Parents, Coaches, Teachers & Owners – “Building A Champion” Part 5 – Disappointing Mom and Dad
Can you remember when you were 7 or 8, in sports and your parents watched most of the competitions? “Just go have fun” they said, I wish that took all of the pressure off. In sports you are going to be in the spotlight sometimes where you “do it or don’t do it.” The coaches teach “stay in the moment” and eliminate all of the external things that are putting pressure on you. I wonder if Tiger Woods “stayed in the moment” the past 3 days? World’s greatest golfer and he cracked under the external factors. Most of the American golfers yesterday “gave it up.” These are professionals. These men deal with stress virtually every day and they let it get to them and it affected their performance.
In “Building A Champion” young adult we have to keep in mind that these are children. Many sports are starting a new season soon and the external factors will present themselves. These kids know that at the end of the competition they will have to look into the eyes of their coaches, their teammates and their parents. They will have to take that long ride home with the 2 people they love the most knowing that they have succeed or fell down. Children will always feel the anxiety of possibly disappointing their parents.
We can help them “Become A Champion” as we teach them about preparation and performance. If you prepare perfectly, there is still the possibility of not having a great day. The chances of succeeding are far greater when you prepare properly but success is not guaranteed. This is a critical lesson these champion children need to learn. Sports are going to slap you down. Life is going to slap you down sometimes. That is the way it is.
Sports performances are just fleeting moments. Good one day and not so good another day. Prepare well, with some learning and you will have more good days than bad. Parents have to teach these lessons. Parents have to “live” these lessons. You can’t believe in these lessons and then act like these competitions are more serious than they really are. These competitions are “laboratories” for the development of your champion child.
Teach that sports performances can vary. Teach that the preparation can be controlled but that the performance cannot. Especially in a child. How many 3 foot putts were missed by the best golfers in the world over the past 3 days? And we expect, and are disappointed, when a 7 year old wobbles on a 4” beam 4’ in the air in front of a couple of hundred spectators? With a judge marking down every mistake the athlete makes? We have to teach “realistic expectations if we want a champion child.
Sports competitions are not about today, they are about the sum of many todays. Keep that in mind as we watch these incredible, soon to be champion, young adults. Build your champion!
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