Why Brain Training Can Help With Sports

Is your child’s least favorite subject at school PE or gym? Being good at sports means you have to have working rhythm, timing, processing speed, attention and memory – all of which can be a complex combination that is challenging for children even if they spend hours of training. You need quick processing, blocking distractions and a razor-sharp focus.

If you think about it, professional athletes spend countless hours training their body so that they are able to respond to certain stimuli (such as a ball thrown at them, the sound of a starting gun, etc.) as fast and as accurate as possible. The more they practice these specific responses and athletic skills, the better they become. That’s because these learned responses become automatic. It becomes second nature to them.  

It’s the same way with brain training. All of these responses and learning processes are controlled by intricate and complex brain networks, which consist of neurons firing and connecting pathways in your brain. That’s why keiki who struggle with playing active games and sports, can benefit from brain training. Besides physical training, brain training can be the best step to take to enhance their hand-eye coordination and movement. Plus, there’s more perks: brain training can help keiki gain executive and cognitive skills like focus, memory, attention and more.  At Learn 2 Focus we ask the student to repeat targeted sequences to perfect timing to the millisecond range - 0 is the ultimate score.  1000's of repetitions are involved to perfect timing and create automaticity.  Coaches commonly tell us that their players are better engaged and focused during practice and games, and demonstrate improved coordination and speed after 2 intense months of training with us.

When parents come to Learn 2 Focus with concerns about their children’s athletic performance, or a desire to enhance their sports skills, I normally recommend that they start with Interactive Metronome (IM). This program hones in on timing and rhythm, as well as visual and auditory processing, which are all critical factors for sports performance enhancement. After just a couple months of intensive IM training, the results are drastic and evident. I’ve worked with kids who are basketball and football players, tennis players, golfers, swimmers and more.

You can learn more by visiting our IM page, or giving me a call at 352-0116. Happy training!