5 Lessons about Youth Sports from an Athletic Prodigy
Mikaela Shiffrin is, at only 18 years old, the top slalom ski racer in the world, the Olympic gold medalist in slalom in Sochi, and a veritable fount of lessons that athletes, coaches, and parents can learn from to help athletes achieve their competitive goals. After reading a profile of Mikaela in The New York Times recently (be sure to watch the videos in the article), I felt five more lessons crying out to be told.
With all due respect to Dan Coyle (author of The Talent Code) and other recent authors, “10 years 10,000 hours” isn’t enough to achieve athletic greatness (BTW, here’s a great rebuttal to that argument). It is abundantly clear that much of what makes Mikaela exceptional can’t be taught. Early videos of her demonstrate a feel for the snow and a sense of balance that just isn’t trainable. I’m going to argue that Mikaela is just wired differently than us mere mortals.
Of course, that inborn hard wiring wouldn’t have been enough to take her to the top of her sport without the drive that enabled her to put in the long hours of training to master the physical, technical, tactical, and mental aspects of ski racing.
Read MoreEducational Media? Yeah, Right.
As many of you know from my most recent parenting book, Raising Generation Tech: Prepare Your Children for a Media-fueled World, I’m not a big fan of screen time by children. In recent years, I’ve gotten push back from parents who say that their children learn a lot from so-called educational” media, whether TV shows, […]
Read MoreTaylor Radio Interview about Seattle’s QB and Confidence
I was interviewed by KIRO radio in Seattle the other day about the Seahawk’s quarterback, Russell Wilson, and how he was able to maintain his confidence and composure after fumbling on the first play of the NFC Championship game against San Francisco. In the interview, we also explore whether professional athletes are different from regular […]
Read MoreDisconnect from Your Tech
Here’s a great article about a school that took a three-day break from technology. Be sure to watch the video that goes along with it. Could you not use technology for even a day? That’s my challenge to you!
Read MoreWe Did These “Dangerous” Things and We Survived
Following up on my recent post titled, 5 Dangerous Things Parents Should Do to Their Children, someone sent me this video, I Can’t Believe We Made it, which demonstrates all of the so-called dangerous stuff past generations of children did (it used to be called “stuff all kids did”) and still somehow survived. The video vividly shows […]
Read MoreGreat Video on Positive Self-talk and Imagery for Ski Racers
Here’s a link to a great video in which three of Canada’s top female ski racers demonstrate and discuss how they use positive self-talk and mental imagery to prepare them for success.
Read MoreThree Ways to Raise Competent — and Confident — Children
It’s one thing to say you want to raise competent children. It’s an entirely different thing to know how to raise competent children. This post explores three practical ways in which you can help your children to become competent—and confident—people. Catchphrases for Competence My 8-year-old, Catie, came up with our family’s catchphrase for competence when […]
Read MoreNew York Times Profile of Mikaela Shiffrin
The New York Times published a lengthy and in-depth profile of Mikaela Shiffrin recently. The article provides a great exploration of how Mikaela has risen so far so quickly as an alpine ski racer while also developing into a mature, happy, and just plain nice young woman. I had several take-aways from the article that […]
Read MoreEating Marshmallows Doesn’t Predict Future Success
Many of you may be familiar with the famous “marshmallow” experiments conducted by the psychologist Walter Mischel in 1960s and ’70s. In the studies, 4-year-old children have two marshmallows (or another treat) placed in front of them and told that they can either eat one right away or wait to eat two when the researcher […]
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