Anyone else got a child competing at high level with parents who are a bit clueless??????

[Mumoftwoyoungkids]

This is us!

Not helped by the fact that the sport she does is full of parents who are also into the sport. Half of them turn up in their own kit FFS.

Just worried we are letting her down by being a bit useless really.

Although I have to admit getting a certain level of smugness when we turned up clueless to a top competition and had to be helped by an organiser to figure out where to go and what to do and everyone looked at us a bit “what on earth are you even doing here you idiots” and then the competition started and she absolutely destroyed the opposition! Maybe we should see our uselessness as the equivalent of being card sharks. No one saw her coming!

Parents turn up in their own kit?! I would love to know what sport this is. We are involved in 7 different sports and never witnessed this.

Yes - it makes more sense if you know what the sport is - but it is still a bit weird in my opinion. Thankfully it isn’t gymnastics!

Skiing?

Horse riding?

Am intrigued!

Cycling would be an example - but they're not turning up in their own kit for any other reason than they probably ride around at the same time.

It is rather strange for parents to remain clueless of their child's sport by the time they're competing at a high level, simply because any sport competitive enough to have a high level takes commitment from the child to get there. If you're the parent in that situation, it's actually hard to not learn enough of the sport to remain clueless.

If you're only talking cluelessness of how the event itself is organised, then you see that with adults in their national championships in many individual sports too, the first time you go, it tends to be new to everyone.

DS has been doing a sport for a couple of years now that we knew nothing about at the start. A lot of the parents in the sport have done/ do the sport themselves and can be seen sporting technical clothing. The sport requires some large, very technical equipment and we have had to have some very basic help with this. I've asked 'which way up does this bit go?' more often than I would like!

However, I should think we will know quite a bit about the sport and the kit by the time he's ready to destroy any competitors.

Ok - clueless is probably overstating it. We are learning. Slowly.

But dd seems to be moving much much faster than we are. It is all a bit surprising and unexpected. And I feel a bit out of my depth.

There's bound to be a specialist online forum for the sport, with loads of other parents willing to give advice. I don't know what I'd have done if I hadn't found one for my dd's activity, it was so helpful. If it is dance I can point you in the right direction

It can be a massive learning curve. Three years ago I was amazed and thrilled that DS qualified at county level, I’m rapidly reading up on national qualification.
Look on FB for parent groups. The ones I belong to seem mainly based in the US, but it can be a useful source of information.

Thanks all - some good suggestions here.

Currently trying to find a parents forum for the sport - well I’ve found one but the most recent post is from 2017 so maybe not completely current!

Not sport, but DD is at a high level for her extra-curricular activity and it is a world that neither DH nor I have any real experience or a huge interest in.

It's been a very steep learning curve. I found some online forums early on and made some amazing friends there - some of whom I now know in real life. Happily there are quite a lot of beginner parents and I have found most people are happy to show others the ropes and offer advice and help.

Also managed to find really good teachers who go above and beyond in terms of generosity of time, info and hand-holding.

Often on the online forums, the private message systems are more useful and enlightening than what is posted publicly.

It’s Tri isn’t it? It’s like a cult where whole families succumb!!