The pressure to become more atheletic and gain or lose weight

The pressure for athletes to gain or lose weight can be extremely overbearing. John O'Sullivan, professional athlete and founder of The Changing Game Project explains how parents and coaches can promote a healthy playing environment.
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The pressure to become more atheletic and gain or lose weight

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The pressure to gain weight fast or how can my kid grow or become more athletic, I think for me its sports because as this focus on winning at younger and younger ages, it leads us down. What we do is promoting the kids who are bigger, faster, stronger, and usually a little bit older in terms of the age cut off. What I think one of the really dangerous things is if we have a 12-year-old who is only drinking protein shakes and doing all the supplements, we are not teaching them healthy-eating habits for life, and I think sports is part of what we call in school our physical education for our child. And so we need to be educating them to be active, how to move their bodies, how to jump, how to run, how to balance, and we also need to be educating them on how to eat well. So, if you're unsure, I always recommend find a nutritionist, seek out good advice. There are some great books on the subject, but whenever your kids can be eating whole foods and healthy foods and plenty of vegetables and things like that, it's far better off than any synthesized products that they can eat to "help them gain weight."

The pressure for athletes to gain or lose weight can be extremely overbearing. John O'Sullivan, professional athlete and founder of The Changing Game Project explains how parents and coaches can promote a healthy playing environment.

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John O'Sullivan

Founder of Changing The Game Project

John O’Sullivan founded the Changing the Game Project in 2012 in order to help parents, coaches and youth sports organizations create a more child-centered sports experience for our young athletes. John is a former collegiate and professional player, and worked for 20 years on the youth, high school and college level as a coach and club Technical Director. He holds a USSF A License, NSCAA Advanced National Diploma, and a US Youth Soccer National License. His blog is now one of the most popular youth sports websites in the US, and he has been a featured presenter at TEDx Bend Oregon, IMG Academy, and this week at the NSCAA Convention. The Changing the Game Project provides live and online parent and coaching education workshops, webinars, and consulting services.

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Transcription: 
The pressure to gain weight fast or how can my kid grow or become more athletic, I think for me its sports because as this focus on winning at younger and younger ages, it leads us down. What we do is promoting the kids who are bigger, faster, stronger, and usually a little bit older in terms of the age cut off. What I think one of the really dangerous things is if we have a 12-year-old who is only drinking protein shakes and doing all the supplements, we are not teaching them healthy-eating habits for life, and I think sports is part of what we call in school our physical education for our child. And so we need to be educating them to be active, how to move their bodies, how to jump, how to run, how to balance, and we also need to be educating them on how to eat well. So, if you're unsure, I always recommend find a nutritionist, seek out good advice. There are some great books on the subject, but whenever your kids can be eating whole foods and healthy foods and plenty of vegetables and things like that, it's far better off than any synthesized products that they can eat to "help them gain weight."