Creating boundaries for overzealous sports parents

Creating boundaries for overzealous sports parents
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Creating boundaries for overzealous sports parents

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Transcription: 
In the space of high performance and when children are naturally pretty good at what they do, they have an interest in growing, it can be exciting. It can really be exciting for parents and coaches. It can be exciting for the child as well, you know, so when parents have too much energy, too much enthusiasm for skill development, that's where we start to go, "Uh-oh, there's a challenge for the child to grow, to be able to be free." And so for parents who are finding too much interest in just skill development, we ask them to kind of create some boundaries, and there are some very simple things we do. We say, "Okay, the car is a sport-free zone," or "The walk to the car, which can be a dreaded place for some athletes who have parents that are too involved, so the walk to the car or during the car, it's just we're agreeing to not talk about sports." We're just setting some boundaries, and if we can decouple it, you know, who they are from what they do and we can pull those two things apart, the parent who's spending too much time focusing on skill development, we want to reinforce them interested in the core of who the child is.

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Michael Gervais, PhD

High Performance Psychologist

Dr. Michael Gervais, a licensed psychologist and industry visionary, is a founding partner of Pinnacle Performance Center. He focuses most of his time on people at the "top of their game," from NBA players, to Olympians, to military personnel. Dr. Gervais has a clear understanding of how performers become and consistently excel at a world-class level. Spending years in the trenches of high-stakes circumstances, Dr. Gervais has developed clarity for the tools that allow people to "thrive under pressure."

Dr. Gervais is a published, peer-reviewed author and a nationally recognized speaker on issues related to high performance for those who excel on the largest stages in the world.

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Transcription: 
In the space of high performance and when children are naturally pretty good at what they do, they have an interest in growing, it can be exciting. It can really be exciting for parents and coaches. It can be exciting for the child as well, you know, so when parents have too much energy, too much enthusiasm for skill development, that's where we start to go, "Uh-oh, there's a challenge for the child to grow, to be able to be free." And so for parents who are finding too much interest in just skill development, we ask them to kind of create some boundaries, and there are some very simple things we do. We say, "Okay, the car is a sport-free zone," or "The walk to the car, which can be a dreaded place for some athletes who have parents that are too involved, so the walk to the car or during the car, it's just we're agreeing to not talk about sports." We're just setting some boundaries, and if we can decouple it, you know, who they are from what they do and we can pull those two things apart, the parent who's spending too much time focusing on skill development, we want to reinforce them interested in the core of who the child is.