Trained Podcast: Raise Athletes Right With Dr Jim Taylor
Coaching
You can't give kids a head start to the podium, says sport psychologist Dr Jim Taylor. But you can give them an edge in life.
Trained is a podcast exploring the cutting edge of holistic fitness.
Fewer than 1 percent of kids grow up to be pro athletes. But the point of getting kids involved in sports isn't to raise the next Serena or LeBron, says sport psychologist and parenting expert Jim Taylor, PhD. It's to give them the mental tools to be healthy, happy and successful for the rest of their lives. On this episode of Trained, the former alpine ski racer joins host Jaclyn Byrer to break down the benefits of youth sports and share advice on how parents can get—and keep—kids involved. The secret, he says, is creating positive athletic experiences and not buying into the "youth sports industrial complex". Drawing on his experience as a father of two athlete daughters, he also digs deep into all of the factors that can hold girls back in sports and identifies ways that each of us can help close that gender gap.
"Sport provides an armour. It changes their goals. It changes their attitudes, their perceptions about what it means to be a girl or a woman or a female. It teaches them to be proactive and assertive".
Jim Taylor
PhD, sport psychologist and author of Raising Young Athletes
Have a question about mindset, movement, nutrition, recovery or sleep? Have a suggestion for a guest or topic? Email Jaclyn at trained@nike.com and she'll see what she can do.