Parenting Elite Athletes

The Olympic creed was first stated by the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and it is as much a cherished ideal today as it was a century ago: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part."

One of the reasons against early specialization often overlooked by parents is that the year-round commitment and extensive travel it often requires can become so consuming that childhood essentially disappears, interfering with normal child development.

Some children are early bloomers who enjoy success in sports because they develop faster, not because they have more raw talent. Late bloomers develop more slowly, but may be more gifted athletes. There are advantages and disadvantages for both.

More and more teenage athletes are sinking into the couches of sports psychologists, hoping it will save them from mediocrity in a world that values champions. By high school, many teenagers feel they can't handle more than one sport, let alone be ordinary at it. So they go for a psychological edge, hoping to be mentally tweaked into shooting flawless free throws or sinking perfect putts.

Every parent enjoys that moment when they open up the newspaper and they find a picture of their athlete child accompanied by a story. Hopefully the story is about what a great kid they are and how hard they have worked to achieve their athletic success

Parents can help young athletes overcome anxiety and have more fun playing sports, including a technique called performance exhaling.

Sooner or later, as the parent of a star athlete, you are going to hear about the "edge" your child supposedly has over the competition for college admission. Whether the end of the rainbow holds a pot-of-gold scholarship from a Division I school or admission to an Ivy League college, sports success carries more weight, on average, in college admissions and non-need-based scholarship awards than being the son or daughter of an alumnus/ae or a member of a minority.

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To say that politics and favoritism are often involved in the selection of all-star teams in youth sports would be an understatement, but making the selection process fairer is easier said than done.

There are three main phases of development for the youth athlete: Phase One (Exploration), Phase Two (Commitment) and Phase Three (Proficiency). While the developmental stages are issues for the entire family, some fundamental principles apply, regardless of phase.