If you’re a parent of a high school athlete, you know that playing competitive sports in school can be a transformative experience for your child: team camaraderie, pride in representing their school, the joy of winning, the lessons from losing, and the opportunity to compete in college are some of the many benefits your student-athlete may find rewarding.

On the flip side, you’re probably also aware of the greatest challenge your child faces: time and energy are at a premium for high school athletes. The hundreds of hours they’re required to devote to practices, games, and travel can be daunting, while the physical, emotional, and mental energy it takes to achieve their athletic goals can be exhausting. All of this leaves less time for your student to focus on their schoolwork, which can get overwhelming fast.

The ADHD Factor

Now imagine what it’s like to be a student-athlete whose brain is not set up to efficiently and effectively manage all these demands. Students with ADHD have to work twice as hard just to get to the baseline that neurotypical students use. Add sports to the mix, and these kids have to find ways to summon more energy to perform in and out of the classroom.

The good news is that there are ways student-athletes with ADHD can thrive in school, sports, and social life. It starts by tapping into their “athletic mindset” to show them how they can apply the work ethic, determination, and motivation that comes easily to them on the field to their academics. It helps them translate the inner drive they have to play their sport to their schoolwork.

In an interview with ADDitude, Molly Seidel, a world-class runner and Olympic medalist, shared how she manages her ADHD and mental health, which brings home this philosophy:

“I think a lot of people assume that I’m a lot more naturally talented than I actually am at this sport. I’m really not,” she said, emphasizing that her success is a product of hard work and dedication. “It’s that consistent, day-to-day work that has translated exactly into my mental health, my realizing that it’s OK that I’m going to have to work at this every day… I also have to wake up every day and brush my teeth, and I’m not expecting that if I brush my teeth enough, I’m never going to have to do it again.”

Applying the Athletic Mindset

Practically speaking, here are some strategies for your student-athlete with ADHD to develop and strengthen their executive functioning skills:

• Get Ahead to Stay Ahead… because it’s much harder to win when you get behind. Help them be strategic with how they manage their time and energy, so they’re not overloaded. Have them take an inventory of how they spend their 168 hours in a week: class, practice, games, studying/work, eating, social, and sleep. Through this exercise, they usually find they have a lot more time than they think they have. This starts to reduce the overwhelm and anxiety, and informs how they can set up their week to perform well on and off the field.
• Win The Week… one day at a time. Athletes understand the benefits of daily progress—that putting in consistent effort each day leads to significant improvement over the long run, ultimately helping them achieve their goals. Trusting and applying that same process to their academics will help them develop that same consistency with their schoolwork.
• Own The Day… don’t let the day own you. It’s much easier to get stuff done when they choose what they want to achieve, especially when it comes to school. Making a plan for each day, identifying what their priorities are for that day/week, and writing them down in a planner or on post-it notes is how students develop that sense of control over their day, which leads to a strong sense of accomplishment.

Muscle memory is a common term in sports. It refers to how kicking the soccer ball, passing the football, or swimming the butterfly becomes second nature over time. For many student-athletes with ADHD, building habits and routines on the field that result in muscle memory comes more easily than doing that in the classroom. Your student-athlete has already developed the blueprint for success as an athlete; the trick is to apply that template to the student half of the equation, which will give them the confidence to balance academics, sports, and life.

John Gassner is a student coach with Order Out of Chaos (OOOC’s) and is the manager of OOOC’s ADHD Athlete Coaching Academy, where he brings together his passion for sports and experience as an athlete with ADHD to help student athletes with ADHD and Executive Functioning Challenges thrive