Olympians and being born into athletic families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I notice some of these parents made huge sacrifices for their kids - moving for their training, etc.! I think I saw Chloe Kim's dad gave up his job to support her training, and that Red Gerard's family moved from OH to CO so he could train.

I don't personally know any sports prodigies like this.

I wonder though how many other kids would also be sports prodigies if they had the time, money, resources, parental sacrifice / commitment invested in them that these teens have?

Especially for sports like snowboarding, skiing, figure skating, etc. I don't think Lebron James' Mom made a huge investment in his sports career. Maybe she would have if she was capable of it, but he seems to be fairly successful anyway.

[Anonymous]

^ it's "easier" in the common sports -- that are played in schoolyards; every school and rec center has a team etc. Kids can join on their own and keep improving; at most the "involved" parents are driving them around to tournaments on weekends and even then in basketball/football it isn't unheard of for coaches to realize that lots of parents work weekends etc. and if they want their star players there, they need to provide a bus that'll transport the kids bc mom can't just quit her job. Harder for Olympic type sports (esp. snow sports) that can't be done everywhere and you can't really train without $$$ for ice time, personal coaching etc. Then it becomes a family and $$$ commitment.

[Anonymous]

I think there are huge sacrifices made in certain sports, such as ice skating. Kids devote hours daily to the sport. Private coaches, ice rink rental, etc. Gotta be very expensive. Kids pay a very high price in endless practice, forgoing school for alternative education. And for what? A few make it. A very few.

I would prefer my kid enter a sport that he/she enjoys and devote as much time as they want to it without sacrificing other facets of life.

If they are passionate about the sport, that is another thing. Not a chance I could afford to support kid in an expensive sport like ice skating for 10-15 years. Now running is another thing. You put on your jogging shoes and take off. Running is free. Let them run as much as they want to, and if talent takes them to the top, that is awesome.

[Anonymous]

I think the parents have to have a certain drive, like the athletes, to be willing to make the push and support. I don't think I have that kind of drive, so my DD is unlikely to excel at that level at a sport that requires a young start, coaches, relocating etc. (like gymnastics or figure skating). Maybe former athletes are more likely to have that drive, because they made similar sacrifices for their own sport.

[Anonymous]

Sports like golf, gymnastics, skiing, tennis, etc. are different. Once you get to a certain level of "good" at those sports, you need specialized coaching, camps, and training that the school system or easily accessible leagues cannot provide. That costs money.

Also for some sports, at a certain level, there are not that many "elite" coaches to go around but the impact of an elite coach is huge. Which is why people from every nationality move to Canada to train with Brian Orser for figure skating. Same with moving to TX to train with Bela Karolyi (before the scandals).

On the other hand, for football and basketball, you can make it by participating extensively in rec and school sports, though sometimes people still do change schools. The best private schools in these big name major sports do often give scholarships too (LeBron when to St. Vincent-St. Mary which is private Catholic school with a bunch of state titles in different sports).

[Anonymous]

On top of having that natural athletic ability, you really do have to have the passion for the sport.

My niece was a competitive ice skater on the Olympic track and her days were long and packed with other activities related to ice skating. 5 am strength & conditioning, private dance lessons, choreography sessions, regular ballet classes, mandatory gym time, private ice time, regular small group practice, nutritionist meetings, acupuncture, cryotherapy, etc. Plus add online homeschooling into the mix because none of the elite athletes actually go to school. You don't willingly do all those things if you don't have a passion for the sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I notice some of these parents made huge sacrifices for their kids - moving for their training, etc.! I think I saw Chloe Kim's dad gave up his job to support her training, and that Red Gerard's family moved from OH to CO so he could train.

I don't personally know any sports prodigies like this.

I wonder though how many other kids would also be sports prodigies if they had the time, money, resources, parental sacrifice / commitment invested in them that these teens have?

Especially for sports like snowboarding, skiing, figure skating, etc. I don't think Lebron James' Mom made a huge investment in his sports career. Maybe she would have if she was capable of it, but he seems to be fairly successful anyway.

I think the interesting question is: Just what would have happened if LeBron was born with all his physical gifts into a basketball family with a pro parent like Steph Curry? Or what would have happened if he was born into a pro football family like the Mannings (given that he probably would have made a great football player)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I notice some of these parents made huge sacrifices for their kids - moving for their training, etc.! I think I saw Chloe Kim's dad gave up his job to support her training, and that Red Gerard's family moved from OH to CO so he could train.

I don't personally know any sports prodigies like this.

I thought that Red Gerard's family moved because mom wanted to get out of Ohio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I watch the Olympics, I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had grown up in an athletic family.

I was very athletic and competitive as a child / early teen but sports weren't something my parents thought was a good use of time and they didn't support my athletic activities. I did as much as I could during school hours but by high school everything required before or after school practices and I had no transportation.

Not that I think I would have been in the Olympics, but so many of these athletes were on the slopes / rinks / hills / trails as children - in families that were also very athletic. Had I been born into an athletic family, or one that supported athletic endeavors, I think sports would have become a big part of my life.

Then I think that maybe these Olympians have a drive that supersedes family interests - maybe if I was motivated / competitive enough I would have found ways to practice sports at home even without family support and somehow train myself.

No - you couldn't have done it alone. If getting rides to/from local HS practices were an issue, then your parents wouldn't have turned their lives upside down for you to go train with the best coach for whatever sport half way across the country. As mentioned, Chole Kim's dad quit his job and was driving her 3+ hrs each way to snowboard and then eventually moved up there with her; Red Gerard's entire family moved from Ohio to I think SLC or Colo; and the ice dancing siblings have talked about how their mom moved with them to Mich. so they could train full time with some coach and their home is in Mich. while their dad kept his job in Boston and keeps an apartment there and spends Monday-Friday there and flies out Fri night to go back to Mich.

IDK if it's worth it honestly. For those examples -- great. They're instantly famous, will get (already have) millions in endorsements and hopefully are nice enough kids that they'll take care of their parents' by paying off their mortgage/funding their retirement etc. But for every 1 that makes it, there are 1000000 that don't. They are up there but don't get the 3-4 qualifying spots for the US team. Or they qualify but are just barely competitive with the Olympic competition and don't make it out of qualifying rounds at the Olympics or even if they make it to finals, finish with such low standings that no one knows their name and thus they're not bringing in endorsements. And often their parents have made the same sacrifices as the winners' parents. Sure -- life experience blah blah -- but most of these people don't have parents who are hedge fund portfolio managers or surgeons such that money is no object. If they're UMC professionals - with only one person working bc the other is full time managing the kid's career, they may be making 200k and setting that money on fire with multiple residences in multiple cities, coaching, traveling to competitions etc. -- most of which is not covered by USOC until the kid has qualified for the team. What the heck does their 401k and savings look like?? There was some (young - maybe 8-10 yr old's) family featured talking about how this is their dream in the future -- and for that, they are spending 150k-200k/yr. I love sports but I don't get it. Put your kid in basketball/baseball/football which are comparatively cheap (even if you go above and beyond w private coaching) bc they are played in all 50 states so you don't have to move and can get you at least a partial scholarship at some school and the chance at a short pro career.

+1. My college roommate's family was like this. She had 2-3 siblings who were talented ice skaters - winning everything locally/regionally. When it got serious enough to get to junior Olympic level, mom and dad both had to decide what to do. Both were drs., remarkably neither gave up their career for this but when it was a local thing, they just worked themselves to death -- getting up at 4 am to take kids to the rink etc. and then putting in a full day at work and then showing up at evening practices and obviously were throwing a lot of $$$ at this with ice time, private coaches, hiring rides for the kids to take them from school to the ice before they could drive. When they started getting national acclaim, it was decided that one of the kids would do better as a pairs ice dancer, rather than solo. Turns out his perfect partner was located in Boston though they lived in Minn. Mom got herself a job with a Boston health system and moved with the skating kids and continued this life there; non skating kids stayed with dad in Minn. and it was a commuter/marriage and family for like 10 yrs. Obviously they had money so having 2 separate homes across the country was doable. Everyone is in their 30s now -- no one really placed in nationals; no one went to the Olympics or even trials. So I'm honestly not sure what the purpose was of losing 10 yrs as a family and wasting some serious $$$ which the kids could definitely use now -- none of the kids went to med school or any comparable profession and just have jobs, certainly trust fund $$$ from mom and dad would come in handy now as they buy their own houses, have kids etc.

Yeah, I always wonder, when commentators talk about how much parents sacrificed for their kid's sport, what happens if you sacrifice that much and then your kid never makes it to the top? What do you think? And what do other siblings think, given that they are affected by these sacrifices, too? A decade or more of burning all your time and money for this activity, and what if you don't have anything to show for it?