Still University and currently resides in Boulder, CO where she is training for National competitions in the triathlon, running, and cyclocross events.

Dominique will be pursing a PhD in Neuroscience and Psychology in the near future. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message.

Even though the server responded OK, it is possible the submission was not processed. It is vital that parents realize a sport does not define their child. Click To Tweet On the opposite end of the spectrum are the under-involved parents.

Share Tweet LinkedIn Email. Login Comment. It is therefore our responsibility as health professionals to have in our process of history taking some strategies to inquire about family relationships and how these may play into to the development of presenting symptoms and their plan of care.

Here are 5 questions to ask parents:. As specialists in exercise science and sport, we have a responsibility to young athletes to help ensure that their parents are working in the interests of healthy childhood development. And here is the difficult bind we find ourselves in: while holding this responsibility to our young clients, we also understand that nothing puts adults on the defensive more quickly than having their parenting practices called into question.

Of course each parent is different. For others, even a little curiosity about child-parent relationships may feel threatening, particularly when the focus was supposed to be the injured foot exposed on the examination table.

Effective psychoeducation begins with connecting with a parent around their motivations for acting how they do. Empathy and acceptance is key, rather than judgment. Without that, there will be no buy-in to any of our suggestions, and no effective counselling can be done.

Sports medicine physicians who have a long-standing relationship with an athlete and their family are often in the best position to offer support to a parent around their attitudes and approach, and challenge any concerning behaviour they detect. Instead of imposing recommendations, suggest them.

In any case, shorter more frequent follow-up visits that are collaborative in spirit will be more effective in engaging a parent than longer sessions of lecturing about positive parenting practices in sport. Psychotherapists affiliated with a clinic, or elsewhere in the community might be suggested to a family in order to support a young athlete.

If the reason for referral deviates from the presenting complaint which is more physical in nature, this might pique resistance in a caregiver. In a non-blaming manner, be forthright and honest with your concerns, even if a parent struggles to accept them. Finally, make the effort to communicate with a colleague consultant if you feel there are nuances to the case presentation that you feel need to be raised.

In such cases it is our duty to report our concern to whichever child protection agency exists in our community. In Ontario, for instance, the duty to report is mandatory for children up to the age of 16, although reports for youth 16 and 17 years of age can also be made.

While we have responsibility to support our athletes on a case-by-case basis, our knowledge and expertise can also be put to use on a wider scale. Efforts to promote positive parenting involvement with teams and sport organizations we support as part of the health and performance staff can have an effect of reaching more families than we can in the confines of our clinics.

Strategies might include education to coaches around how they guide and encourage certain parent behaviour, creating clear expectations for the conduct of parents and their roles for best supporting the training program for their children. We can also encourage sport organizations, from the community level to national sport organizations, to set up policies around parent behaviour and fair consequences for inappropriate examples.

The coach was supportive, checking in with the young swimmer periodically during his time off. Without the demands of swimming, and more understanding from one parent, the was much less conflict at home, and the son realized how this had been the main driving force behind his unhappiness in sport.

Once his shoulder felt strong again, and he had learned new coping strategies to help manage his moods, he asked to return to the pool. He arranged for rides to practice with a friend on the team.

In the week leading up to his first meet back, he and his mother agreed that simply getting into the pool again with a healthy arm and outlook was a victory. He invited her to watch him swim, and with our support requested that they not discuss his swimming before or afterward the competition.

Tofler IR, Knapp PK, Drell MJ. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Tofler IR, Knapp PK, Lardon MT. Achievement By Proxy Distortion in Sports: A Distorted Mentoring of High-Achieving Youth.

Historical Perspectives and Clinical Intervention with Children, Adolescents and Their Families. In specialising years years old , research suggests that athletes prefer parents to help them prepare for competition, provide support and encouragement during competition and offer constructive feedback after competition.

What to avoid Clearly, parental support is important. What can coaches do? This can be done through… Behaviours that stimulate athletes intellectually Engaging athletes in their individual strengths Providing appropriate role models Establishing a positive coach-athlete relationship There is also a wealth of research now about how coaches can best help their athletes to learn.

Cognitive Load Theory This highlights how working memory has a limited capacity. Learn more on using Cognitive Load Theory as a coach here … Rosenshine's Principles Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction have the potential to revolutionise coaching. The learning styles myth A vast amount of evidence has found little to no support for the learning styles theory, and reviews of literature clearly show that learning styles are a myth.

Take a look at our blog looking at some of these ideas… Final thoughts The vital message here is that while coaches are clearly important for the physical and psychosocial development of youth sport participants, so too are parents. Search the blog. Most Popular Blogs.

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