TEACHING YOUR ATHLETES ABOUT THE BLESSING OF ADVERSITY

On this AM’s show, I tried to tackle one of the biggest concerns when it comes to encouraging and teaching your kids when it comes to sports — and quite frankly, in helping them to prepare for life’s hurdles and obstacles as well.

I’m talking about the Blessing of Adversity.

That’s right. I refer to it as a blessing. That’s because while adversity often presents itself as a setback, or as a serious downturn, the truth is – in the long run, if your son or daughter –AND YOU – are prepared to know how to deal with inevitable disappointment in sports, then adversity can be used to make your athlete into even better and stronger person than ever before.

That’s the silver lining, of course, and while this might sound a bit Pollyannish, it really isn’t.

Learning from adversity is something that ALL youngsters have to educated about. They need to know the VALUE of learning from defeat or disappointment, and how THEY need to decide whether the next step is important to them, and what that means.

I fully understand that this process of dealing with adversity is difficult not just for the youngster – but for their parents as well. It takes time, patience, and you have to walk a fine line here.

But this is important stuff. It goes beyond “the thill of victory and the agony of defeat.” It’s about preparing your kid for the ups-and-downs of life. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff