Youth Athlete Training -- Is it all worth it?

As a parent I wasn’t ever perfectly sure if it was worth it. Certainly there are things I’ve learned on the journey.

Our second daughter is graduating from a prestigious university in the U.S. and her journey was pretty incredible. Fitness had everything to do with her success.

Kaiya has competed in the NCAA as a softball pitcher over the past 4 years. She has done well enough but how she got there is quite the story.

She always was athletic enough. She always determined. But she had to be taught that practice makes permanent (thanks Dad). She had to be coached to eat properly. She had to be driven to practices whether she felt like it or not.

Her first few years as a softball player were successful. Although she did have to fight through an injury to her elbow that was caused by improper throwing techniques. Switching positions, resting were all we knew to do at the time. If I had to do it over again, I would have had more attention given to throwing technique and strength at that early age.

As she continued to grow and play and be a normal kid, she experienced a tobogganing accident where her friend landed sideways on her knee. In fact, the friend broke her tailbone on Kaiya’s knee.

I brought her to a trainer I worked with at the gym who took a look. It became clear that getting over the injury was not going to be the only issue because there were significant imbalances in her strength. We invested a lot over the next year to have her train three times a week. Yes, it cost a lot of money. But it also cost a lot of time and effort for Kaiya to be able to add those hours to her week. It created more of a challenge for her to have to manage her time for school and activities and other sports.

But what happened following was truly incredible.

She was strong. She was ready. She would go on to compete and win top honours at the U19 Canadian Nationals. She was able to earn a spot on a D1 team and get an education because of her skill. She was able to keep her grades up throughout. Her hard work totally paid off.

From one parent to another here are some tips…

1 If you don’t want your kid to struggle with things like doing laundry in post-secondary – don’t do their laundry for them in high school.

2 If you don’t want your kid to eat randomly and unhealthy meals later – don’t prep every meal for them while they live with you. Don’t let them get away with eating cereal for dinner or other random choices.

3 If you want your kid to keep relying on external sources for deadlines etc – nag them constantly.

4 If you want your kid to be happy with their decision – don’t tell them what to do, coach them in figuring out what is best for them.

5 Love them. Love them when they’re good and when they are not. Love them when they are successful and when they are not. Tell them the truth when they need to hear it but never be rude.

6 Help them find a sport or activity that they love. Help them play at the level they should play at. Not everyone should be playing elite levels. Not everyone should be playing solely for fun. What works for your kid?

7 Get them great coaches besides you who are great not just for the sport but for life. Make sure they interact with other adults in great ways. Protect them from bad influences and help them protect themselves from bad influences.

8 Invest in fitness. Fitness teaches perseverance. Fitness teaches progression. Fitness teaches that you can learn how to get better and stronger.

9 Most of all, teach your kid to be a human: ego in check, confident enough to try, teammates treated well, coaches respected, focus on effort and best results.

How about set up a time for your young athlete to check out the possibilities at Fit For Good!