Tested in Team

Parents, this winter we want to engage you with the material we are discussing with your athletes. You have access to their material right here in the app, and we encourage you to use it to start conversations with your athletes.

In our family journey we have faced new challenges each season with our children. Each age and each season presented unique situations and teachable moments for our family and for us as parents. We will explore these with you this season. We need each other as parents to be our best too. All the messages we share with the kids apply to us as adults!

This week I want to push into what we challenged the athletes with at training camp. This season will be hard for you and your athletes at times. There will be poorly played games, difficult situations, conflict with teammates, disagreements with coaches, blowout victories and devastating losses. You will have the unique opportunity to walk your children through many important moments. We are asking you to join us as we encourage your athletes to approach mistakes, failure, hard truths and hard situations by taking responsibility and accepting them as important parts of their journey.

Take a look at the Blame / Acceptance / Shame cycle in the Training Camp section of the app. As parents we need to think about this. We need to check our hearts when we face hardships this season because, let's be honest, when our kids struggle, so do we. It's normal for a parent to struggle when their kids struggle, but how we deal with these moments is so important. Our kids are watching and learning from us! When I see something ugly in my kids I try to always explore my role in it instead of blaming or shaming them. Honestly, I probably get it right 50% of the time, but I'm trying and apologizing often.