Courtesy of the Highlander Aquatic Club, Orlando FL:
Parents--Your athlete needs you! To have a successful program there must be understanding and cooperation among parents, swimmers, and coaches. The progress your youngster makes depends to a great extent on this triangular relationship. It is with this in mind that we ask you to consider this section as you join the Highlander Swim Club and reacquaint yourself with this section if you are a returning Highlander Aquatic Club parent. You have done a great deal to raise your child. You create the environment in which they are growing up. Your child is a product of your values, the structure you have provided, and the model you have been. Human nature, however, is such that a parent loses some of his/her ability to remain detached and objective in matters concerning his/her children's athletics. The following guidelines will help you keep your child's development in the proper perspective and help your child reach his/her full potential as an athlete. The coach is the Coach!: Ten and Unders Problems with the coach?
1.. Make sure your child knows that - win or lose, scared or heroic -- you love him/her, appreciate their efforts, and are not disappointed in them. This will allow then to do their best without a fear of failure. Be the person in their life they can look to for constant positive reinforcement. 2. Try your best to be completely honest about your child'� athletic ability, his/hers competitive attitude, their sportsmanship, and their actual skill level. 3. Be helpful, but don�t coach him/her on the way to the pool or on the way back, or at breakfast, and so on. It�s tough not to, but it�s a lot tougher for the child to be inundated with advice, pep talks and often critical instruction. 4. Teach them to enjoy the thrill of competition, to be "out there trying," to be working to improve his/her swimming skills and attitudes. Help him/her to develop the feel for competing, for trying hard, for having fun. 5. Try not to relive your athletic life through your child in a way that creates pressure; you lost as well as won. You were frightened, you backed off at times, you were not always heroic. Don�t pressure your child because of your pride. Athletic children need their parents so you must not withdraw. Just remember there is a thinking, feeling, sensitive free spirit out there in that uniform who needs a lot of understanding, especially when his world turns bad. If he/she is comfortable with you -- win or lose -- he/she is on their way to maximum achievement and enjoyment. 6. Don�t compete with the coach. If the coach becomes an authority figure, it will run from enchantment to disenchantment, etc.., with your athlete. 7. Don�t compare the skill, courage, or attitudes of your child with other members of the team, at least within his/her hearing. 8. Get to know the coach so that you can be assured that his/her philosophy, attitudes, ethics, and knowledge are such that you are happy to have your child under his/her leadership. 9. Always remember that children tend to exaggerate, both when praised and when criticized. Temper your reaction and investigate before over-reacting. 10. Make a point of understanding courage, and the fact that it is relative. Some of us can climb mountains, and are afraid to fight. Some of us will fight, but turn to jelly if a bee approaches. Everyone is frightened in certain areas. Explain that courage is not the absence of fear, but a means of doing something in spite of fear of discomfort. |