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Mental Skills Training: Games Girls Play—The Why, What, and When of Mental Fitness

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The Young Female Athlete

Part of the book series: Contemporary Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Medicine ((PASM))

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Abstract

Today, 3.2 million girls play high school sports, and women represent 41.7 % of NCAA athletes (2011–2012 High School Athletics Participation Survey, National Federation of State). For many, the benefits of this increased participation have been life changing. Even with these well-documented life-long benefits, significant material challenges remain in getting girls involved in sport and keeping them involved. By the age of 14 years old, girls drop out of sports at a rate two times greater than boys (Sabo and Veliz, Girls Drop-Out at a different rates depending on where they live. Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in American, East Meadow, NY, Women’s Sports Foundation). In our efforts to continue to improve the quality of the sport experience for girls and provide them with opportunities to compete at the highest levels, we have to consider both the personality of the athlete as well as the environment in which that athlete trains. In this chapter, Dr. Silby will identify some of the more prevalent psychological issues female athletes face and outline how mental skills training can be leveraged to address these challenges at each stage of development.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sport Psychology Private Practice, Potomac, MD, USA

    Caroline Silby PhD, MEd

  2. Sport Psychology Private Practice, Santa Fe, NM, USA

    Caroline Silby PhD, MEd

  3. School of Education, Teaching and Health, American University, Washington, DC, USA

    Caroline Silby PhD, MEd

Authors
  1. Caroline Silby PhD, MEd
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caroline Silby PhD, MEd .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopedics, Boston Children’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Cynthia J. Stein

  2. Division of Sports Medicine,Department of Orthopedics, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, Neuroendocrine Unit,Department of Medicine, Children’s Hospital; Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Kathryn E. Ackerman

  3. Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopedics Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Andrea Stracciolini

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Silby, C. (2016). Mental Skills Training: Games Girls Play—The Why, What, and When of Mental Fitness. In: Stein, C., Ackerman, K., Stracciolini, A. (eds) The Young Female Athlete. Contemporary Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21632-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21632-4_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21631-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21632-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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