01/03/2024
It's been a busy week, a long awaited return to my own rowing club, Molesey Boat Club to deliver a session for parents of U19s and then a MEGA day of presenting 4 sessions to well over 200 students and parents at Putney High School.
Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome, the concentration and focus, the insightful questions and the laughs - I genuinely had a thoroughly great time at both events.
A journey through sport can throw up so many challenges, some that we expect and can plan for, and some that we had no idea we would be dealing with.
Accepting MISTAKES and challenges as part of the journey were big themes. If we can see these as not just a necessary part, but an essential part, then we can be non judgemental when our children, or our team-mates or ourselves make errors and then allow mistakes to be talked about freely. That way, we allow young people to hold their hands up to errors / mistakes / failures, and not feel the need to side step them. Then it's much easier to reflect clearly on what could be done differently and learn really solid lessons and embed new skills.
RISK was another theme we talked about. Encouraging young people to take risks is more likely to develop a confident and fearless adult, wrapping them in cotton wool and shielding them from risk is more likely to develop a low confidence and fearful adult. But what sort of risk? I'm obviously not talking about sending them out to dodge HGVs on the M1, but to see sport, in all its forms as a controlled risk. I asked all the young athletes if they had ever felt real fear before embarking on competition, and they all put their hands up. This is exactly the kind of risk that we can support our children to engage in and help them to understand that sometimes in life we will need to do things scared. Teenagers are wired to seek out risk, and sport represents a great environment for them to do this. We can give them strategies to manage that fear, but sometimes, to take advantage of opportunities, we just have to be brave and get on with it. In my experience as a coach, the athletes who really fulfilled their potential and achieved most in sport were the ones MOST willing to take risks.
Other elements were making good LIFESTYLE choices, understanding SELECTION, dealing with DISAPPOINTMENT and understanding that TRIUMPH and TRAGEDY in sport are close partners.
It has been a busy but wonderful week, and I am still following up with questions and challenges that parents and athletes are contacting me about. Carrying on the conversation after the event is a commitment that I make to all the organisations I work with.
If you are keen to provide something similar to athletes and parents in your sporting organisation, please get in touch or look at my website https://www.hpparenting.co.uk
