Many years ago, there was a
survey done by the USA Olympic Council with all their medalist from 1956,
Melbourne Olympics to 1984, Los Angeles Olympics. And one of the questions was:
who was the motivator behind their success? The majority of medalists picked their parents as their prime mover in their glory, for some it was their coach, and
for some medalists, it was their friend.
Although the above survey was
done quite some time ago, it is without any doubts, a parent plays a pivotal
role in the development of a child in sports.
We would have heard or read
many success stories of sportsmen or sportswomen, where the mover and shaker
behind their success is their parent.
Now, let me share with you a story about the parents behind two of the world's most famous tennis champions. (Excerpts sourced from
the book "Bounce", which is well written by an award-winning journalist and Olympian, Matthew Syed).
These parents, Richard and
Oracene, are none other than the dad and mom of the illustrious tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams.
They had never played tennis before, but this didn't deter Richard and Oracene
to learn to play tennis, so they could hit with their charming daughters.
With a dream to create a tennis champion, Richard, took the time and trouble to
learn how to coach, watched videos of former tennis stars, read tennis magazine,
and even spoke to psychiatrists and tennis coaches.
Even staying in an economically depressed area didn't dissuade Richard and
Oracene from creating an environment that is conducive for their daughters to train.From
here on Richard imbued his daughters with the knowledge that he had learned from the
best in the field of sports.
Venus was full of praise for her dad: "My father worked hard to build our
technique. He's very innovative, and our training was full of fun and
excitement. This motivates us to be early in training even before my father
would get there. He's a great coach."
When Venus was twelve years old
and Serena was eleven, Richard invited teaching pro-Rick Macci who had earlier
coached such tennis stars as Mary Pierce and Jennifer Capriati, to watch his
daughters play. Rick Macci was impressed by the sisters' skill and
athleticism and invited them to train with him at his Florida academy. The rest is history.
An interesting point to note is,
as parents, Richard and Oracene picked a game that his daughters will be
financially well rewarded when they achieve success.
What else can be better off for a
parent other than seeing their beautiful child growing into a successful sports
personality and earning from what he/she enjoys doing?
Another area that parents need to
know is that most children who decided to specialize in a particular
sport are less inclined towards their academics. Parents need to address this
issue by having extra classes with the school concerned or tuition and one
particular subject that parents need to pay special attention
is mathematics as I find that mathematics is the gateway to knowledge.
There was a time where we were living in an environment surrounded by more greens
than bricks. Time evolves, and today we see more bricks around us than greens. As
the environment changes so does the desire of a child.
From a time where sports were the only source of fun and excitement to an entertaining world today with its malls, amusement
parks, cable TV, video games, and a variety of social media platforms that seem to consume the minds of our children.
A child is a child, carrying a candle that needs to be lighted and guided by
their parents, as every impression the child receives from the environment
can shape its mind.
Parents, be the light that will guide your child.
Thank You.
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Note: The next article will be on the development of coaches and administrators.
