Football

Hockey

Cross country Mountain biking

Skateboarding

Climbing

Road cycling

Badminton

Sprinting

Tennis

Triathlon (current) 

Mountaineering

Adventure racing

Surfing

And this doesn’t even mention the sports that I would have liked to have tried…

Snowboarding

Motor sports

Skiing (although soon will be trying) 

Most winter sports (having spent 2 weeks watching the Sochi games) 

Orienteering

The lists could go on and on. I describe myself now as a Jack of all trades and master of none. Yet, as I watch athletes all over the world on tv and read in magazines, I wish, I wish I was the master of just 1. 

Anyway, the point of this post is that as I watch the sportsmen on tv and think about myself, I wouldn’t want my baby to have the same regret. So… will I be a pushy parent then? Forcing my child into sports and hobbies that they don’t really like, but are important to me? It worries me that they will waste talent or opportunities. You see it on those American programs about pushy parents taking their 3 year olds to sports training every morning at 6am…I can’t help but think though, that it’ll be those children that win our gold medals or compete world wide. As a ‘sporty’ father, I have a genuine fear that my child won’t be sporty and won’t be interested in sports. Is this normal? I guess it’s not specific to sports, parents may have the same fears about the arts or academia. I want my child to be the best he can be in whatever he does. For himself, but also I want him to do things that I never managed for me. Is that selfish? It must be a fine line between encouraging your children to stick at something, excel at something and being pushy about it. Surely parents have to be pushy at some point?