The Mental Coach’s System for Working With Sports Parents
Stop Losing Progress Between Sessions. Train the Parents, Too.
From the desk of Dr. Patrick Cohn, Master Mental Performance Coach
Sports Parents Undermine Your Work — Without Knowing It
You spend an hour building an athlete’s confidence. Then her parents spend the car ride home picking apart every mistake she made. By Monday, you’re starting over.
After 15 years working with young athletes, I can tell you this is the most common reason mental coaching stalls. The athlete improves in sessions. Outside of sessions, her environment pulls her back. Parents aren’t the enemy — they just haven’t been taught what to do.
Sports parents commonly undermine an athlete’s mental game in five specific ways:
- Punishing poor performance instead of coaching through it
- Setting expectations so high they land as pressure
- Distracting athletes with instructions before and during competition
- Replaying mistakes after a game instead of resetting
- Yelling from the sidelines in ways that embarrass rather than encourage
One athlete I worked with had a parent who commented on every mistake — including during games. She spent those games managing her parent’s disappointment instead of competing. She shut down rather than played through. The mental work we did in sessions couldn’t survive the environment she went home to.
The fix wasn’t harder sessions. It was training the parent alongside the athlete.
What Changes When You Coach the Parents
Parents who learn how to support their athlete’s mental game don’t just stop causing harm — they reinforce what you’re doing. Athletes improve faster. Sessions compound instead of reset. Parents refer other families because they see results.
Most parents come to you motivated. Their kid is underperforming or dreading competition. Some already suspect they’re part of the problem and want to change. They need direction — a system they can follow before games, after games, and in the car on the way home.
Without that direction, your athletes still struggle with perfectionism, self-doubt, pressure, and frustration — not because mental coaching doesn’t work, but because the home environment keeps restarting the clock.
Mental Coach’s Playbook: A Guidebook to Working With Sports Parents and Their Young Athletes
The same tools and system I use with my certified MGCPs — now available to any mental performance coach.
Digital Download — $399
Instant access. No shipping. No wait.
Or call to order: 888-742-7225
Everything Included in the Mental Coach’s Playbook
This program complements your existing mental training approach. You don’t need to rebuild your system — you add structure around the parent relationship.
Core Manual
36-Page Mental Coach’s Manual — The same reference material I share with certified MGCPs. Covers how to structure sessions with young athletes, how to communicate with sports parents, how to spot parenting patterns that create pressure, and how to give parents assignments they’ll actually follow.
Assessment Tools
- YMAP (Young Athletes’ Mental Aptitude Profile) — A mental game assessment built for athletes 12 and younger. Valued at $200 separately.
- Sports Parent Assessment — A short intake tool to understand each parent’s background and tendencies before you start.
- Sports Parent Support Test — Helps parents evaluate how well they currently support their athlete’s mental game. A useful mirror, and a useful starting conversation.
Game-Day Resources for Parents
- Pregame Checklist for Parents — Specific behaviors and phrases to use in the hours before competition
- Post-Game Checklist for Parents — A step-by-step guide for what to say (and what to skip) after competition ends
- Sports Parent Contract — A written agreement parents sign committing to mental game support behaviors
- 10-Minute Pregame Prep — Audio program on mental preparation for young athletes and their parents. Valued at $98 separately.
Resources for Young Athletes
- Example Mental Game Cheat Sheets — Pre-competition focus cues athletes can carry with them
- Helping Kids Buy Into Mental Training (eBook) — How to explain mental training to young athletes in language that lands
- Goal Setting for Young Athletes (eBook) — A workbook for building drive and direction in young competitors
Coaching Demonstrations
- Live Coaching Session with an 8-Year-Old Athlete — Hear how to adjust your language, pacing, and approach for very young athletes
- Interview with Al Miller — Hall of Fame soccer coach shares perspective on the parent-athlete-coach relationship
- Example Seminar Outline — A ready-to-run format for hosting a parent education session
Survey Data
Sports Parent Survey Results (3,000+ respondents) — Actual data from over 3,000 sports parents identifying their biggest challenges. Use this to show parents their struggles are common — and solvable.
What the Manual Covers
The 36-page manual walks through the full system I use when working with young athletes and their parents. Topics include:
- Why parent involvement determines athlete outcomes — and what to do about it
- How sports parents influence confidence, pressure, and enjoyment in young athletes
- The top challenges facing sports parents (with survey data from 3,000+ families)
- How to encourage without pressuring — the specific language and timing that works
- How high expectations become pressure, and how to help parents recalibrate
- How to guide athletes toward flow and intrinsic motivation
- How to get young athletes to embrace mental training rather than resist it
- The session procedure I use with young athletes, step by step
- How to assign mental game homework in a way kids actually complete
- How to communicate with sports parents across the coaching relationship
- How to help parents communicate with their athletes’ coaches
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be a certified MGCP to use this program?
No. The Mental Coach’s Playbook was designed for any mental performance coach or sports coach working with young athletes. You integrate the tools into whatever system you already use. Nothing requires changing your current approach.
How does this program help sports parents stop undermining young athletes?
The program gives you structured tools to educate parents directly: assessments that reveal their current patterns, checklists they can follow on game days, and a support contract that creates clear expectations. Parents don’t undermine athletes out of bad intentions — they lack a system. This gives them one.
What age athletes is this designed for?
The YMAP assessment and most of the athlete-facing resources are built for athletes 12 and under. The parent education tools apply across age groups. The included coaching demonstration features an 8-year-old, which shows how to adapt your approach for very young clients.
How is this different from other sports parenting resources?
Most sports parenting content is written for parents. This is written for the coaches who work with parents. You get assessment instruments, session frameworks, game-day checklists, parent contracts, and coaching demonstrations — tools designed to change parent behavior, not just inform them.
Can I use this alongside my current mental training program?
Yes. The Playbook is a complement, not a replacement. It adds parent education structure to whatever mental training system you already use with athletes.
Is this a physical product?
No. Everything is digital. After purchase you get immediate download access — no shipping costs or international delays.
What Mental Coaches Say
“The Mental Edge Workbook program is awesome. It put all the pieces together for my mental work with soccer players.”
— Eitan Azaria, Mental Coach for Soccer*
“I am impressed with the willingness and openness of Dr. Cohn to share all of his assets with the MGCP students. You have developed an incredible model for mental training. Even though we are paying for your service, you are passing on a legacy built on your contribution to the world of sports.”
— Tony Melito, MGCP Student*
“The workbooks have worked well with all of them — they offer a great framework for doing workshop sessions with athletes 12 and under.”
— Kerri Morgan, Mental Game Coach*
“This is the missing link in the MGCP program. Your workbook program makes it much more tangible and easier to use the mental strategies.”
— Bob Simpson, MGCP*
Get the Mental Coach’s Playbook — $399
Instant digital download. Everything you need to start working effectively with sports parents and their young athletes.
Questions? Call 1-888-742-7225
*Testimonials reflect the experiences of individual customers. Results vary. No compensation was provided for these testimonials.
Last Updated on July 19, 2026