Anonymous wrote:OP, it’s unusual that you made it this far with a teen athlete without seeing this type of behavior. It usually crops up at the elementary school level. Most parents know that angry soccer dad or the baseball dad trying to capture his own lost dream.
Are you saying it’s ok to treat your kids this way if it leads to them becoming a professional athlete? Would it be ok to yell at your kid in the kitchen to form them into a Michelin starred chef? Yes, many professional athletes were abused by their parents. Se Ri Pak, a pro golfer, spent 17 hours a day on the driving range and was left overnight alone at graveyards because she was afraid of them. Jelena dokic, a tennis pro, was physically and verbally abused by her dad. The list goes on.
I think the question you should ask is, “how many parents abuse their kids over sports”. In the Venn diagram of abuse and going pro, there are plenty of pro athletes who were abused by their parents. But the majority of kids who were bullied do not reach the level of success that their parents envisioned. And given the number of pro athletes who have sued/are estranged from their parents, included the two examples above, I’m not sure if anyone would say an athletic career was worth it.
OP is not the same poster as the person who was excusing the behavior.
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