Stop Focusing On Results: Developing Life Skills Through Sport
Gordon MacLelland is the CEO and founder of Working with Parents in Sport (WWPIS).
Gordon has a background in education and coaching and after a successful career coaching all age groups from U7’s through to adults and running sports programmes in schools, he is now a leading figure in the ‘parental engagement’ space.
He is also the author of four books ,’Sports Performance Parenting’- which charts the entire sports parenting journey, ‘Two Hats’– a book for parent coaches who are coaching or thinking of coaching their own children, ‘Great Sports Parenting’– A pocket guide for parents of young children in sport and ‘Engage’– A coach’s guide to building positive relationships with parents.
In the second part of a dialog with Parents in Sport founder, Gordon MacLelland, the conversation goes onto discuss the importance of resilience and normalising failure in sports when communicating with children. Such discussions between parents, coaches and children can help kids develop positive coping mechanisms. David and Gordon also touched on the potential risks of early specialisation in sports at a young age, such as burnout, overuse injuries and the potential to drop out from the sport altogether. The benefits of diversifying sports participation and the importance of developing multifaceted kids were also talked about.
Key Learning Points:
- Seek to focus on long-term development, such as aspects of mental toughness and resilience, rather than just results and outcomes.
- Get to know yourself as a parent as well as your child, seeking to improve your self-awareness.
- Understand what burnout in sport symptoms are for your children.
- Encourage regular check-ins between coaches/organisations and parents to manage expectations.
- Explore ways to better support and train coaches and volunteers in sports clubs to have more effective conversations with parents.
Connect with Gordon MacLelland
Connect with David Charlton
Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub
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Useful Youth Sport Psychology Resource
Youth Sport Motivation Checklist
Parental Sport Motivation Checklist
Podcast Episodes To Encourage A Positive Sporting Experience For Children
Ep289: Gordon MacLelland – How To Support Children To Enjoy A Positive Relationship With Sport
Ep288: Duncan O’Brien – How To Overcome Intense Emotions From Football
Ep285: Adam Batstone – Football Coaches: How To Help Neurodiverse Players Thrive
Ep280: Colm O’Donoghue – How To Help A Young Golfer Who Struggles Playing Strokeplay
Ep279: Ger Fitzgerald – How To Help A Young Cricketer Overcome Selection Difficulties
Relevant Resources To Encourage A Positive Sporting Experience For Children
Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment
Blog – 9 Tips for Children from Olympians
Blog – 5 Tips for Parents to Help their Children Perform with Confidence
Blog – How to Help Young Footballers Find the Zone
Blog – How do You Give a Young Golfer Self Confidence
Youth Sports Psychology Library – For Parents
Stuart Brown PHD – Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination and invigorates the soul
Click the button below to join The Sports Psychology Hub a Facebook group that David hosts to help ambitious athletes, serious sport coaches, sporting parents, sports psychologists and mental game coaches to support each other.
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Best Wishes
David Charlton
Global Sports Psychologist who is located near Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK and willing to travel Internationally. David also uses online video conferencing software (Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp) on a regular basis and has clients who he has supported in USA, Canada, South America, UAE, Australia and New Zealand.
Managing Director – Inspiring Sporting Excellence and Founder of The Sports Psychology Hub. With over 15 years experience supporting athletes, coaches, parents and teams to achieve their goals, quickly.
T: +44 7734 697769
