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The hidden benefits of sport for teenagers


Following up from my last post, I have been giving some thought to the topic of teenagers and sport. Having a teenager in the house has taught me a thing or two about the way in which us parents, create a work ethic that will help them later in life, and the struggles we go through in order to turn actions into habits.

Be the example

We're all familiar with the old saying "Do as I say, not as I do" and it makes sense in a convoluted way, but not to a teenager. Imagine we tell them to get off the phone/tablet/Playstation and go to bed early, but they see us staying up till midnight browsing Facebook in bed. It sounds hypocritical, right? To a teenager, this feeling is amplified tenfold. If, on the other hand, we get proper rest, if we are commited to training, to fueling properly and we can show the results consistently, there's a better chance of the message sticking in their minds.

Responsibility is personal

When my son was younger, we would always make sure he had his singlet, shorts, socks, spikes, etc. ready before a competition. We would put together some snacks, water and clean, dry clothes to wear after a race, especially during the cross country season. And I'll put my hand up, we forgot his singlet a couple of times. We nearly didn't get there in time cause we couldn't find parking, but we've learnt our lesson and we are better prepared nowadays. As a teenager, we want to teach him to be responsible of his own athletic success. If he wants to compete - and some time he doesn't - he needs to train and be committed to it. Making up excuses and turning up once a week for the recovery run is not to achieve the goal, but we cannot do it for him. He has to internalise the idea and act accordingly.

Success comes in small packages

Succeeding in the big things starts with success in the little things. I want my son to understands that success is not only measured in medals. It is measured in a season without injuries cause you prepared better in terms of strength and conditioning. It is measured in finishing an 8k run without feeling nauseous. It's being able to do a series of 4X400m with the age group above you and keeping up with them. Before you know it, your performance in races will be better, and in time, the medals will come.

Competition is good

When kids are young, we teach them that sport is fun and taking part is rewarding in itself. At some point in life, they're  thrown out into the real world where there is fierce competition for jobs, promotions, partners and they should be prepared for it. In my mind, there's no better way to prepare them for life than through competition in sport. At the end of the day, if you come last in a race, it hurts, but  that's it. The consequences don't go beyond that and, with the  appropriate support, you improve and build resilience. Athletics also teach you that competition is not about hate and hoping to destroy your opposition. It's about being better than the day before, better than your last race. It's about wishing luck to the runner next to you and shaking their hand at the end of the race. That is a beautiful lesson to learn when you are young.

It's O.K. to fail

Finally, life  is not always sweet success and multi-million contracts. We all fail some times but once again, no better  place to learn than when you are young and in a "controlled" environment. World class athlete Laura Muir admits she didn't win any major competition until she was in university. She didn't beat herself up thinking it was a disaster. It wasn't the end of the world. It only meant she had more time to learn be better prepared. As long as we provide teenagers with the adequate support  and learning framework, they will be better equiped to handle failure and accept it as part of life.
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