Sport and Parenting

Fifty tips for parents of young athletes, to help them get the most out of their chosen sport.

1. Love them unconditionally.
2. Support their coach.
3. Accept that they can not win every time they compete.
4. Allow them to be a kid and to have fun.
5. Help them to develop as a person with character and values.
6. Turn off as a sporting parent. Don’t make sport the one and only topic of conversation at the dinner table, in the car, etc.
7. Don’t introduce your child as “This is my son the swimmer or Rugby player” – their sport is just something they do – it does not define them.
8. Don’t do everything for them. Teach them responsibility and self management.
9. Reward frequently for success and effort but make them small, simple, practical, and personal things. Kids don’t need a CD or $20 just for playing sport.
10. Best of all reward them with what they really love…….your time! (more…)

In part one of this article we looked at different types of Sporting Parents.

Here are a few more……see if you recognise anyone you know. (more…)

Hello Tennis Parents.

Put your hand up if you answer “YES” to two or more questions in the Tennis Parents Ten Question Quiz:

• Do you believe your child will be a successful, well paid professional tennis player?
• Do you tell other parents that your child is “a high achiever”?
• Do you talk about tennis at least once a day with your child over meals or away from the court?
• Are you prepared to sacrifice your child’s education so they have a great chance of becoming a professional player?
• Do you regularly ask the coach to work your child harder or to change something about their game?
• Do you get emotionally involved in your child’s successes and failures on the training court?
• Do you allow your child to show a bad attitude, poor sportsmanship and / or a poor temperament (e.g. racket abuse)?
• Have you ever argued or fought with parents of other kids about the results of a game?
• Do you refer to your child as “my son or my daughter the tennis player”?
• Have you spent more than $500.00 on a single tennis racket for your child?

Well, here’s the bad news. If you answered “YES” to two or more of the above, the chances of your child becoming a successful professional tennis player are…………………NIL or very close to it. (more…)

So you believe your child will be the next big thing in the Big Leagues? So you think it is inevitable that your son will win an Olympic Gold Medal one day?
So you are a 100% certain that your little girl will be the next world record holder? Gold Medal kids need Gold Medal parents. Little Leaguers who aspire to the Big Leagues need Big League Parenting. Are you up to the challenge?