Today is the birthday
of Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders (born October 13, 1972, in Roseville, California). Her swimming
accomplishments include four Olympic medals (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) from
the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. During her collegiate career at
Stanford University, she also earned six individual NCAA titles and four relay
championships, plus NCAA Swimmer of the Year honors.
Life has certainly changed for Summer
Sanders, the famous butterfly and individual medley specialist, since her book CHAMPIONS
ARE RAISED, NOT BORN: HOW MY PARENTS MADE ME A SUCCESS was published sixteen
years ago. Today, she is a successful television reporter/host plus health
advocate and married to another Olympian, skier Erik Schlopy, and a mother of two
children. And today, sixteen years later, the message of her book is still relevant.
I re-read CHAMPIONS ARE RAISED, NOT
BORN and I highly recommend it for athletes who will undoubtedly recognize themselves in Summer, plus coaches and parents sure to learn from Sanders’ no-nonsense parents who (despite being divorced) were able to
cultivate positive experiences for their children in and out of the pool.
It’s refreshing to read about parents
who understood life should not revolve around the sport, but rather the experiences that help a child to develop
lifelong skills. Whether kids are in pee-wee sports or college-bound seniors,
it’s common for parents to wonder when to push or pull back. How do you fuel
motivation instead of snuff it out? From the early years to post-Olympic fanfare,
Sanders traces her success to her parent’s sage guidance. In addition, she
interviews Olympic friends that include Bonnie Blair (speedskating) and Dot
Richardson (softball) who share similar parenting experiences.
The chapter “The Third Parent: What
Makes a Coach Great” should be required reading for coaches of any sport. As she aptly sums up, “If the relationship
isn’t a positive one, nothing positive can ultimately come from it.” For athletes
who reach a successful pinnacle and get stumped over, what’s next? The last two
chapters explore handling success and finding triumph in what some may call
defeat.
I originally bought this book because
I’m a fan and my first sport was swimming. While re-reading it I recognized my own parent’s philosophy of prioritizing academics and balancing sports.
I couldn’t help but smile. That’s probably why today, at age 53, I still enjoy
swimming laps and cheerfully compete in a variety of sports. I always jot down notes or quotes (usually
on a sticky pad) and there were plenty for this book, but I’ll share these six
quotes on parenting a champion:
“Their joyful support freed me up
emotionally to take risks, to not fear failure.”
“Their
insistence on personal accountability made me see myself, and myself alone,
responsible for the course my swimming took – how high I reached or how hard I
fell.”
“What the medals reflect back to me are
the countless moments of pure joy along the way. Ultimately, the medals are
really just metal.”
“She knew how to walk the line between
being reassuring and being too involved.”
“Our parents were interested in sport
as a character-forming experience, not as an index of self-worth.”
“It’s not the parents’ job to edit or
censor what events come a child’s way; rather, it’s the parents’ job to teach,
by example, how to handle whatever pitch life throws, especially the
curveballs.”
For more information on this book and Summer Sanders:
Website: http://www.summersanders.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SummerSanders_
Summer is also one of the hosts for: We Need to Talk: An All-Female Sports Show
Thanks for calling this book to my attention, Brenda. As a parent, coach, and athlete I can't wait to pick this one up and put it on my (very tall) TBR pile. :)
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