ABSTRACT

This chapter summarizes recent sport psychology literature about young talented athletes and describes recommendations on how to deliver sport psychology services to them. It unfolds the youth sport context and how coaches create climates or environments that foster growth and development of the young athlete. The chapter describes young athletes as developing whole persons, provides a status and challenges in athletic, psychological, psychosocial, and academic development in childhood and adolescence, and illustrates a new generation of young athletes. It outlines sport psychology competencies beneficial for young talented athletes, such as psychological skills training, life skills, and career-transition competencies. The chapter describes how to deliver services for young athletes and, specifically, young talented athletes' knowledge base, the need for sport psychology practitioners to develop a consulting philosophy, identifying the types of service and method, the need to foster life skills and teach for transfer, and integrating key stakeholders.