Helping Parents Navigate Youth Sports One Handbook and App at a Time

3 minute read

By Andrea AruinoYouth sports is an experience where parents are required to be just as involved as their child, but in a different capacity different from skills training such as mental skill practices that help them prepare for on court activities. For Coach Ben Ruelas, this realization became the foundation for creating a Parent Handbook designed to help parents better understand what their young athletes are experiencing and how they can support them through the highs and lows of sports.

The idea for the Parent Handbook began with a conversation about the “car ride home,” a familiar moment for many young athletes and their families. Ruelas remembered his own experiences as a high school athlete, particularly the difficulty of processing a missed shot, limited playing time or a disappointing performance while sitting in the car with his parents. That experience led him to think about what parents could do during those difficult moments.

“The interview and research covered hundreds of athletes and the one thing that they remembered to be the hardest part about youth sports wasn’t about losing the game but it was about the car ride home. That’s how much these rides impacted them,” Ruelas said.

This finding reinforced the importance of helping parents understand what their children may be experiencing after competition. Instead of creating a traditional handbook, Ruelas describes the resource more as a “cheat sheet” for parents. The three-page guide provides information and practical questions parents can use to better support their children, covering topics such as growth mindset, helping athletes relax and ways parents can encourage their development. It also explains what can happen inside an athlete’s brain and body during and after competition. By providing a basic understanding of brain development, emotions and processing, Ruelas hopes parents can better understand why their children may respond differently in certain situations.

“It outlines an athlete's brain slash like how their body is feeling. It focuses on what's going on in there? How does exerting a large amount of energy affect the body? How does that affect emotions? How does that affect processing? So it gives parents more context on what their child might be experiencing during high pressure situations,” Ruelas said.

This same philosophy has carried into Ruelas’ work with Motyv8 (pronounced motivate), a mental performance app, available on the app store, designed to give athletes, parents and teams greater access to tools for developing a resilient mindset. The app allows them to continue practicing and learning more about mental skills independently in addition to working with mental performance coaches when they have the chance. 

The app begins with a 64 question assessment built around eight different mental skills. Athletes receive a rating that identifies their strengths and areas for improvement, after which the app creates a personalized program based on the skills they need to develop. The program includes videos, quizzes and journal entries designed to help athletes learn and apply those skills.

Motyv8 currently has around 1,400 athletes using it, and Ruelas said users have seen a 26% increase in their scores after completing the program. Ruelas is helping the team behind the app expand its reach, working alongside mental performance coaches from around the country to make the resource accessible to more athletes. This Thursday (8/20/2026), new users have the option of a 7-day free trial.

“It's still beneficial to have a mental performance coach and a trainer, but now, athletes can get better at basketball off the court using these resources giving them the opportunity to learn and grow on their own,” Ruelas said.

Both the Parent Handbook and Motyv8 reflect the same larger goal of making mental performance education more accessible to the people surrounding young athletes. Success in younger athletes means building beyond points and steals, it is about building a mind strong enough to withstand the challenges that come with being an athlete, something that Ruelas hopes to highlight through these innovations.