How parents can help their sporty kids learn from their role models

Although I’m a strong believer that parents are crucial role models for their kids, this month I want you to think about what parents can do to make sure their kids learn as much as they can from the top performers in their sport – something that’s been shown to be really important in young people reaching their potential.

This is on my mind because in a recent parent session, someone mentioned how useful it was to have successful athletes come and talk to their kids.  This had happened in the past and this parent wanted more!!

This gave me the chance to ask, “what can parents do to help their kids get the most from this opportunity?”.  As we discussed what they could do to help, the parents found it useful to use the following process to plan the conversations they would have….

• Help them focus – “what areas did they talk about that you felt were most useful in helping you improve?”
• Help them plan – “what would you need to do differently in training/competition to see if this is something that could work for you?”
• Help them commit – “when will you next have a chance to put this into practice?”

Then make sure you FOLLOW UP and use questions and praise to support their learning, “did you have a chance to work on that in training tonight?” or “well done for giving it a go, what would you need to adapt to make it work better next time?”.

What if your kids don’t have a chance to speak to top performers in their sport?  This is where YouTube can be a good use of time! Encourage your kids to find out more about the sportspeople they admire and what they do in training and competition.  Then use the process above to encourage your kids to find ways to use what they learn to help them improve.

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