To think most of us would struggle

[Olympia2012]

to facilitate our children in their chosen sport to reach Olympic standard

I look at these athletes and just feel the dedication to that one child and their training completely takes over the family. Mrs Daly,Murray,Tweddle etc, I take my hat off to them.

Dd used to play for a footie team. Just locally, but the dedication to just that was massive. Training,kit, getting to venues across the county etc etc. Dragging all the dc out at weekends. The expense! Petrol, food and fees.

I wonder how the average family would cope. Could you?

It's also worth mentioning that for those DC who don't 'make it', taking sport to a high level looks very good on a CV.

Employers love applicants than can show an ability to juggle academics and somehting else. Plus it demonstrates an ability to commit at an age when most kids would rather mess about on their phones .

to facilitate our children in their chosen sport to reach Olympic standard

YABU - not everyone can reach Olympic standard.

Not everyone has th ability or the desire.

If your OP said "it's a shame we (the nation) don't promote sport more" I would have agreed with you

"Not everyone has th ability or the desire."

true, but most kids don't get to find out if they would have had the ability or desire because they weren't exposed to half those sports at all.

I really expected the olympics to mean we would have more "community games" etc where kids could have a go and kids who DO have potential get to find that out!, rather than just a load of tat in Sainsburys and a torch relay where they gave out suggary drinks!

I think the op was asking how we would personally cope if our DC did have the talent.

Could we facilitate it as a family as the families of the athletes at the games have done?

jumping there is already a thread about the lacking sports promotion in this country. I was specifically wondering about the Olympic athletes and how far parents can, and do, stretch, and the struggle it entails

Maybe this is our chance to promote sport more...., c25k anyone??

in that case I'll go back to saying that I think it is relatively easy for some parents because they are already on the "scene"

DH dated a swimmer with olympic hopes, her father did all the driving round etc BUT he had swam competitively so it wasn't a massive change of lifestyle for him IYKWIM

The MacGreggor sisters are obviously a sailing family! rather than just the pair of them suddenly realising out of the blue that they had this talent and their parents suddenly being thrust into the boatey world

I mean I'm sure its still really hard, but it is IMO more likely to be a continuation and an escalation of a lifestyle that the family had anyway, than a start from scratch in the sporting world for most of the parents

which is why I just don't think I would cut it, not being sporty myself. I don't think throwing money and time at it would be enough!

Just came to Canada on Saturday and there is a brilliant ad on TV here that shows the mum or the dad of the athlete taking part in the event, wearing the kit and everything. The tag at the end of the ad is "it's mom and dad's victory too". It's much better than I am making it sound, it's brilliant.

I loved in the pool last week how Mark & Claire managed to interview so many of the mums & dads. It's definitely a whole-family commitment, and one that I would struggle with.

I think it's one thing facilitating interests/hobbies - and even that's hard work but to support a child who has the potential to compete at an international level must be a whole other kettle of fish. Mind you it's the same 'burden' I guess if you have a child who's a gifted musician, artist, dancer, actor, mathematician. And that 'burden' is either carried in money or time.

Here's the link

Well me and my DH were not already on the scene. Neither of us had much knowledge of football. It is not a continuation of our lifestyle, it's been an eye opener these last 7 years. But I think football is not as elitist as other sports and is much more easily to access than sports like horse riding and sailing. It does involve a lot of commitment though which I think is what the OP was about, are you able to facilitate your Dc whichever sport they play, not about making certain sports readily available to everyone.

yes football probably doesn't have as much of a cliquey "scene" as other sports

my friend who was talented at dressage said that no matter what level she got to, her family were always outsiders and as such had more obstacles than kids from horsey families with lots of horsey friends etc. Plus a family who never had more than cats and goldfish started keeping horses which is a HUGE change and massive learning curve that wouldn't be as big a deal to a horsey family and wouldn't feel like such a sacrifice

I do agree that lots of dc in state primaries just don't get to try sports they could be amazing at.

We attended an olympic inspired cbbc event in which dd1 upper primary age tried javelin, tennis, basketball, sailing and hurdles for first time.

Completely agree. DD and I have our own pony, but even if she wanted to compete at a high level, and had the talent, I don't think it would be happening. 1) more expensive pony who also had the talent, 2) horsebox, 3) time sunk into weekends driving her around the country 4) cost of said weekends in diesel, entrance fees, etc.

I know someone with a child who is at international level in her sport. She trains twice a day, doesn't go to school but studies at home, her parents' work revolves around her training schedule. I'm not sure about the trips abroad - who supervises and who pays - maybe they are with a team or coach so the parents don't have to go along every time. Huge commitment from not just the child but her parents.

so I guess with what AllPastYears describes, its not only a question of whether we COULD but also.. would we want that for our child?

I do wonder, with top-level sportspeople, how much of a choice it is for them when they are children. For many sports, you have a big advantage starting at an early age, even preschool. I guess to be right at the top they must enjoy it or they'd throw in the towel, but whose idea was it to start with? Did the preschooler say, Mum, I really want to be a first-class runner/swimmer/diver, or does Mum do the pushing?

My Dcs both do Taekwon-do my dd competes nationally. Ds has competed once but not into comeptitions yet. DD is resonbly good at it she got a bronze in the british championships last year in her catergory.

Me and dp never done Taekwon-do we saw a display at a fete and dd decided she wanted to try it that was 4 years ago. She is now in year 4 at a state primary school and luckily the school are very supportive due to competitons being at weekends and all over the county when she requires it she can have a friday off to travel or a monday off if we have got back particularly late. She trains for 3 hours a week plus some weekend training every so often.

Her school levels are a 12 month above what they should be so it doesn't affect her school work. Also we are lucky in that her instructor is the 2nd most qualified in teh country. Yes it is a lot of commitment from me and dp luckily i work mon-fri giving me the weekends off to do the ferrying around and dp has sundays off.

But the most important thing is the dcs enjoy it yes it cost us a lot we havent been on hliday in 3 years. At the end of the day what the dcs want to do is most important to us and if we can enable them to do it we will.

allpastyears my oldest son wanted to play cricket at 6 because hs friend did and my younger son started as soon as he could hold the bat. I have never been sporty in anything and my husband used to play a bit of local cricket when he was younger but not for many years.

I tell the boys that we should say we are not available one weekend so we can go away and they look totally horrified. Personally I would be happy if I never had to go to another cricket match :) (but dont tell the boys I said that lol)

At the beginning of each season I say to them that if they dont want to sign up then thats fine but they always do. So, in our case at least, it comes from them - totally.

My 3yo has told me every day for a week that she wants to be a diver, so I don't think it's crazy that a preschooler might be excited about a particular sport. (We're starting small with learning to swim though!)

it would have to be a bit of both?

my mum let me quit everything, even if I actually liked it and was just having a stroppy day (but would love it once I got there IYKWIM), I did a lot of hobby-hopping which I think is a shame, woulda been better if she'ld maybe pushed fewer hobbies unless I really didn't like them consisntantly

DH the same, he went to a lot of things ONCE and if he didn't instantly get it and love it they didn't bother "pushing" it

All kids will have "I don't want to go days" even if they do like it and are good at it, I don't think a child will ALWAYS lead it

I meant to say (lackingnamechangeinspiration reminded me lol) - that once my boys are signed up for the season they have to complete the season - its my only rule and its only because its a team game.

Interesting thread! I've been thinking about this a lot over last few days and do wonder if figures that were given last week for private vs state schooling might ahve changed a bit this week. It feels like several of the GB winners in last few days have been less privileged, maybe just 'cheaper' sports to start out in? Another point - the likes of Kath grainger took up rowing at uni, years later is till studying (doing a PhD) and this must give her flexibility in doing training in a way thata 9 to 5 job wouldn't. So is academic ability also useful? And starting the sport at uni means she's never needed her own boat :-). She was state schooled. Andy Murray grew up with a tennis loving mum, in a small town with 2 local grandparents at least nearby, and other sibling also played the same sport. Other winners in last few states weren't necessarily from moneyed backgrounds. eg the rowers from NI (3 at least got medals), various swimmers, cyclists, athletes. What seems to ake the difference where there aren't aprents supporting/helping is to have a coach or teacher in the background believing in them, and that DOES happen in state sector too, maybe just not as much.

Just to pick up on a point from earlier in the thread about working-class/not 'loaded' equestrians: gold-medal-winning showjumper Scott Brash is a builder's son and silver-medallist eventer Mary King worked as a cleaner and a butcher's delivery woman to pay for her first horses (having converted some old pigsties to use as stables). I appreciate they are the exception rather than the rule but it IS possible to make it to the top in equestrianism without having a 'silver spoon' or the backing of rich parents, if there's sufficient dedication, talent and bloody hard work.

I don't think its easier to get into horsey things if you are posh rich, I think its easier to get into horsey things if your family are horsey, which does NOT = posh/rich a lot of the time, a lot of the horsey people I know are not either but they ARE established families on the scene