WYC 122 – The Science of Sports Mastery – DeShawn Fontleroy talks Youth Football & Performance Training

DeShawn Fontleroy is a sports performance coach working with athletes in the Portland, OR metro area. Currently, he works with the football team at Jefferson HS. Deshawn also hosts a podcast Sports Mastery- 'A place where we observe, examine, experiment, and explain the physical, mental, and social dynamics of the world's best athletes and coaches. My goal is to provide athletes, coaches, and parents with high level systems & strategies to achieve success.' Website/Podcast: sportsmastery.com Free Gifts for WYC listeners: Sportsmastery.com/winningyouth Twitter: @sports_mastery Facebook: /deshawn.fontleroy - Listen Now: Listen on iTunes: iTunes link Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link - Quote "Fears are a kind of prison that confines you within a limited range of action. The less you fear, the more power you will have and the more fully you will live.” - 50 Cent in The 50th Law Cringe Moment Kids are different than adults - have progressions Keep it simple, don't have too many plays Progressions Using your own body weight is a better starting place than jumping straight into weightlifting Focus on the process vs. the outcome Overcoming Fear Start by having the athlete list their fear on paper. Often when they put them down on paper, they realize many of them are not real. Then list your hopes and dreams. Create a desire map where they list their challenges and limitations. Have the parents do the same thing. Growth Mindset Bouncing back from hardship is a key to teach athletes. It's the only way to grow. After a setback, go back and watch your performance, then use positive visualization to picture what doing it right looks like Accelerate Deep Training It's a process - the key is the quality of your reps Know where your athlete is at - if they are working on a strength - put them against higher level competition. If they are working on a weakness - put them against some weaker competition. Building Culture Communication between coaches and athletes is key. Assistant coaches need to be listened to and empowered Immediate feedback, both good and bad - often works best Rewards and Recognition When athletes do something off the field - in the classroom, in the community - you can use social media to highlight their accomplishments Connecting with and impacting kids DeShawn is coaching a kid with ADHD, it has challenged him and made him a better coach by working with a kid who has different needs and challenges The one that got away DeShawn's team lost to their rival last year because of some poor coaching, they have evaluated what went wrong and analyzed how to make sure that it won't happen again Best books Good to Great - Jim Collins The 50th Law - 50 Cent and Robert Green Free gifts: - PDF of The Desire Map - PDF of How to Succeed - Free 1/2 hour consulting Go to Sportsmastery.com/winningyouth to take advantage of this great offer! Parting Advice Train and practice more - don't overdo it with travel sports Play multiple sports -- Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here - Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter: