“Coco Gauff’s Dad Corey Told Her She Could Be The ‘Greatest’ When She Was 8″

Parenting Athletic Prodigies

I have observed two common and simple habits of successful parents of athletic prodigies:

These parents keep their children Healthy and Positive.

1. Healthy means passionately protecting the child from injury. Guarding against over-competing, overtraining, and incorporating stretching, strengthening and mobility work into the training regimen. In addition, the best athletic parents are obsessed with good nutrition to support the athlete’s mental, emotional and physical vitality.

2. Positive means constantly bolstering the child’s self-esteem and building the athlete’s self belief. This process begins from the very earliest years—encouraging, mentoring, promoting a positive mindset, eliminating negative thought patterns, excuse making, and instilling a work ethic, discipline, and toughness in the child. In effect, the best athletic parents are working on the mental game from Day 1.

So many parents are focused on other areas or neglect the above. You don’t need to be an expert in specific sport skills training to create a champ, but you have to ensure the athlete has the building blocks of a healthy body and positive, confident mind.

When I see a prodigy like Coco Gauff rising up, I’m reminded of these two timeless truths.

Corey Gauff got these details right.

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