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Throughout the year we'll hear from eight bloggers as they share about their family's time in the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience® and how it inspires them to explore these sports back at home.
This post was written by Children's Museum Blog Ambassador Sierra Holmes. Follow her posts on the blog or follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Our kiddos are definitely visual learners. Most of the time they have to “see” the idea right in front of them to fully get it. Remember the phrase “seeing is believing”? It’s true! One of the focuses we are working on with them is seeing concepts and goals in their “mind” first. This process is called visualization. Visualization helps a person create a picture in their mind. This is a tough process to master, but can help you in achieving major goals!
One of the best (and most fun) ways to get the kids excited about visualization is through sports! Running with this theory, we headed down to The Children’s Museum for a little hoop time. Our kids have recently taken an interest in basketball, but they aren’t the “best” at making that goal shot... We wanted to help them with that. After playing around for hours on the great basketball courts at the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience®, here’s what we found:
Visualizing Making the “shot” Keeps Your Child Focused
We had the kids stand at the designated point lines on the court and take a breath to visualize the basketball going into the basket. The extra couple of seconds of breathing increased their focus. With increased focus, they scored more points. #Swish
Visualization Can Lead to Increased Confidence
Every time the kids made the “shot” we celebrated their visualizing that goal. Every strong athlete mentally prepares for success. We shared this with our kids on the court. They were excited and proud of their own successes, and it pushed them to try again even when they didn’t make the basket, building their love for playing the game. A win-win!
Fun Fact: Some of the BEST NBA Stars like Larry Bird and Michael Jordan have said visualizing their goals helped them succeed in life. You can see a statue of Larry Bird by the Basketball courts at the Sports Complex! Take a picture next to him to remind you to visualize your own success!
Reminding the Kids of Their Visualization Practice on the court, helped them with other goals too!
Visualization doesn’t have to start and stop on the basketball court. You can use it anywhere for any goal! Tip for home: Practice focus and visualization at home with your kids. This will help prepare them for sports or any goal they are trying to accomplish.
We’ll see you on the court!
