The days of an elite athlete coming from an unknown place are gone especially with all of the recruiting services and social media. For this reason it has become as difficult as ever to raise an elite athlete. Your athlete might be under public scrutiny for a tweet they posted or could be blasted in the media for not living up to expectations. It is your job as a parent to help your athlete deal with these situations even you if have no experience dealing with them. Being supportive as possible while not pushing too hard is a balance that parents will have to learn over to succeed with their child. The following are tips for parents who are raising elite athletes in order to help them manage their athlete to the best of their ability.

YouTube Can Help With Drills

Many people think that it costs a fortune to foster an elite athlete and this used to be true. Private coaching was the only way to find out new drills and implement them into game ready moves. YouTube makes this easier than ever as there are a myriad of drills for all sports available. This does mean you will have to coach your athlete from time to time but if they are driven as well you should have no problem. Older siblings can also be great for coaching as you do not have to find the balance between parent and coach. There are plenty of stories of kids playing with older siblings to develop their game growing up.

Watch Out For Certain Supplements

There are supplements that are said to be used by professional athletes which those athletes have never taken. This could be done as the supplements have something that will cause you to fail a drug test. Checking out supplement companies that are USADA compliant is the only way to avoid testing positive in competition. Protein supplements are generally safe and should be a staple of an athlete’s daily diet. Only take supplements that have been researched as well as many companies claim results that are false as they do not have to be approved by the FDA.

Diet Is Essential

Diet is essential in nearly every sport especially if you want to put on weight or lose weight. Fast food is not the nutritional foundation that you want your child performing on. These diets should not be strict especially for younger children but as your athlete gets into their teens it should tighten up a bit. Putting on healthy weight is a necessary evil in many sports like that of football. Putting on healthy weight is important as many coaches want players to gain weight without sacrificing speed.

Keep Your Athlete Playing Against Older Competition

Basketball is the perfect example of a sport that playing older competition benefits an athlete. Older competition requires much more skill to score and even handle the ball effectively. This will help your athlete become a smarter player as well as testing their skills against bigger and better players. Simply dominating those of your age will not benefit your child especially if they have a huge competitive drive. Some of the best baseball and basketball players never played with people their own age until high school or even college.

As you can see it isn’t always going to be easy when raising a child sports prodigy. Remember that you are a parent first so act like one regardless of the performance on the field. Keep your prodigy loving their sport and watch them blossom!