There are many resources on the internet that are incredibly helpful in the quest to raise well rounded, independent elite athletes. Below is a collection of some of these resources.
On College Athletics + Recruiting:
“What College Sports Recruiting Can Teach Your Child”
A collection of thoughts and quotes from university coaches on what they are looking for in a recruit. they hit topics like focus, goal setting, life lessons, grit, over-involved parents, balancing demands, time management, skill and athleticism, being successful, social media responsibility.
“The kind of athlete I’m looking for is one who can handle adversity. Today, a lot of parents walk around with a safety net so their children won’t get hurt or disappointed — but I want a tough player who understands that when I push them it’s not personal, it’s because I know they have the ability to be better. We need to help our children develop a little toughness so that when they experience toughness down the road, they don’t shut down or shatter emotionally.”
Incidentally, these are all topics we teach here at Access Sport in our Foundations of Success program, in group and team workshops and individual mentoring. Contact us today to get started, and really WOW those recruiters!
The Changing the Game Project:
“The mission of the Changing the Game Project is to ensure that we return youth sports to our children, and put the ‘play’ back in ‘play ball.’ We want to provide the most influential adults in our children’s lives – their parents and coaches – with the information and resources they need to make sports a healthy, positive, and rewarding experience for their children, and their whole family.”
This site has a lot of information relating to youth sport, and youth sport development, but they also have some wonderful blog posts that relate directly to elite sports, parenting elite athletes and related topics. Check out these posts:
“They may have great talent and coaching, but they are missing the mental toughness that is required to be a high performer. It is our responsibility as parents and coaches to teach this”
“If we want our athletes to make the most of every opportunity, then we can help them see the opportunities, but they must plunge head first into the challenges through their own volition, and not ours.”
Other Articles of Interest:
“HOW HELICOPTER PARENTS ARE RUINING COLLEGE STUDENTS”: This article is interesting and can be applied in many ways to being parents of elite athletes. Where the article implores you not to call the college president to figure out your child’s roommate situation. I would remind you do not call your child’s college coach to ask about playing time, or why she has not been starting!
“20 WAYS TO PREPARE YOUNG ATHLETES FOR SUCCESS IN SPORTS AND IN LIFE” ESPECIALLY #12 and #18!
“THE ONLY 6 WORDS PARENTS NEED TO SAY TO THEIR KIDS ABOUT SPORTS”: Researchers Bruce Brown and Rob Miller asked college athletes what their parents said that made them feel great and brought them joy when they played sports. Want to know the six words they most want to hear their parents say?
“SPORTS PARENTING IN 10 SENTENCES”: A great read, and great advice for all parents with children in sport.
“HOW YOU CAN PREPARE YOUR TEEN TO NAVIGATE THE YOUTH SPORTS ARENA“ : Including Live in Reality, Ignore Labels, Encourage Sportsmanship, ‘Better Player’ does not mean ‘Better Person’…
“ON SPORTS PARENTS SEEKING MORE PLAYING TIME FOR THEIR CHILD”
Doc Rivers, head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers shares his approach as a sports parent when his kids sought help getting more playing time during their youth sports days…kids need to learn to earn their playing time and it’s not the parent’s role to talk to the coach about this coaching decision.”
“ON MINDSET, AND CULTIVATING POSITIVE MINDSET”
We can’t say enough about how important positive mindset is to success. The old adage “if you think you can, you can” is so powerfully true. This is an excellent article that reviews some strategies for parents to help stem negative thoughts and negative self-talk in your child. It can be applied in all areas of school, sport and life.