Supporting your child in competitions without feeling overwhelmed...

In the world of gymnastics, I hear a lot of parents saying things like ‘I can’t watch my child in their competition’, I’m afraid they are going to fall off during their routine’ or ‘I get so nervous before their competition’.

Here we care going to explore some tips to help you ahead of your child’s next competition.

Check in with you and process your emotions first…

Start with you is always my first tip. We often do what we can to help others first, but sometimes the best way to help others is by making sure we are in a good head space first.

On the day of the competition ask yourself:

• How am I feeling today?

  • Be honest with yourself, these days can be stressful, exciting and everything in between.

    
    

• How might that impact how you talk to your child before the competition?

  • With each emotion that you have identified, follow it up by exploring the impact it may have on your interactions with your child.

  
  

• And how might it impact you whilst watching your child?

  • These emotions may then impact the perspective you have during the competition as well as conversations you have with other parents and coaches.

    
    

It is quite normal to feel nervous, worried or even anxious when watching someone you care about in a competitive environment. One of the key factors for a lot of parents here is actually the lack of control over the situation as you just have to sit and watch.

Remember...our focus here is on sport parenting but how you are feeling on competition day can be impacted my so many other things that are happening as well. E.g. knowing that your child has had a tough week at school or you have struggled to meet deadlines in work or not keeping on top of things at home.

Take care of yourself...

The points above will help you to understand how you are feeling and the impact that may have on how you approach the day. Here we will also think about some of the ‘basics’ for you to look after yourself on a competition day:

• Competition days can be long and a lot of hours inside - can you drop your child off and then maybe go for a walk before the competition starts. Can you step outside for a few minutes if they have break in their routines and have a rest on their rotations?

  
  

• Think about your food for the day as well as your child’s - a lot of facilities will have a lack of options so going prepared will help you balance your mood and energy levels throughout the day.

• Catch up with friends - While we appreciate that priority number one will be for you to support your child. Days like this can also be an opportunity for you to connect with others. They may provide you with a chance to see people you haven’t seen for a while and maybe even connect over things other than gymnastics.

Discuss competition days with your child…

Agreed approaches can take away a lot of the stress for you and your child so you are not second guessing what is needed. Here is a little task for you to explore with your child to help with this one.

• Ask your child - what do you want or need from me around competitions?

  • You may find it useful to break this down to a few focus areas, the night before, the morning of, in the car on the way, when you arrive, during the competition, while they are showing their routines, after the competition or on the way home in the car.

  • Reflect together on how your interactions have gone during previous competition days to help you come to an agreed plan.

    
    

Our final reminders...

• Your child’s needs will change as they get older and compete at different events, so it is important to complete this on a regular basis to make sure it is up to date.

• #itstheirjourney do the best you can to support your child. This will be influenced by many things that you are juggling in your life so don’t be too hard on yourself.

This content has been developed as part of our #itsmyjourney project with Valleys Gymnastics Academy