The basic purpose of this book is to take the ideas that we have discovered about how people learn and how they operate in this world and to use these ideas to help our kids play the game better and enjoy the game more. These ideas are universal-they're present in everything we learn-and they're present in all sports. You don't need a degree in psychology to use them. In fact, I hope you'll keep saying to yourself, "This is just good, common sense." There's Sports and there's Psychology and the two fit together very nicely.

One Size Learning Does Not Fit All Children Growing and Learning is based on the idea that each of us learns in our own unique way, at our own special pace. Most learning programs are set out in a sequential, rigid pattern and the child must learn in that pattern and at the rate required to be on level or to not "get behind." Growing and Learning requires that the program be fitted to the child not the child fitted to the program. Your child will be learning the skills and information at his own pace and in his own best learning pattern. Your child, and not the program, will be at the center...

We, Parents and Coaches, are Partners with our Kids. We are positively involved in the sports ventures of our kids and our players. However we must remember that the first and most important role in this venture is that of our kids. The Game is their business and only their business. They are the players-they are the people playing The Game. They are there because they want to be there-if they don't want to be there, they should be someplace else doing something else. And, above all, we are all Members of the Team.

The Joy of Learning is being replaced by numbers on a test sheet - We must do something about that Our Children are Children - they are not machines or chips to be used in the high-stakes testing game. Children must be Free to Learn. Teachers- the people who care about our children and know how children learn and grow must be Free to Teach. The Valued Relationships - Parent and Child; Parent and Teacher; Teacher and Child, have always been treasured. Political systems are replacing them. Maturation and Readiness - Children are being asked to learn skills before they are developmentally ready...