Advertisement
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are cooling down.And if you are a parent of a swimming child, then you must read this.
Mihai Popovic, father of David Popovic:
"When I think about it now, the first conditions we created were that we decided there would be no pressure." David went to the pool for fun. Not for us but because he wanted it. We have truly supported this approach and never asked him where he was or what he had achieved or what he was about to accomplish.
Cake after the competition was guaranteed regardless of its location, and stopping at the bakery was inevitable. There was a particular bakery, and David liked a particular cake, which he got every time.
I can say this is something a lot of parents do wrong. They applying that pressure I think that the biggest mistake a parent can make is to put pressure on their children. And this pressure can take on many forms, often without parents' awareness.
Let me give a few examples:
"How did you do in training?" " , " What were you doing, what place did you occupy? " , " What did X do? " , " I told you to watch the Y" and so on. "What did your coach give you?" No, that's wrong. """Remember that the competition is coming up; I don't want to catch you being behind the Y again!" ". And it often starts at age seven or eight.
Imagine what a few years of such pressure means.
No wonder many give up along the way and parents are the main culprits without realizing it. I wish they would take this calmer down and not take their unmet goals or frustrations on to their children.
I wish they would look at David and see from this perspective how far one can go without pressure. "
Source: Sport in Romania / Dumitru Graur
Advertisement
Event Venue
Arboretum Swimming Pool, Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.