Friday, April 13, 2012

Parents Role in Sports Scholarships and Teen Athlete Performance

Teen athletics are a joy to their parents, school and country. Whether in summer or winter athletics, these talented young men represent the country and do a phenomenal job. The United States has always been at the top of medal standings in any Olympic or global athletic competition with most of the gold winners being youthful men and women. On close scrutiny, most of them were successful with sports scholarships, a very crucial area in a teen athlete's life that brings you as a parent and the coach together.


However, if you look at the teen athletes who have made it into the list of the most gifted in any community, it is not their ability that gave them the sports scholarships. There was something more than that. It is called mental toughness and it is nurtured and trained when the teen athlete is still very raw and young, during that time when he or she finds it hard to balance sports and academics. You might have realized some coaches are simply instructing their athletes on playing their sport and the nitty gritties involved.


Technical and tactical skills are taught to condition the young man or woman but mental toughness is usually ignored. If you want your son or daughter to succeed in getting the best of sports scholarships, the teen needs to have ample mental strength, something that also helps in building the grades as well. You will be killing two birds with a single shot, while at the same time giving your child the most important resource that will always be around with him or her for the rest of his life.


Some of the best sports scholarships you crave for your child require the teen to show potential, both in studies and on the field or track, for instance. Your responsibility is not to materialize when the child has won a scholarship or after being approached by a college for the same. The kid might get the coveted scholarship but end up losing his athletes touch due to personal fears. As a parent, you need to work closely with the coach way back before the issue of sports scholarships has even cropped up.


Together, you need to find ways of teaching the kid on how to face his or her fears, achieving goals and overcoming mental barriers that are either limiting or could limit performance. This will allow the teen to fulfill his or her true sports and academic potential. Otherwise, do not ask why your neighbor's son or daughter keeps on becoming a captain or leader of every sport he or she engages in. The teenage is mentally tough and can raise the morale of his or her peers. This is what makes the best sports scholarships a reality. You need to be at the center of it all.


The sports scholarships recruiting process should always be a very exciting time for you as a parent, student-athlete, and the coach. If you start working together right from the time the student is showing signs of a sports talent, the process will definitely be rewarding. There are other critical mistakes as a parent you could make that could cost your child scholarships such as the way you communicate with the coach and lack of knowledge of the recruiting strategy in use. You should be an asset to your gifted daughter or son and the teen athlete will beat the competition.

No comments:

Post a Comment