18 Track 18

Review unit 2

fluency practice

reading review 3: Raising a Child Athlete

Page 83

Raising a Child Athlete

In many countries, children with sporting potential are identified early and encouraged to achieve athletic greatness by training for hours every day.

While some people see this as a great opportunity for kids to be healthy, others argue that too much focus on training can hurt young people. How parents should raise child athletes has become a big topic of their debate.

People who are against such serious commitment to sports say that there are many negatives to training so intensely. Here are some of their arguments.

The long hours spent training can distance the child from his or her family.

Athletes who spend too much time training miss out on education. The child may not be prepared for other real world activities, such as going to college and having a nonathletic job.

Pressure from parents and coaches to win can be psychologically damaging for the child. Parents may also become too pushy and end up caring more about athletic achievements than the child.

Dr. Christine Carr, a psychologist, suggests that parents take some important steps to make sure that their kids are getting the most out of sports.

Carr says that the focus should be on the child’s happiness and about learning life lessons. Self-discipline, determination, and learning to deal with failure are some of the important life skills and lessons kids can learn from sports.

Other experts point to the importance of letting children make their own decisions. Top athletes Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps have said that they appreciated their parents letting them decide how much or how little they wanted to train.

In fact, according to Phelps’ mother, he had trouble focusing in the classroom until he found a sport that he was passionate about. By allowing Michael to focus on his sport, his mother also saw him improve as a student.

Another thing that many parents and doctors agree on is the importance of developing a close relationship with the family. Dr. Carr suggests eating dinner together and says it is a simple way to remind children that family is important, and that support can always be found at home.

Woods and Phelps both had supportive families and made it public, with parents attending their many competitions.

Raising an athlete is not easy. By balancing life and training, parents can set their children up for success and help them become winners in sport and in life.