Having coached a LOT of all level of players in sport at Juniors/seniors/elite level, these are important observations I feel I have to share.
Most parents want their kids to do well in sport, and often share their frustrations when their child, who becomes an adult doesn’t get to the level they have hoped for them.
They complain about “favouritism”, “lack of game time”, and “the team is rubbish”, “the coach doesn’t give my child a chance”. That can happen of course but let’s throw this back at the parent.
Do you take your child down the park to practice their skills at their chosen sport? I’m down the park a lot, I hardly see any parents down there, way too often I NEVER see anyone there. If you don’t have “time”, get to bed earlier and get up earlier, then you create time.
Is your child working on their speed, agility and reaction time?
This can all be taught through practice, which will improve the child/adult’s game immeasurably over time-fact.
I know through coaching and getting your child to run with better technique, your child/adult WILL get faster, they will perform better in the game, if they see that ball a bit earlier, they will have more time on the ball, if they are fitter full stop they will ENJOY the game more.
Is your child/adult eating well? You can NEVER out-train a bad diet, it WILL catch up with you, footballers/rugby/netball players used to get away with it decades ago, now your diet is ultra-important IF you want to perform at a much higher level.
Nothing worse than parents saying “if they lost a few pounds they would be SO good”. The parent and household needs to eat well too as the child will be looking at them for not only guidance but a good example too. They won’t do its without you.
Is your child working on their strength? Have they been taught HOW to get stronger? I’m not talking about messing around unsupervised in a “gym” where nobody cares what you do, even if you hurt yourself.
If you get stronger over time, you WILL get faster, you will become more explosive and powerful on the field, more resistant to injury and no doubt a BETTER PLAYER who performs on another level.
This is a BRIEF description of what is possible, and before you carry on complaining why your child doesn’t get a fair chance, look at the steps you can immediately transform your child’s/adults’s chances of raising their performance dramatically, which leads ultimately to more ENJOYMENT.
I guarantee you will prove your coach WRONG and they will ask “what the heck have they being doing to get so good”!!
