This article is specifically for young athletes. I work with young athletes every day from all over the world in my office and by Skype. A common issue that I see quite often is the athletes that think they know everything they need to know and don’t need to take advice from parents or others in their sport, especially the parents.

We all know there’s a natural drive for teenagers to want to establish their independence as a person but that’s not a reason to ignore suggestions that could really help you.

You certainly do need to make your own decisions and fire yourself up to want to get to your next level. You can’t depend on others to do that for you and expect to be great, but there’s a perfect balance point and you want to continuously strive to reach it.

What Is The Balance Point?

This balance point means that you learn to discard things that you KNOW won’t work for you, like say something a coach says for the whole team, while also STILL remaining open to discovering a nugget of truth that your parent’s have learned the hard way from their own experiences.

Listen for a minute, young athletes. I was your age once. At every age you don’t know what you don’t know. I’m going to be direct for a moment here. By just being alive on this planet longer than you, they have a view of the world that is quite different than yours.

 

Yes, they don’t know what it’s like to be you. You are unique and things are definitely different than when we were young, for sure.

That doesn’t mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak. Frankly, your best bet is to always hear them out. You may not like what you hear but I promise you, 99% of the time, they are telling you from a place of trying to help you.

You’ve got to always keep that in mind. Yes, you get to ultimately decide if you want to take their advice and act on it. For example:

If your dad says it looks like you are playing scared out there and you don’t think so, it is in YOUR BEST INTEREST to consider what he’s saying is true, even if you don’t think so. I promise you that even if it isn’t true, you waking up to the possibility is only going to help you.

 

What’s The Ultimate Benefit Of Listening To Your Parents?

More knowledge is better than less. It might make you work harder or seek solutions to your fear (which is what my mental toughness academy is all about). Don’t stay in denial because you’re only hurting yourself.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a story like this: Parent says to me:

“Craig, I’ve been telling her what you’ve been saying here for years. Why is it that when you say it, she hears it?”

And I answer:

1. I’m not her parent. There’s no natural block to hearing it from me.

2. I teach in such a way that I work to get the athlete to come to her own conclusions. I don’t just tell them directly what I think they need to do.

Parents: read my free ebook, “The 10 commandments for a great sports parent” to learn how to do this.

Athletes:Keep your mind open about what your parents want to help you with. It can only help you and there’s no downside to at least listening.

Craig Sigl,
Your Mental Toughness Trainer