Youth athletes are different from adult and elite athletes in several domains that include cognitive resources, working memory, automaticity of motor movements, conscious control for propensity, attentional focus, and acquisition of motor-skills. Due to significant differences between athletes, not all instructions and feedback provided by coaches are best suited for every player. Instructions and feedback may direct an athlete’s attentional focus and cognitive resources incorrectly leading to poor acquisition and performance of motor-skills. Clinical psychologists with knowledge of motor-skill acquisition, cognitive resources, learning theory, conscious control propensity, automaticity of motor movements, constrained action hypothesis, and attentional focus can follow the Youth Sports Consultation Model when working with youth sports programs, coaches, and youth athletes to improve the youth athlete’s experience by improving the language used by coaches and correctly directing the youth athlete’s attentional focus during the performance and acquisition of motor-skills.
","abstract_html":"<p>Youth athletes are different from adult and elite athletes in several domains that include cognitive resources, working memory, automaticity of motor movements, conscious control for propensity, attentional focus, and acquisition of motor-skills. Due to significant differences between athletes, not all instructions and feedback provided by coaches are best suited for every player. Instructions and feedback may direct an athlete’s attentional focus and cognitive resources incorrectly leading to poor acquisition and performance of motor-skills. Clinical psychologists with knowledge of motor-skill acquisition, cognitive resources, learning theory, conscious control propensity, automaticity of motor movements, constrained action hypothesis, and attentional focus can follow the Youth Sports Consultation Model when working with youth sports programs, coaches, and youth athletes to improve the youth athlete’s experience by improving the language used by coaches and correctly directing the youth athlete’s attentional focus during the performance and acquisition of motor-skills.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wright, Justin"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology","degree_level":"Dissertation - Public Access","degree_discipline":"Clinical Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sierra Iwanicki, Ph.D","Gary Howell, Psy.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:21:28Z","subjects":["attentional focus","motor development","sports","health","sports participation","Child Psychology","Clinical Psychology","Health Psychology","Other Psychology","Sports Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/378","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sierra Iwanicki, Ph.D","Gary Howell, Psy.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wright, Justin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-05-26T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Clinical Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation - Public Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["attentional focus","motor development","sports","health","sports participation","Child Psychology","Clinical Psychology","Health Psychology","Other Psychology","Sports Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/378"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Youth athletes are different from adult and elite athletes in several domains that include cognitive resources, working memory, automaticity of motor movements, conscious control for propensity, attentional focus, and acquisition of motor-skills. Due to significant differences between athletes, not all instructions and feedback provided by coaches are best suited for every player. Instructions and feedback may direct an athlete’s attentional focus and cognitive resources incorrectly leading to poor acquisition and performance of motor-skills. Clinical psychologists with knowledge of motor-skill acquisition, cognitive resources, learning theory, conscious control propensity, automaticity of motor movements, constrained action hypothesis, and attentional focus can follow the Youth Sports Consultation Model when working with youth sports programs, coaches, and youth athletes to improve the youth athlete’s experience by improving the language used by coaches and correctly directing the youth athlete’s attentional focus during the performance and acquisition of motor-skills.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Effect of Attentional Focus on Learning and Performance in Youth Sports"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Sierra Iwanicki, Ph.D","Gary Howell, Psy.D."],"dc:creator":["Wright, Justin"],"dc:date.available":["2019-05-26T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Youth athletes are different from adult and elite athletes in several domains that include cognitive resources, working memory, automaticity of motor movements, conscious control for propensity, attentional focus, and acquisition of motor-skills. Due to significant differences between athletes, not all instructions and feedback provided by coaches are best suited for every player. Instructions and feedback may direct an athlete’s attentional focus and cognitive resources incorrectly leading to poor acquisition and performance of motor-skills. Clinical psychologists with knowledge of motor-skill acquisition, cognitive resources, learning theory, conscious control propensity, automaticity of motor movements, constrained action hypothesis, and attentional focus can follow the Youth Sports Consultation Model when working with youth sports programs, coaches, and youth athletes to improve the youth athlete’s experience by improving the language used by coaches and correctly directing the youth athlete’s attentional focus during the performance and acquisition of motor-skills.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/378"],"dc:subject":["attentional focus","motor development","sports","health","sports participation","Child Psychology","Clinical Psychology","Health Psychology","Other Psychology","Sports Studies"],"dc:title":["Effect of Attentional Focus on Learning and Performance in Youth Sports"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Clinical Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation - Public Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:21:28Z"}