Improve your everyday life! Step out of your comfort zone.
Taking inspiration from the well-known motto “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”, we explore how getting active begins when we get up from the sofa, out of bed or away from our desks and start discovering how our bodies can help us develop healthy, constructive habits.
Athletes’ daily lives are demanding by definition, especially when we add the pressures of being a school pupil today. This is not, or should not be seen as, a problem, but rather a challenge. It is a challenge that can be met by developing constructive habits.
Constructive habits can be adopted in every area of a child’s life, improving their quality of life or increasing their enjoyment of an activity. A swimmer’s training schedule, for example, may present difficulties, particularly from a child’s perspective, such as early-morning training. This should not be seen as a barrier to committing to the sport, but as an incentive to establish a routine that will not only make daily life easier, but also give children a sense of satisfaction and teach them about goal-setting, motivation and successfully achieving a goal.
Everyone knows the benefits of sport for children, both physical and psychological. Beyond this, sport can have a significant impact on a child’s psychological development. In particular, it can help children build self-esteem, develop social skills, learn to set practical goals and celebrate achieving them.
Sport gives children a way to build self-esteem and feel capable of achieving more than they think they can. It can also help them feel that making the effort is worthwhile.
It is remarkable how children who initially seem to lack confidence can be supported through sport and empowered by taking part. This helps them develop their willpower, determination, assertiveness and self-confidence.
With all this in mind, parents can take an approach that supports and encourages their child to develop constructive habits through sport. We could sum up this positive approach in the following points:
• Encourage them to get active! Sport’s clearly defined, structured setting allows children to relax and take in new information more easily. Through this process, they become better able to manage their time.
• Nobody likes criticism! Instead of criticising, we can simply tell children that we are proud of their efforts. If they seem disappointed or upset, we can encourage them by saying that we have great faith in them and that, if they keep trying, better results are sure to follow.
• Elite competition is not the only form of sport that matters! A child who enjoys what they do, realises they can achieve what they set their mind to and finds their own motivation to work towards it is the greatest victory for all of us. With this approach, children can gain the greatest possible benefits and come to terms with defeat and failure, both of which are perfectly normal possible outcomes of anything we attempt. At the same time, this is also the approach that has helped many children develop into highly successful champions in recent years!
I would like to close with a few words: