How many gymnasts have come back to you years later saying, “Why did you let me quit?”
One of the worst things about coaching is when an athlete wants to “retire” who you think shouldn’t.
Sports Girls Play posted an excellent article called Getting Past “I QUIT”.
PARENT TIPS FOR GETTING PAST “I QUIT”
1. Look at your child’s health. ..
2. Have there been any changes or dramas at school or home?
3. Stop asking “how was practice?” …
4. Listen to your child away from the sport. …
5. Communicate with her coach. …
6. Take it one step at a time. …
7. Remove unnecessary stressors. …
8. Remind her of her commitment. …
9. Use distractions. …
10. Be positive!! …
Click through for the details – Getting Past “I QUIT”
And check the related posts at the bottom of the page.
5 comments ↓
My big stand when athletes tell me they want to quit is to ask them to continue through to the end of the competition season, or term (which Mum has already paid for!). I understand if you really don’t want to be in the gym you shouldn’t be there, but kids need to remember they made a commitment and honour it.
As a gymnast I was going through a hard time at gym (lots of fears) and did not want to deal with it anymore.
I think my mom realized I wouldn’t be happy if I just avoided it so she said I could do what I liked, but first had to write down everything I would do in place of gymnastics with all my new found free time…surprisingly I couldn’t really come up with anything.
And she asked me to reconsider and that maybe we’d have to find new ways do work on the fear issues I was experiencing.
Kind of luckily I was also faced with a pretty serious injury not too long after (not gym related) and was forced to take about a year off. That definitely gave me the break I needed and I came back to the sport happily and worked through my issues.
As a coach, I always tried to see what factors were involved, in and out of the gym. Tried to address those and also sometimes time off, a week or even a month, was enough to rekindle the love so to speak.
I often found with the younger kids it was a matter of speaking up and sometimes just feeling overwhelmed and needing a bit of breathing room.
It was always heartbreaking to loose someone you felt had a lot of potential, but without the desire the potential will only go so far. I don’t want to torture a little kid if they are not enjoying themself.
It is my opinion that if a talented child wishes to quit, once you have done what you can to encourage them to stay then you should just step back and let them go. The reality is that if a child has that personality type to want to give up when things get tough, then they arent going to go far in the sport regardless of talent. Commitment is a HUGE part of gymnastics. Without it, talent is useless!
well said Evelyn.
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