Everyday Fitness

Sports Parenting: Keeping Your Eye on the Big Picture

soccer-girl One of the hardest things to do as the parent of an athlete is to keep your eye on the big picture. Success in sports does not come down to one meet, one game, one competition, or one race. Success in sports is the culmination of the journey your athlete takes over the course of many years – the highs, the lows, the struggles, the lessons learned, friendships made, and all the other little events that help define your athlete’s career.

With that being said, why as parents (and sometimes athletes) do we have such a hard time dealing with our athlete missing one competition or for that matter having a less than stellar performance at one competition? How about an entire season? In my opinion, it is so easy to get caught up in the hype of it all.

Sure it is disappointing to have your athlete miss the big game, but tomorrow is a new day in the journey your athlete will take. Think back to your own childhood – was there any one event that was so critical that it redefined you as a person? Probably not.

Imagine the disappointment some of the Olympians felt this summer when they had to scratch from the biggest meet of their lives or didn’t have the performance they spent all these years training for. Hard to deal with at the moment – sure – but in the end did it change who they were? No – because we all know Alicia Sacramone is still one of the best vaulters in the world and she will go on to have a very successful adult life thanks to all the life skills she learned from her journey in sports.

Enjoy this journey your athlete is taking – remembering it is a marathon and not a sprint.

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Cross-training – Take a Hike

As coaches, parents and athletes, we tend to get really wrapped up in the day to day routine of training, and while routine is good, cross-training and non-training can be helpful too.

Hiking is a great way to get some fresh air, have fun and do some interesting cross training for just about any sport.

Pick a nice day, pack a lunch and head out to a local state park (or if you happen to be close to one of these 16 Amazing National Parks). Take the family or take the team and take in the fresh air.

Tips for a fun cross-training hiking workout:

Start out by making sure everyone is dressed appropriately and has plenty of fluids, too.
Find a grassy area to stretch and get warmed up.
Pick your course by consulting the park guides or from experience.
Set your watch for 5-10 minutes – set off on your hike keep a good pace.
When you get to the time, stop and play a game of tag, do some calisthenics, or do sets of 30 second sprints.
Repeat the intervals of hiking and then alternate activities throughout your hike.
At the end of your hike, take the time to cool down, stretch, rehydrate and then of course, enjoy lunch.

Cross-training can be a fun way to get strong, mix up your regular training schedule and build confidence in other areas of fitness.

Get Your Kids Active and Stay Active With Sports

Children need kid friendly activity that help their young bodies to develop and grow properly and healthy. When children don’t participate in sports and active play or do participate with out down time we run the risk of children that are overweight, disinterested in sports play activity, emotional burn out and possibly set up for injury in the over extended youth athlete.

Development And Growth For The Youth Athlete

The development of the total child needs a variety of experiences and opportunities to grow properly. Food, water, schooling, rest and relaxation all need to be dosed in balanced. To much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing very fast. Sports can be like this with out a check and balance system. To many times a child and his parents can become discouraged because the child isn’t the “star” of the team. Truly just look around most of us aren’t stars. Why do we place this unrealistic expectation on our children? What happened to fun and more fun in sports participation? Many children at an early age show promise and a measure success but as the other children grow and mature some of these children move to the middle of the pack making room for others to achieve higher levels of competiton.

We must remember, that children are growing as a result a child’s coordination becomes temporarily awkward. Many kids, in fact, become worse at sports during puberty before settling into their new bodies. Girls have in addition new bodies to grow use to.

Experts Weight In

Many youth sport experts agree that the youth athlete should not participate more than 15 hours/week for most sporting activities. They should change the sport or have a down time between sports. This means that a year round of any sport is to much for the majority of children and in the long run simply not in the child’s best interest.

With that said, far to many children ages 1-5th grade are not getting enough activity. Brain Grasso of IYCA believes that all children 3-5th grade should be involved in some organized sport per season. In addition some informal activity daily is important with family members and friends. This is just not happening. To many times the parents unfortunately are the leaders of inactivity and the ultimate abuse of sorts of their own children through no direction for proper eating or exercise.

Just give Um’ Some Balance

Almost all youth activities traditional sports as well as dancing, , chess, cheerleading to name a few, in the American youth life has the ability to become unbalanced and potentially hurtful for our youth athlete. Just as hurtful are the hours of TV and electronic games. Parents first need to gain perspective and then learn how to implement a healthy amount of exercise along with better food choices.

You can get more from TrackMom, Dr. Lorraine Johnson at her site, TrackMom.com.

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