New Year?s day means different things to different people.
Certainly, spending time with family and friends and watching
some great college bowl games. In our house, a new year also
means making resolutions. It started about 15 years ago when my
wife and I were on a ski trip together ? before kids. It was one
of those days in Taos, New Mexico where the snow was coming down
so heavy that you couldn?t see your hand in front of your face.
For some people, the fresh powder might make for great snow
conditions, but for us, it was a great day to sit by the huge
fire in the ski lodge and ?plan our lives?. We had a great talk
that included when we wanted to have kids, financial planning
and lots of resolutions ? including our goals for work, working
out, sports, and how we wanted to work out our relationships
with the people in our lives. Believe it or not, we sat there
for 9 hours and we had fun doing it. Now, every year, we talk
about goals with our kids. All of our kids already have goals,
but they may not share them with us. Our job as parents is to
help them focus on the correct goals, help them achieve their
goals, and later, we need to help them deal with the
disappointment of not reaching their goals. Goal Setting With
Kids The first thing we need to work on with all of our kids
is education. For each kid, at every age, they can focus on
their schoolwork; improve their skills, and getting their
homework done on time. Of course, they can also work on their
relationships with parents and their siblings ? something that
never seems exactly where it should be. However, as you know, we
at SportsKids are all about youth sports ? so let?s focus on
sports. All the kids I know say they are going to be
professional athletes. Now, there are some kids who say they are
going to be doctors, lawyers, business people, the president of
the United States, or something else, but again, this is
SportsKids. My eight year old son, who doesn?t really know who
Danny Ainge is, wants to follow in his footsteps and be both a
professional basketball player as well as a professional
baseball player. Now, maybe some of our kids will end up being
professional athletes, but the statistics say otherwise. Most
kids won?t be playing organized sports past the age of 12. Very
few high school athletes will ever play NCAA Division I sports
and almost none of those will ever play professionally. Knowing
this, of course, shouldn?t diminish our kid?s dreams ? that?s
what they are supposed to be doing ? dreaming! So, as parents we
have to help our kids reach their potential. How Should We
Help Our Kids? Keith Hirabayashi is a good friend of mine.
Many of you may not know who Keith is, but if you like martial
arts you would know; he has been five time Grand Champion at the
US World and US Open Karate Tournaments. He was named Weapons
Competitor of the Decade, thanks to his expertise with the
staff, the broadsword, and the three-sectional staff. He's a
member of The Black Belt Hall of Fame, The Inside Kung-Fu Hall
of Fame, and The Fighter Hall of Fame. In addition, he's been
listed among the 100 Most Influential Martial Artists of the
Last Century by Black Belt magazine. I?ve had many talks with
Keith about goal setting and how he reached the pinnacle of his
sport. Nobody who starts out is great their first day, but they
can think big. The trick, as Keith taught me, is to break your
dream into manageable steps ? something that?s hard to do, but
achievable. When Mr. Hirabayashi first started Wushu as a boy,
he couldn?t envision becoming ?Competitor Of The Year? so he
started with something easier. There was a kid in his class who
was ?great?. So, Keith wanted to one day be as good as that guy.
One day, he was that good. Then, he wanted to be as good as the
assistant teacher. Finally, he surpassed his teacher, became the
best in the world and now founded Champions Martial Arts, a
studio in Brentwood, California. In order to accomplish each of
these resolutions and goals, there are a few rules that you need
to follow. You need to know what you are trying to accomplish.
The goal needs to be specific, measurable, and have a time
limit. A person also needs to know why they want to reach the
goal and then lay out a real, manageable plan on how to
accomplish their goal. Being a great martial artist, or being
great at anything, requires a plan. Start by setting small goals
to ultimately reach a larger goal and understand each step. A
kid needs to layout a plan for practice, competition and study
of their sport. Realizing that practice makes permanent, parents
need to make sure their kids are practicing the right
fundamentals. Playing a sport only during the organized
practices and the games won?t get a kid to reach their
potential. If your child plays an instrument, you wouldn?t allow
them to not practice between lessons. ?Pistol? Pete Maravich,
one of the 50 greatest NBA players, practiced literally all the
time because he knew that some other kid was practicing and
getting better than he was. Set small, measurable and achievable
goals, lay out a path of how the goals will be accomplished, and
then watch the results. Dealing With Disappointment
Starting with the premise that our kids aren?t going to reach
their ultimate goal of becoming a professional athlete should in
no way diminish the benefits of dreaming, setting goals, and
working to accomplish each of the resolutions. It?s imperative
not to forget the many benefits to playing youth sports,
including teamwork, good sportsmanship, developing motor skills,
learning to win and to lose, and the friendships that are
created along the way. Most of our kids will figure out and
realize for themselves that they won?t be a professional
athlete, but if we help them set small, achievable goals,
practice proper fundamentals, and set out a specific plan to
accomplish their goals, all of them will benefit and maybe some
will actually be able to fulfill their dreams. It all starts by
setting your New Year?s resolutions.
About the author:
Ken Kaiserman is the president of SportsKids.com , a leading
youth sports website featuring games, sports news, sports camp
and league directories, community features, and the
SportsKids.com Superstore with over 150,000 products.
Ken coaches youth football, basketball and baseball. He also
serves on the local little league board of directors as well as
the Park Advisory Board.
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