do is with young athletes. I work with competitive athletes aged 10 and up, and the younger end of that range is where the right support, given well, can shape not just how someone performs but how they feel about their sport for years to come.
It is also the age where things are most often got wrong. So here is why this work matters, and how I shape it to suit a young person rather than treating them as a small adult.
Why starting young matters
The habits a young athlete builds around pressure tend to stay with them. A child who learns early that nerves are normal, that mistakes are part of getting better, and that their worth is not decided by a result, carries that forward. A child who learns the opposite, often without anyone meaning to teach it, can spend years fighting the same battles.
By the time many athletes come to me as adults, we are gently undoing patterns that formed when they were twelve. Working with young athletes is a chance to build the right foundations first time, rather than repair them later.
A young athlete is not a small adult
This is the part that gets missed. A child aged 10 to 13 is going through an enormous amount of change at once, and their relationship with sport sits right in the middle of it.
At that age a young person is still developing how they handle strong emotions, still learning to see a situation from more than one angle, and still working out who they are. Their sense of themselves can be fragile and easily tied to how they did at the weekend. They feel comparison keenly, they notice who is picked and who is not, and a throwaway comment from a coach or parent can land far harder than any adult intends.
None of this is a weakness. It is simply where they are developmentally, and the work has to meet them there.
The demands a 10 to 13 year old faces
The pressures on a young athlete today are real. There is the move from playing for fun to being selected and judged. There is social media, where everyone else’s highlights are always on show. There is the weight of wanting to make a parent proud, or the fear of letting a team down. There is early specialisation, where a child is asked to commit heavily to one sport before they have really chosen it for themselves.
On top of all that sits school, friendships, and growing up. For a young person, a bad training session does not stay neatly in its box. It can colour the whole week.
How I shape the work to suit their age
With young athletes I keep the work practical, concrete and age appropriate. We talk in language that makes sense to them, not clinical terms. We use real examples from their own sport and their own week.
My approach is grounded in Acceptance Commitment Training and the Chimp Paradox, both of which translate really well for younger athletes. The Chimp Paradox in particular gives a child a simple, friendly way to understand why their brain reacts the way it does under pressure, so a wobble before a match becomes something they can recognise and work with rather than something that is wrong with them.
Sessions are calmer and more conversational than people expect. The aim is not to toughen a child up. It is to help them enjoy their sport, handle the hard moments, and keep their confidence steady whatever the result.
Keeping it safe, and keeping parents involved
Working with young people carries a real responsibility, and it is one I take seriously. As an HCPC registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist, my practice is regulated and held to a professional standard, which matters a great deal when the person in the room is a child. It means a parent can trust that the person supporting their young athlete has been trained to do so safely and appropriately.
Parents are part of this, not shut out of it. I want the people around a young athlete to understand what we are working on and how they can help at home and on the sideline, because the support a child gets between sessions often matters most of all.
Where to start
If you are a parent weighing up support for a young athlete, or a young athlete yourself who wants to feel better about the pressure, the best place to start is a free 30 minute call. It is a relaxed conversation about what is going on and whether we are a good fit, with no pressure and no obligation to continue.
