Deborah Gilboa, MD Taking risks is part of sport, and part of life: You won’t excel as an athlete if you don’t take shots that you know may not go into the goal, push harder in a run knowing you may not be able to hold the pace, or opt to [...]
Deborah Gilboa, MD As a coach, you may assume that your role is to protect athletes from failure, make the decisions that you feel are in the best interest of the team, and generally keep the team’s results steady. But viewing your role in this way may be holding your athletes [...]
Deborah Gilboa, MD Encouraging young people to take risks and take ownership of making their own decisions can be hard for caregivers who are used to helping their children avoid failure. This is understandable and natural, but board-certified family physician and TrueSport Expert Deborah Gilboa, MD, explains that most caregivers are [...]
If you're the caregiver for a young athlete, you need to be paying close attention to their oral health and hygiene, especially since good practices for sports nutrition don't always align with the best practices for dental health. This Children’s Dental Health Month, Dr. Michele LaBotz, a TrueSport Expert and sports medicine specialist, is sharing [...]
Amy Eichner, PhD GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have become increasingly common for adults for both diabetes management and weight loss. Even well-known celebrities and tennis star Serena Williams have endorsed GLP-1 drugs, increasing their visibility and normalizing their use. These GLP-1 drugs are becoming more common, both through prescriptions [...]
As a parent of a young athlete, you’re likely going to be on snack duty at some point during the season. For some competitions or practices, this will be easier: a few granola bars, orange slices, and you’re good to go. But for longer days, like track and field meets or regional matches [...]
Amy Eichner, PhD Supplements targeted to athletes are everywhere, and they're becoming increasingly popular thanks to social media. As influencers and ad campaigns speak specifically to teens about recovering faster, gaining more muscle, or even shedding fat, your young athletes may be curious about supplements to boost their performance on the [...]
Amy Eichner, PhD While peptides have been popular for years, first making waves in products for skin and joint care, injectable peptides have recently become popular on social media thanks to claims of muscle growth, recovery, and a host of other benefits that may appeal to athletes. Here, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency [...]
TrueSport Athlete Ambassador Abby Raymond As an Olympic weightlifter, setting incredibly specific goals is nonnegotiable for Abby Raymond. Because a single pound of weight on the bar could be the difference between a win or a loss, the granular focus on numbers is key to success. But it's not always easy [...]
Since he was only a few years old, Trevon Jenifer has focused on athletic goals and how to achieve them. With that focus and some strategic goal setting, Jenifer has gone on to become a four-time Paralympian in the sport of wheelchair basketball. While his goals in life and sport have changed over [...]
Chris Mazder - Olympian and TrueSport Ambassador Chris Mazdzer is no stranger to goal setting. The now-retired luge athlete competed in four winter Olympic Games, winning the silver medal in 2018 and becoming the first non-European racer to ever medal in the men's single luge. Since he retired from the sport [...]
Deborah Gilboa, MD Change is inevitable, but for a young athlete, even a positive change can bring up feelings of stress and anxiety. For caregivers, it can be tempting to try to step in and solve every perceived problem or issue your athlete has, but if an athlete is going to [...]
The headlines of wellness, fitness, and nutrition coverage have been shouting about the difference in fueling for males versus females in recent years, and as a caregiver for a young athlete, it can feel confusing. There are already so many other aspects of fueling to consider, but if your athlete has big goals, [...]
Deborah Gilboa, MD As a coach, helping athletes learn how to handle adversity is essential, both for their own growth and the success of the team. And change is often equivalent to adversity, especially for young athletes. Here, board-certified family physician and TrueSport Expert, Deborah Gilboa, MD, explains exactly how change [...]
Deborah Gilboa, MD Change is inevitable, but it’s also scary. Whether you get promoted to team leader or cut from the starting lineup, your brain is programmed to produce stress. However, it's possible to become more skilled at dealing with change by building your resilience muscles. Here, board-certified family physician and [...]
TrueSport Expert Nadia Kyba Bullying is a huge topic in schools, on playgrounds, and in youth sports. And while parents are generally aware bullying is a problem, the natural tendency is to focus on our own children – both in terms of making sure they are not bullied and that they [...]
A dedication to sport is great, but an all-encompassing obsession isn't. In many cases, that obsession can lead young people to only see themselves as athletes, with no other identity outside of sport. And when sport goes away—whether it’s because of injury, high school graduation, or any other reason—that can leave your child [...]
Dr. Melissa Streno Your role as a coach doesn't begin and end with practice and game days, and your responsibilities extend far beyond skills, drills, wins, and losses. When it comes to keeping athletes healthy and motivated, boundaries are essential and you can help athletes create boundaries for themselves, as well [...]
Dr. Melissa Streno As an athlete, you likely know the importance of physical recovery. You know that rest days are important opportunities for your body to recover after hard competitions or practices. But if those rest days are jam packed with the rest of your life—homework, extracurriculars, work—you may not be [...]
Ian Goldberg, Founder and CEO iSport360 As a coach, you witness a lot of sport-related decisions and coaching strategies: You may see other coaches in your area encouraging athletes to specialize in one sport or to train year-round with no breaks. You may also experience parents who are dreaming of college [...]
Prioritizing personal safety while training has been making headlines in recent months. How can athletes stay safe when training solo, especially if they're running alone at night or in unfamiliar areas? How can athletes stay healthy in a sport culture where the demands have never been higher? For student-athletes, sometimes these situations are [...]
MICHELE LABOTZ, MD, FAAPSports Medicine Physician, InterMed Sports Medicine Clinic Muscle soreness is part of being an athlete: It's almost impossible to train in a way that improves strength or fitness without feeling sore. Most of the time, soreness isn't a bad thing. However, there's a delicate balance. If every workout [...]
In recent years, coaches across the U.S. have been forced to contend with increasingly severe heat waves, as well as episodes of poor air quality due to wildfires and pollution. It can be hard to know how hot is too hot or how smoky is too smoky before it's a potential health risk [...]
Dr. Charron Sumler, PhD, LPCC Family units are the first teams that children engage with, and the skills that they learn from being part of a family are the skills they will bring to their sports team. But how do you model good teamwork for your athlete at home? Here, Dr. [...]
Dr. Charron Sumler, PhD, LPCC Being a culture chameleon, or being able to adapt to different environments and social groups, is a skill that often benefits student-athletes who find themselves in a wide range of sport environments. And while the ability to be flexible is important, staying true to your core [...]