When setting out to begin your teaching, you must realize the mental stage the child must be in order to learn the sport with success. In the beginning stages of learning, the child’s mind may tend to wonder a tad. You should realize that their attention span may not be with you immediately as this is new to them and they can be distracted easily. Taking things slow will help bring them around and eventually bring more attention to you.

I would recommend starting out with some lateral movements, simple fundamentals, and the basic rules of the game. Their mind will examine how this process is done in a correct manner, and then will begin to implement the process. It can be very easy for a child to get frustrated in the beginning process, but you will be the key their success. They may have to repeat certain steps you teach them multiple times in order to feel comfortable.

You must be calm, patient, and willing to repeat things over and over until the steps become routine. Some children will learn quicker than others so you must keep that in the back of your mind when teaching. Repeating steps more than twenty-five times usually becomes habit. Then a child’s mental state will become more relaxed at that point because they become more confident in their actions and their movements become more fluent.

Warming up and stretching the body before you begin practice will help get the blood flowing in the body. This will help get the mind focused and ready as you start implementing the visual aspects of your practice. Having a warmed up body will also help prevent them from injuries during practice.

As the child gets into these habits, this will free up your their mind to learn more advanced techniques, because the basics become second nature to them and they don’t need to try as hard on them.

Preparing your child for success in any sport will consist of a few key elements. Building them a solid foundation is a great place to start. You can start by identifying their basic skills they have already learned in life and then lay down those skills as the foundation. As you gradually give them new obstacles to overcome, this will start the building block of success.

Be sure not to let the child become complacent when learning advanced techniques. This can be easy for them to fall into because the mind and body do not have to try so hard on the easier skills they have already learned. It’s never a bad idea to keep the mind guessing in your teaching. Even for small children, mixing things up in your practice, will keep them interested and keep their focus sharp.

Now once your child or the child you are coaching gets to the point were they have mastered both the simple and advanced skills you have taught them, you can tweak and refine their skills to truly help them to perform at their highest level.