My days of gymnastics are over. So are my long hours at the gym. My nervousness and anxiety. It’s all in the past. No more ponytails woven with ribbons, no more glitter spray, no more bleacher analysis. My daughter has left the sport.

For years, Caroline competed on a gymnastics team and she adored everything about it. Four days a week, we drove the ½ hour back and forth to the gym so that she could practice 15 hours a week, year-round. I volunteered, I chatted with the parents, I watched and learned and bit my nails. The parents became my friends, the meets became a social time.

Eventually after three years of this schedule, the complaints began: the coaches were too hard, she had a headache, she was tired, she had too much homework. Her message read loud and clear: she was burnt out at the age of 11.

So much attention has been given recently on the downside of focusing on just one sport at such a young age, that we overlook some benefits. Yes, kids miss out on the opportunity to dabble in other sports or activities. Homework is often done in the car or in the bleachers. Dinner is split into two meals: before practice and after.  She frequently misses out on seeing her three siblings compete in their own activities.

Yet as we leave the world of competitive gymnastics, I’m forced to reflect on all that it has given us. We’ve heard many comments lamenting our “lost investment” or pointing out all that wasted time and money we’ve expended (and it’s been a tremendous amount, don’t get me wrong) but it’s certainly not wasted.  By focusing so singularly on a sport, she’s learned tremendous life skills. Not the least of which is valuable time management skills – homework and friends must be balanced with the team schedule. Competing individually in front of judges has taught her to handle intense competition and scrutiny in a way that class presentations never could. She’s mastered stress management and developed a self-confidence that will serve her well in any type of public arena.

Her teammates have taught her about the deep bonds you develop with others who share your passion. She’s met some close friends and seen the good and the ugly side of competition.  She’s learned about nutrition, hydration, caring for injuries, pacing yourself and pushing yourself. All before the age of 12.

It’s humbling to realize how much of my version of her is wrapped up in her being a gymnast and how much of her identity involves her being a gymnast. It’s part of what defines her. This is the fine line that we must walk as parents: when to encourage them to keep going over a bump in the road, and when to guide them to another path. There are never clear street signs.

We’ve watched in amazement. And now we will watch as she walks away from what defines her the most. She’s young; there will be other time-intensive activities I’m sure. The gymnastics world will slowly fade away from our family’s routine. Life goes on. But I will be forever grateful to the sport, to any activity, that can inspire and push children to dream and grow.

Perhaps the biggest lesson that she’s learned is the one that amazes me the most. Because of her rigorous schedule, she’s developed a kind of discipline that some people only dream of: when she’s tired, she goes to sleep; when she’s not hungry, she doesn’t eat. And that’s a life experience worth learning.

Laura Amann is a freelance writer and the mother of four children. You can learn more at www.laura-amann.com.

Image source: Stock.xchng

It appears that the children in our society are more in danger from predators than many of us would have believed prior to the last few weeks. News of alleged inappropriate behavior toward children from coaches in college football, gymnastics and college basketball brings to the forefront the age-old questions, how do we protect our children from people who want to do them harm? How do we allow our children to reap the benefits provided by all the wonderful adults involved in youth sports while protecting them from that small percent of one percent of coaches with immoral motives?

First and foremost, our children must understand what constitutes inappropriate touching. But, if prevention is our goal (rather than reaction), we must teach our kids to recognize the signs of prepping and baiting used by adults to build relationships with children that may allow future abuse. What seems to be common to all the cases reported is that the children involved were allegedly set up for the abuse over a time frame of months or years.

Unfortunately, the things a coach tries to develop in a good relationship with athletes, trust, confidence, care and concern are the very things a pedophile tries to develop when “setting up” future victims. This forces parents, coaches and administrators to walk a very fine line between protecting our children and falsely accusing good people. But, it should also lead all of us to accept and implement certain guidelines that are set in stone and followed without exception. Doing so will go a long way toward protecting our children from that percent of one percent of coaches who want to do them harm and it will protect the nearly one hundred percent of adults involved in youth sports for the right reasons from being falsely accused of inappropriate behavior.

TEN STRATEGIES FOR PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN
(and their good coaches)

1. A coach should never be alone with a child, not before practice, not after practice, not during travel.

2. Coaches and athletes should never share hotel rooms when traveling.

3. Coaches should not provide special treatment to one or two athletes compared to the rest of the team. This could be trips to movies or ballgames, gifts, etc.

4. Team sleepovers should be supervised by multiple adults. Use common sense when considering the sex and number of adults supervising this type of activity. Make sure parents are involved.

5. Trust your child’s coach, but not blindly. Trust is something earned, not given. It must be continually earned or it should be taken away.

6. Parents should monitor their child’s relationship with his/her coaches, not in a conspiracy theory, witch-hunt way, but to simply confirm they’ve chosen good people to guide that part of their child’s life.

7. Everyone should report abuse when witnessed. Not hearsay or rumors, but if you witness abuse, REPORT IT!

8. Adults should intervene on behalf of the child when witnessing child abuse (if you can do so safely).

9. Children should understand what constitutes inappropriate touching and know to report it when they see it or experience it.

10. If you are one who is part of that percent of one percent who coach or get involved with youth activities for immoral reasons, please get help.

Note: Although these thoughts are presented in a coach/athlete mode, they can just as easily be applied to many adult/child relationships.

About the Author: Mark Folger has coached gymnastics for over 30 years and is  currently on the USA Gymnastics National Committee, and was the USA Gymnastics 2009 Junior Olympic National Coach of the Year. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in education from the University of Oklahoma and spent two years in graduate school there studying sports science (primarily youth sports motivation).

1. Put it all out there

Whether you use a whiteboard in the kitchen, traditional planner like the MomAgenda, or any myriad of technology tools we now have access to, get the week and schedules on paper. Color code it, use pictures, or use any other method that works for you but post the schedule somewhere so you can refer back to it and other family members can reference it, too. The other thing I did this year is take advantage of one child’s flexible schedule. My oldest has practice Monday and Wednesday after school until 5. My middle daughter has gymnastics on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. And my youngest is supposed to be at swim practice 3 days a week but they can choose their 3 days – so she will swim Monday, Wednesday, Friday so we can have two afternoons a week free (well, until my oldest’s high school swim season starts in November.)

2. Carpool

Let’s face it, the price of gas is getting crazy and our time is valuable. Check with other team members and form carpools where ever you can. Not only will it save money and time, the social time is good for your kids, too. A few years ago we carpooled with a family for gymnastics – I picked the girls up from school and took them to gym and my friend brought them home. We found that the simple routine and expectation of your friend going too, got rid of any complaints of “I’m too tired”, “I don’t want to go”, and similar episodes of whining. If you are going to carpool, make sure you do your best to pay attention to whose turn it is to drive, pick up times and be respectful of the schedules of others (as in try not to do last minutes schedule changes if possible).

3. Plan Meals

It is much healthier and more cost effective to feed your family at home than it is to go through the drive-thru window every other night. Take time over the weekend to plan your family’s meals for the week – taking into account schedules and staggered eating times. On crazy sports nights I tend to do meals in the slow cooker or meals that can be easily reheated depending on when the kids will have time to eat. Planning also pertains to snacks. Plan healthy mini meals that you can pack for your athletes to eat before or after practice. If you need ideas or some planning sheets, visit my RaisingAHealthyFamily.com site where I post my menu every week.

4. Walk That Fine Line

Let’s face it, without parental involvement youth sports just could not thrive. We need team moms,  volunteer officials and booster clubs, and we know that kids rely on us for positive support.  Get involved, however, you don’t want to be so involved that you are hovering over your child during practice, second guessing the coach or putting unnecessary expectations on your athlete. Don’t get wrapped up in the emotions of the day to day journey of sports – this is a marathon, not a sprint. Plus your child and their coaches are going to have good days and bad days – just like you do.

So as crazy as some days can be, take a little time to get organized, divide and conquer, and then you will be able to enjoy your child’s sports almost as much as they do!! If you have any strategies or techniques that you use to manage your children’s sports schedules, feel free to share them with us in the comments below!

As a parent, you can help make this transition time easier by:

• Make sure your athlete is going to bed at a reasonable time. Summer sleep schedules were lax at best around my house so it is time to recalibrate the kids’ sleep schedules. I aim to have my 9 year old in bed between 9 and 9:30 on school nights. She can sleep in until 7 so that gives her plenty of time to rest. My 13 and 15 year old have to get up earlier but don’t seem to need quite as much sleep so they go to bed no later than 10 – closer to 9:30 on night’s where the homework load is light.
• Make sure your athlete is adequately fueled. Long school days mean less opportunity for snacking but it also means that they will be hungrier when you see them after school. Start with a balanced breakfast – no a frozen waffle on its own does not count. Encourage your athlete to help pack their lunch or at least give you input so the chance of them eating it all is better.  If you are going straight from school to practice, make sure you provide a healthy mini-meal to refuel their systems (check our list of Healthy Snacks and Mini Meal Ideas). After workout try a tall glass of chocolate milk and a banana or bagel for immediate muscle recovery!
• Communicate with teachers! If your child is still in elementary school, definitely let their teacher know what days they have sports practice. Many teachers will be willing to give homework at the beginning of the week so that you can focus on homework on off days, or at least conquer the more time intensive pieces on non-sports days. For middle school and high school students, it is a great time to learn time management skills. My kids have learned how to take advantage of in-school study halls and extra class time to get a jump on homework so they don’t have as much to deal with after school.
• Allow for downtime. Be sure not to completely over schedule your child these first few weeks. Add activities incrementally and allow for some relaxation time. Time to read, play, enjoy family time and just chill is just as essential for kids as the sports they do!

As a coach, you can help by:

• Being aware of the transition that your athletes are dealing with. Just acknowledging the new schedule and challenges will go a long way to helping the children relax.
• Taking a few minutes to communicate with your athletes. When we start practice we have the girls all line up first so we can give them any pre-practice information, greet them and we usually go down the line and ask them each how their day was or some silly question. It helps the girls change gears and it helps facilitate the coach/athlete bond.
• Stressing the importance of school. Remind your athletes that school comes first. If they need an extra 15 minutes at the beginning of practice to finish up homework, give it to them. As the year goes on they will find their stride and will learn to manage the homework/practice balance better.  Allow athletes to leave practice early on night’s where they need to study for a big test or have a larger than normal homework load.
• Adjusting practice intensity. Know your athletes and know the signs of fatigue. The first few weeks of school you may need to adjust the intensity, number repetitions and lower your expectations a bit.

Years of experience from the coaching side and now from the parenting side have taught me that kids are resilient, they adapt and even the busiest schedule can be a positive thing – IF – parents and coaches are working together with the athletes as a TEAM.

Do you have tips for making the transition from the lazy days of summer back to the structure of balancing school and sports? If so – share them in the comments below! We can all benefit from working to support our athletes.

I have collected some great resources and checklists to help you decide if your athlete is ready for an overnight camp and what you need to pack.

• Let’s start with my printable summer camp packing list – one is specifically for gymnasts and the other one is for just about any camp.
• Mom’s Team has a good checklist for parent’s preparing to send their athlete away to camp
• PBS’s Bob Ditter on how to get kids ready for camp - the independence, maturity and mental preparation
• Jennifer O’Donnell has some good tips to help you determine if your tween is ready for an overnight camp
• TypeA Parent has another good article on how to make sure your child’s first camp experience is a successful one

Don’t forget to label EVERYTHING! Either invest in some good Sharpie markers or better yet, Mabel’s Labels has a Limited Edition Camp Combo™ that is perfect for labeling everything your child may need at camp.

What other tips do you have for sending kids off to camp?

Level 5 Gymnastics Bar Routine Perfect 10? – click above to view or watch on YouTube – I originally saw it on CoachingGymnastics.

For any gymnast, coach, judge or experienced gymnastics parent, watching that video will bring a smile to your face and probably a few head nods, too. For those of you who are not familiar with the way gymnastics works, you can still get something out of the video.

The premise of the video is that little Suzie got an 8.45 on her Level 5 bar routine. She thought she did great and in her mind, deserves a 10. As her coach breaks down the routine and points out the places where the judges took deductions, Suzie isn’t buying it and decides her coach is just being mean. And herein lies the opportunity for the adults in Suzie’s life to work together and teach her how to remove the “person” from the “gymnastics.”

Gymnasts and other athletes who perform in front of a panel of judges (ice skaters, divers, synchronized swimmers, competitive dancers and cheerleaders) need to be taught that the scores they receive are based on a list of criteria and how well their PERFORMANCE met those criteria at that moment for that set of judges. It has nothing to do with whether the judges LIKE THEM AS A PERSON or not.

I actually judged competitive level gymnastics (up to Level 9) for a few years and really enjoyed it, but it was hard. It is hard to take a mandatory deduction for a fall on beam when you know that gymnast has probably performed the skill 100 times successfully in the weeks prior to the competition. It’s hard to decide if the split leap is within the margin of error for the 180 degree requirement when you only have a split second (no pun intended) to decide and no instant repaly. It’s hard to go through a floor routine and make sure you correctly identify every skill and give the gymnast credit for the requirements of the routine and come up with the correct starting value.

But, like everything else, it takes practice. After judging up to 96 gymnasts in a session (then multiply that by 3-6 sessions on any given weekend) what has to happen is that you judge the body in motion in front of you. You don’t notice the pigtails or missing two front teeth. You don’t have time. You have to account for every skill and every deduction and make sure the score you award is within a certain range compared to the judge sitting next to you. You want the gymnasts to succeed. You’d love to give a perfect 10, because that means you just watched the most beautiful and technically correct routine of the day, but that rarely happens.

Does favoritism ever happen? Of course it does. Judges are  human. But, it shouldn’t and a judge who takes the position seriously will not let the color of the leotard, the size of the gymnast, or her personal tastes influence the job at hand.

And back to Suzie. As much as she wants to think her routine was perfect, the more important things to stress are:

• Have you been working on corrections from the last performance at practice?
• Do you understand what mistakes you made so you can learn from them?
• Did you try your hardest?
• Did you have fun?

Answers of yes to those questions are more important than the fleeting feeling of receiving a perfect 10. Scores matter, but the quality of effort and performance are much more important! Teach this to the athletes from day one and you will have kids who take that skill and can apply it to all areas of life.

Today I am just going to give you a quick overview of our day with the Gatorade team. I literally took PAGES of notes on the how, why and when of fueling our athletes, how Gatorade fits into that and my thoughts on the Gatorade products which I will be sharing with you in more detailed posts over the next few weeks. Be sure to like the Sports Girls Play Facebook page or follow Sports Girls Play on Twitter so you don’t miss a thing!

We started our day with introductions and breakfast with the President of Gatorade North America, Sarah Robb O’Hagan. Sarah is a sports mom of three, a runner and super smart business woman. We had a great time sharing our own backgrounds, including how many kids we each had, the sports they play and what our websites were.

Next we met with their marketing department and got background on the history of Gatorade and its branding. Basically Gatorade was developed in 1965 in an effort to help college football players at the University of Florida (thus Gator – ade) maintain athletic performance throughout practice and games (watch the history of Gatorade commercial on YouTube – love it!). In Gatorade’s early years they focused primarily on athletes – testing them, finding out what they needed from a sports drink and formulating Gatorade to help. As the sports drink market grew, Gatorade in their own words kind of “lost its way” – marketing itself broadly to the general consumer and as a result, sales stagnated. After all, Gatorade is formulated to aid the body in the preparation, during, and immediately after EXERCISE. Gatorade is not formulated as a drink you kick back and consume during a movie or as a replacement for water. In the past few years Gatorade has re-focused its efforts on athlete and education of the athlete’s core team – the coaches, trainers, and while they are young – the parents.

One of the new Gatorade print ads aimed at Sports Moms

Throughout the course of our sessions with the marketing team we shared our preconceived impressions of Gatorade. We shared with them how we do or don’t already use Gatorade in our kids’ daily lives. We asked them tough questions about High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS – which, oh by the way, Gatorade no longer has), sugar, dyes and not knowing which product would be good for our kids when, how much, and why. Gatorade was hoping for those types of questions from us and responded giving us the ability to ask our hard questions directly to the scientists and product developers.

At lunch we met with Wanda Pratt, the Mother of NBA rising star Kevin Durant. You can watch her video spot as part of the Gatorade Become campaign below:

Wanda’s presentation to us was very inspirational and I loved how she shared stories of her son’s younger days. I especially liked the one where he stormed out of practice because his coach gave him conditioning he didn’t like. He walked to his Grandmother’s house and by the time he got there the coach had already talked with Wanda who had talked with his Grandmother. The way the coach and the parent handled the situation was right-on the money and about an hour later – after his Grandmother mentioned something about how piano might be a good thing to take up – Kevin returned to practice – and did every one of the tasks coach had asked for.

She answered all our questions and reassured us that one day, our athletes would thank us for all our support and everything we have done for them in order for them to follow a dream.

We spent our afternoon in sessions with scientists from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), where they have tested over 10,000 athletes! The majority of the scientists at GSSI are former athletes and coaches – like the two who did presentations for us – Lindsey Baker and Lisa Esposito.  Lindsey has a Ph. D. in Exercise Physiology from Penn State and she knew her stuff! Wow! The sessions on Teen Athlete Insights and Nutritional Needs as well as the Science of Gatorade were fascinating and this is where I took the most notes. Even if you take Gatorade out of the equation, the information the scientists shared with us is VITAL stuff for coaches, athletes and parents! If you want your athlete to succeed, you have got to pay attention to what is going in their bodies. For example – how do you teach your athletes to determine if they are dehydrated or not?? Check back on a future post for this really easy way!

My Gatorade creation and other product samples

Finally we finished up the day in the sampling room. We made our own Gatorade flavors – like mine at the right, which is Char’s Cherry Berry Pomegranate Potion – and learned more about the research that goes into coming up with new Gatorade products. We learned about each of the various Gatorade product lines and who they really are for – like the new G Series FIT which is more for the older athlete (ahem, 40 something Moms) who work out but don’t need all the extra calories that a college soccer player may need. We tasted them all and told the team exactly how we felt about each product – trust me, there were some serious faces being made and the honesty was on the table!! We told them if we would buy them or not – I found two products that I was completely unaware of that are excellent solutions for two of my own athletes (more on that in a later post) and fell totally in LOVE with the Gatorade Natural line.

Speaking of the Gatorade Natural line, they are natural versions of the Gatorade Thirst Quencher line and low-calorie G2 that are made with all natural flavors, colors and ingredients! And they taste AMAZING. Unfortunately they are only available in certain markets and only through Whole Foods stores. If you want this line available in more areas and outlets, please let the Gatorade team know. All the moms in our group did!

Like I said, I took so many notes and have lots to share with you about sports nutrition and your kids over the next few weeks, so check back in. In the meantime, feel free to check in with the other Gatorade Sports Moms and read their accounts of the experience, too.

The Gatorade Sports Moms are: Char Polanosky from Sports Girls Play (that’s me) with 3 kids,  Lorraine Williams from Track Mom with 1 daughter, Lori Falcon from My Wooden Spoon with 3 boys, Carmen Staicer from Mom to the Screaming Masses who has 6 kids, Lisa Douglas from Crazy Adventures in Parenting also with 6 kids, Kimberly Kauer from Tippy Toes and Tantrums with 2 kids, Alyssa Banko from Mommy Warriors who has 4 kids (two sets of twins!) and Stephanie Wagner from And Twins Makes 5 with 5 busy kids.

Disclosure: I’d like to thank Gatorade for this truly educational opportunity! Gatorade provided me with all my transportation to and from the event, my lovely stay at The Wit Hotel, my delicious meal at Spiaggia and some nice Sports Moms swag. However, all opinions and insights shared in this post are my own derived from the information provided to us and my own experience.

I was an active kid and did a variety of sports. I ran cross country in high school and in college I did 5K, 8K and 10 mile races with friends for fun. And then something happened. I got married and started my own family, juggling the demands of running a busy house and running my own business. And somewhere in all of that craziness I forgot about me. I forgot that I love to play, compete and challenge myself.

As I entered my forties I decided it was time to find the athlete in me again! I took up golf and last year I set about learning how to run again. I made it my goal to run a 5K race this year – no matter how slow. And guess what I did?

Last weekend I completed my first 5K in twenty – count them – twenty, years! It was so much fun! We hung out with the Easter Bunny before the race and it was great to see Moms, Dads, teens, kids and little ones in strollers all out there to run together. I ran the race with a good friend – who like me, decided it was high time to find her inner athlete again. We didn’t care if were last (which we weren’t), we just wanted to run the whole thing. We finished the 3.1 miles in 40 minutes. Not lightning speed by any measure, but we accomplished our goal and that was the best part.

And as an added bonus, I think I have now got my 14 year old son hooked!! He ran the 5K race too – it was his first one and he finished it in a blazing (compared to us) 23 minutes. Not too shabby for the first one! When I asked him how it went at the end, he simply asked, “When can we do that again?” COOL!! So, I think we are going to run another race in June.

I know its hard to carve out time for you when you are shuttling kids back and forth to practice, going to competitions, and still trying to keep the household moving, but you have to do it. Be creative. Make the time and give yourself a challenge. The rewards are HUGE! Not only will you feel amazing, you set the most important example for your kids that you possibly can!

So, what’s  your challenge and how are you going to go about achieving it?

As the parent of three kids (14, 12 and 9) – all of whom have different talents – I can tell your best laid parenting plans often get changed once you have kids and are in the thick of raising them! I would have never envisioned my kids being where they are today in sports, but I’m glad they are and am proud of each one of them!

As a young child my son was not athletic, confident or really interested in group activities – he would have rather read a stack of books or played cars all day. We tried soccer – he did the season, but wasn’t really in to it. We tried t-ball. Can we say bored out of his mind? Then we gave him ice skating lessons. He took to it – but on his own terms at his own pace. After a year of lessons he was ready to play ice hockey in the recreational league. He played seven years of house league ice hockey and really enjoyed it. He wasn’t interested in the travel league and it wasn’t until he was about 13 that he really started to get the confidence to be a leader on the team. And then they closed the ice rink!!

Faced with the realization that the only sport he had enjoyed was no longer an option, we convinced him to try summer league swimming. Again, he didn’t love it, but stuck with it and slowly improved. He joined the year round team and the longer he stuck with it the more he began to embrace it. He grew 13 inches in middle school so now at age 14 he is 6′ 1″ tall and is able to really use that height to his advantage in the pool. As a result of his swimming experience he was able to try out, make and then score points every meet for his High School Swim Team – an opportunity he would not have had, had they not closed the ice rink. If you would have asked me 10 years ago what sport I thought my son would play in High School, I would have laughed and said, “none.” Instead he has developed the confidence to take on new challenges like the JROTC Raider program. The Raider team trains for and does competitions that include a run, push ups, sit ups, orienteering, rope bridge building, first aid and more. Again, would I have ever guessed this is what he wanted to do? Nope!

My second child, a girl, was destined to be a gymnast in one respect or another. After all, with me being a gymnastics coach, Miss M was always at the gym. She did classes and then went on the developmental team. She loved it and always wanted to do what the big girls were doing. However, as she got old enough to compete, she didn’t seem to be enjoying it as much – she was moderately successful but didn’t have the natural strength that so many of her teammates had. She decided to try swimming competitively while still doing gymnastics to see if she liked it. In her mind, swimming would be so easy – you know, she was a gymnast. Miss M swam but wasn’t passionate about it and meanwhile her days at the gym were becoming more and more unhappy as skills got harder, scarier, and she was trying to figure out if she liked having her Mom in the gym coaching her.

The gym was all she really knew and I think she thought I expected her to be an elite gymnast. So much of her identity as a child was wrapped up in the fact that she was a gymnast and that made it hard to make the decision to quit. But they day she finally quit gymnastics I think a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders and she came to the realization that life goes on and we all still loved her the same – gym or no gym. She finished the season swimming and took a break from gym. By May she came to me and said that she really missed gymnastics and really didn’t like swimming, so could she go back to the gym. This time it was all her – she returned on her own terms and joined the All Star team (and was no longer coached by me). The All Star team was not as intense as the track she had been on before and it allowed her to tailor her routines to highlight her strengths and gave her time to work through some fears while still being able to compete. By December of this year, she was begging me and trying to cut a deal with me to let her add another day to her gymnastics schedule. She has had a very successful season – but it is because she wants it and does gymnastics for herself now. I don’t expect her to stick with gymnastics the rest of her school years, but it works for her now.

And then we have my youngest daughter. By the time she was three it was more than obvious to me that she was going to be way too tall to be a gymnast – not to mention that she was afraid of everything at the gym. Things her sister was doing at 3, she would not even entertain! The one thing I noticed was that Miss N loved being in water. I signed her up for swim lessons and she took to it right away – as long as her face was not in the water. She saw some kids about her age swimming in the other pool and wanted to know what their kickboards were, why they wore swim caps, etc. I explained to her that they were on the swim team and what it was all about. The summer of her sixth year she decided to do the summer swim team. It was a drama filled summer – full of nerves, tears and determination, but by the end of the summer it was pretty obvious to me, that she was right where she belonged.

Over the next few years she swam year round. It became more and more apparent that Miss N is an intense child expecting nothing but perfection in herself. She wanted to win her races and you could see it in her body language and the way she competed. But it wasn’t just at swim – it was showing up in school, at home and with friends. She is intense in everything she does – and puts an amazing amount of pressure on herself. She has been very successful in the pool but we have really had to work on the emotion aspect of the sport and trying to teach her how to manage nerves, her goals and how to handle it when she does not achieve her personal goals. (The benefit – the lessons she is learning from sports are helping her deal with her emotions and perfectionism in all aspects of her little life.)

This spring I decided she needed a change of pace and she is trying something totally different – field hockey. It has been really good for her to be the new one, be part of a team and get some good cross training in. Trying another sport has also helped take some of the pressure off, and at the same time it has helped her realize that she really does love swimming. She has already told me that she is going to play field hockey again next spring, but is getting excited about summer swim meets.

As parents, I think we have to be willing to help our children navigate their own destinies by gently guiding them towards the activities where they will not only enjoy but also flourish. Sports are an essential part of childhood development, however, they are not the end all. Whether your child enjoys sports, academic challenges or beauty pageants, it is our job to support our children, not live our own dreams through them,  and to help them “keep it REAL.”

Did you know that according to the Gatorade study seventy percent of moms are raising kids in competitive sports, creating a group of “Sports Moms” nearly 13 million strong? Or that Sports Moms spend one-third more time and more than twice as much money across their children’s entire span of extracurricular activities than moms without kids in sports? Despite this, 79 percent of Sports Moms report that it’s “no problem” balancing these added demands with their other responsibilities, further reinforcing their commitment to their kids’ sports.

Gatorade has created a new website for sports moms to help give us the resources to make our jobs a little easier – especially when it comes to nutrition. Sports nutrition is tricky stuff - especially when you are dealing with athletes of different ages, types of sports and genders. For example, my 14 year old son who swims a 2 hour workout needs a different kind of fuel than my 12 year old daughter who does gymnastics 12 hours a week, and that is different from what my 9 year old who plays field hockey 2-3 times a week and swims 2-3 times a week needs. But regardless of what sport they do, they all need to keep hydrated. Knowing how much fluid to give them and when keeps me on my toes and requires that I take the time to educate them, as well.

The Gatorade Moms web site is already packed with great articles by leading experts in the sports nutrition field and they are definitely worth taking the time to read and share with your teammates. Some of the more useful articles, in my opinion, are:

• Protein for Athletes, A Practical Guide
• Hydration: Critical for Performance
• On the Road Again: How to Choose High-performance Foods When Traveling

What’s your take? Is being a Sports Mom (or Dad) a role you enjoy or is it just too much?