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Mental Toughness For Young Athletes (Parent's Guide): Eight Proven 5-Minute Mindset Exercises For Kids And Teens Who Play Competitive Sports
Finally! There is A Mental Toughness Book For Young Athletes!Hey Parents,
Troy Horne here. Your mental toughness guide! If you are reading this you probably have a young athlete who struggles with in-game confidence and maybe even sports performance anxiety. I am here to help parents understand how to help your young athlete navigate this mental toughness journey. I know where you are and I know how to help you help your young athlete find their mental toughness. I have purchased a lot of books about mental toughness in sports.
To be honest, most of the books that we read were not a good fit for young athletes because they were either written for adults or not written for youth athletes in COMPETITIVE sports. There is a difference.
Parents! Since there wasn't anything out there for elite athletes I did what every youth sports parent does when they want to help their kid.
I took the long journey of ups and downs. I struggled to help my young athlete find his mental toughness. IT WAS ROUGH! However, luckily along the way we found the winning formula thanks to being able to talk with sports icons personally. We launched a podcast together and on it we interviewed sports mental toughness giants like Chauncey Billups, Tywanna Smith, Keiko Yoshimine, Earl Boykins, Jason Richardson and Kobe Bryant!
I studied what they did and said based on our interviews and I came up with a mental toughness plan that worked! I followed their journey and their advice. I wrote down what worked for my young athlete and I put it in this book so that you would be able to skip a lot of the struggle and failure part. No need for everyone to struggle right?
In this book I am going to share with you what I learned from talking to NBA Athletes, NFL Athletes, EuroLeague Athletes, College Coaches, and College Athletes as well.
Does your child perform better in practice than they do when the game or when the "Lights Come On"?Do they seem like they are losing their love for the game?Do you want to help them?If you answered yes to these questions then you are in the right place. This book is the answer that you have been looking for! I can say this with confidence because I have used everything that I am going to share with you in this book with my son and it has worked.
What a blessing to get the keys to mental toughness straight from greats! I look forward to sharing what we learned with you!
This stuff is a game-changer and it's made specifically for young athletes!
Order now to improve your young athlete's mental toughness level for good!
Troy Horne here. Your mental toughness guide! If you are reading this you probably have a young athlete who struggles with in-game confidence and maybe even sports performance anxiety. I am here to help parents understand how to help your young athlete navigate this mental toughness journey. I know where you are and I know how to help you help your young athlete find their mental toughness. I have purchased a lot of books about mental toughness in sports.
To be honest, most of the books that we read were not a good fit for young athletes because they were either written for adults or not written for youth athletes in COMPETITIVE sports. There is a difference.
Parents! Since there wasn't anything out there for elite athletes I did what every youth sports parent does when they want to help their kid.
I took the long journey of ups and downs. I struggled to help my young athlete find his mental toughness. IT WAS ROUGH! However, luckily along the way we found the winning formula thanks to being able to talk with sports icons personally. We launched a podcast together and on it we interviewed sports mental toughness giants like Chauncey Billups, Tywanna Smith, Keiko Yoshimine, Earl Boykins, Jason Richardson and Kobe Bryant!
I studied what they did and said based on our interviews and I came up with a mental toughness plan that worked! I followed their journey and their advice. I wrote down what worked for my young athlete and I put it in this book so that you would be able to skip a lot of the struggle and failure part. No need for everyone to struggle right?
In this book I am going to share with you what I learned from talking to NBA Athletes, NFL Athletes, EuroLeague Athletes, College Coaches, and College Athletes as well.
Does your child perform better in practice than they do when the game or when the "Lights Come On"?Do they seem like they are losing their love for the game?Do you want to help them?If you answered yes to these questions then you are in the right place. This book is the answer that you have been looking for! I can say this with confidence because I have used everything that I am going to share with you in this book with my son and it has worked.
What a blessing to get the keys to mental toughness straight from greats! I look forward to sharing what we learned with you!
This stuff is a game-changer and it's made specifically for young athletes!
Order now to improve your young athlete's mental toughness level for good!
136 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2020
428 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 20, 2023
I really enjoyed this book - an easy read filled with gentle nudges for parent and child. Mistakes lead to success - for both parent and child. Don't fear, just optimize bit by bit. What I learned:
- Set goals together with child. Child learns by seeing. Parent must make goals transparent and child will follow. I successfully created a goal list with my 7 year old yesterday in a one hour car ride. She gave me feedback and created my goals too, which were spot on.
- Visualize success. Mental visualization is almost as important as physical practice. Maybe that's why dreams are so important.
- Talk about the negatives with the child, but celebrate the wins massively - much more than talking about negatives, embrace the positives and your child 1000x.
- Subconscious doesn't filter between positive or negative connotations so when you set goals or talk to your child, rather than say "Do not" be specific about what to do. Do it!
- Write out your goals every day, especially short term goals for that day in the morning.
- Practice slow. Best way to solidify your shot. Just because you are practicing slow doesn't mean you will hit or shoot slow. It will give you clarity on your form and muscle memory will kick in.
- Keep it small. Like futsal to soccer, those who play and practice on a smaller space inevitably thrive in a larger field. I will practice with a smaller tennis racket and a smaller ball or hackey sack with my daughter.
- Train ghetto - if you're practicing in the best kit out facility, you may not have the drive to do better. If you're in a third rate facility, you may want to do your best and train to get somewhere better. Even if you have access and enjoy your high end club, practice in a gritty location once in a while.
FYI, all the above was straight from memory. Memory retention after reading this book was better than expected. Highly recommended.
- Set goals together with child. Child learns by seeing. Parent must make goals transparent and child will follow. I successfully created a goal list with my 7 year old yesterday in a one hour car ride. She gave me feedback and created my goals too, which were spot on.
- Visualize success. Mental visualization is almost as important as physical practice. Maybe that's why dreams are so important.
- Talk about the negatives with the child, but celebrate the wins massively - much more than talking about negatives, embrace the positives and your child 1000x.
- Subconscious doesn't filter between positive or negative connotations so when you set goals or talk to your child, rather than say "Do not" be specific about what to do. Do it!
- Write out your goals every day, especially short term goals for that day in the morning.
- Practice slow. Best way to solidify your shot. Just because you are practicing slow doesn't mean you will hit or shoot slow. It will give you clarity on your form and muscle memory will kick in.
- Keep it small. Like futsal to soccer, those who play and practice on a smaller space inevitably thrive in a larger field. I will practice with a smaller tennis racket and a smaller ball or hackey sack with my daughter.
- Train ghetto - if you're practicing in the best kit out facility, you may not have the drive to do better. If you're in a third rate facility, you may want to do your best and train to get somewhere better. Even if you have access and enjoy your high end club, practice in a gritty location once in a while.
FYI, all the above was straight from memory. Memory retention after reading this book was better than expected. Highly recommended.
July 21, 2025
This books shows the difference from Mental Performance Focus and Mental Wellness Focus in my opinion. Some great points of Mental Toughest but without highlighting the negative impacts these can have on a young athlete when not used in safe ways. I'd caution the use of techniques without fully understanding the full impacts these techniques could have.
October 8, 2023
Very simple, quick read. The concepts weren’t really anything new, but I like how they’re distilled down into a short reference. I don’t necessarily agree with everything, but I’m also not trying to get my kid to be the next Kobe Bryant (get ready, this guy REALLY loves Kobe. A lot), just improve his mental toughness, which I think is helpful in all aspects of life.
May 5, 2022
great info
As a dad and coach, I’m always looking for am edge or new way to present a message. Confidence in yourself, respect of the game, and having fun only get young players so far. This book offers more messages for parents and coaches. I’m grateful for it and the free guides that accompany it. I’ve also purchased the “athlete’s” copy for my children to listen to when they’re so inclined.
As a dad and coach, I’m always looking for am edge or new way to present a message. Confidence in yourself, respect of the game, and having fun only get young players so far. This book offers more messages for parents and coaches. I’m grateful for it and the free guides that accompany it. I’ve also purchased the “athlete’s” copy for my children to listen to when they’re so inclined.
March 15, 2024
Very good read. It was very entertaining to listen to the audiobook on Spotify. I found the mindset exercises to be easy and practical for my 14 and 15yo. It helps knowing that his son is on the road to succeeding which brings some validity to the book. I will be putting these in practice with my children starting with a vision board (although not mentioned in the book).
April 4, 2025
3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️Quick read. Helpful guide for parents who have athletic kids and want some sort of guidance without having been an athlete themselves. It isn’t mind blowing practice but good key tips. AB was great. The narrator/ author was pretty funny and engaging.
December 2, 2025
This is a three and a half hour book and I got a half hour in and they hadn’t started yet. You know all the ads and filler that youtube videos have nowadays? That’s pretty much the whole deal here.
November 4, 2023
Great content and Troy’s narration was fantastic!
January 19, 2024
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator (author) was a bit much. Nothing ground breaking.
December 19, 2024
3.5 🌟
-Libby 🎧
-Libby 🎧
March 28, 2025
Easy read, funny, great stories, and helpful tips to help our kids.
April 30, 2025
Quick and entertaining. Listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it
June 22, 2025
Simple action steps.
November 8, 2025
This book was an eye opener for me.
My daughter is 11 years old and wants to play softball for Oregon State. The exercises tought have been helping for us both.
My daughter is 11 years old and wants to play softball for Oregon State. The exercises tought have been helping for us both.
November 18, 2022
Very thought provoking
This book introduces a completely different mind set for parents of young athletes or parents of any child with big goals and aspirations. I am looking forward to seeing my son grow in his sport using these 8 techniques. The book is primarily based around basketball but I can see where it can easily be applied to any sport.
Thank you for writing this book and helping parents help their kids attain goals!
This book introduces a completely different mind set for parents of young athletes or parents of any child with big goals and aspirations. I am looking forward to seeing my son grow in his sport using these 8 techniques. The book is primarily based around basketball but I can see where it can easily be applied to any sport.
Thank you for writing this book and helping parents help their kids attain goals!
January 1, 2023
Content is okay. Definitely useful and spelled out for parents who don’t know much about competitive sports. But seriously...so many grammatical errors and unnumbered pages kept me distracted the whole time...
November 28, 2023
Good book! Definitely taught me a lot about being a sport parent!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews