Student Athletes Have the Answers

Already the Pasadena fields are full of student athletes playing soccer, football, baseball and running cross country.  Many of the athletes we see in our community started playing these sports before they even entered kindergarten and though academics is, as it should be, their top priority, sports and athletics is a huge part of there lives.

Don’t tell them this, but these kids are experts.  In most cases, these young athletes know more than we do when it comes to training and fitness.

My daughter has played soccer year round since she was four years old.  Even during the summer she train five days a week. When she isn’t playing soccer, she is watching it or reading about it.  For eleven years she has thought about athletics.  For eleven years, fitness as been a part of her everyday life. It makes sense that I could learn something from her.  It makes sense that I could apply lessons she has learned to my own training.

What can we learn from our student athletes? And how can we apply it to our own fitness routines?

1. Build a foundation – We did not throw our children onto a soccer pitch, a baseball diamond or a football field at four years old and expect them to know what they were doing.  Instead, we expected them to build a foundation.  We expected them to learn the game over a number of years, build their fitness and eventually play on a high level.   But when we decide to get fit, we expect instant results.  We expect it to be easy.  And unfortunately, we expect to go from couch to marathon, Ironman or Bay Swim in a terribly short period of time.  Following the example of our children, we should build a foundation, learn more about the sport we have chosen, build our fitness and then tackle the challenges we set out for ourselves.
2. Control the controllables – My daughter gave me this advice recently as I was worrying myself silly about an upcoming 25k trail race.  She told me to stop worrying about all of the things I couldn’t control (in my case it was the weather) and work on the things I can control (hydrate, dress properly and watch for the danger signs). So often we, as new athletes, worry about what will go wrong. Sometimes we worry about it so much that we decide not to take the step we most want to take. If you really want to become a runner, don’t worry about not being able to do it. Don’t worry about what might go wrong.  Instead, go into it prepared. Buy running shoes, have a running plan and take the steps to get to the place you want to be.
3. Play hard – Even when they are just little guys on the field, we teach our children to always give it their all, to try their hardest.  But when we decide to get fit, we often go in half-hearted.  We walk instead of jog, jog instead of run, or run instead of sprint.  We don’t give ourselves a fair chance to succeed.  More often than not we are capable of far more than we give when we begin a workout routine.
4. Have fun – Yes, we want to become fit.  Yes, we want to run a 5k, swim the Bay or cycle the Seagull Century.  And yes, that means training for it.  But head down to Chesapeake High School or Lake Shore Park in the next couple of weeks and watch the kids.  They are all about winning the games.  They are competitive.  But pay attention to their faces.  Watch the smiles.  Listen to the laughs.  This is meant to be fun.  Being fit is meant to make our lives better.  Enjoy it.  Have fun.

As parents we have a rare opportunity, we have athletes in our house on a daily basis.  We have children with years of experience in a sport.  What can we learn from them?  The possibilities are endless.