Raising a Sports Champion

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about THE BOOK

"RAISING A SPORTS CHAMPION" is a three-part book series that helps guide a parent through the journey of their child from early years to becoming a sports champion.

The first book is for parents with children Under 12-years-old in sports.
The second book is parents with children 13 to 18 years-old in sports.
The third book will be for players and parents to understand the traits of world class players on what made them great.

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK:

If you want to go abroad for higher education, there are many consultancies which can guide you.
If your child want to be a doctor or an engineer, you can ask your family or distant family members about the journey.
If you want to enrol your child in the best school in town, even a next door neighbour can help you.

But what if

If your child wants to pursue sports as a career, where do you go? whom to do ask about the journey? How easy is it to get the information?

Note: Research shows 70% of kids drop out from the sport by the age of 13 because of burnout and injuries. This is due to the lack of knowledge among parents resulting in ending the child's sports journey even before it has begun.

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WHY DO I EVEN CARE ABOUT THE PROBLEM?

Growing up in the early 90s, Sreekar’s dream was to become a professional cricket player and represent team India. He had a clear goal along with the motivation and commitment. However, due to lack of knowledge and guidance, he was unable to pursue his passion.

Due to the emergence of various sports leagues and career opportunities in the last decade, parents are increasingly interested in having their children take sport as a career option. However most of the parents lack the knowledge of raising a sports champion due to which they are making many costly mistakes wasting their time and money going through an emotional roller coaster ride.

So, Sreekar decided to help solve the struggle this generation parents are facing by providing knowledge, guidance, and tools required to raising a professional player via his comprehensive book series.

How this book will help you?

There are many books now available that cover diverse sports topics such as how to play a particular sport, about the life/journey of an athlete, training manuals on how to improve the game, etc. However, there are hardly any comprehensive sports books for parents explaining the step-by-step process on how to raise a sports champion..

In Part one of the book, Sreekar answers some of the most frequently asked questions by parents who want to start of their child in sports.

Some of the questions answered are…

How to nurture interest in the child towards sports
The role of a parent in raising a sports champion
What is the right age to begin a sport
Whether a child should try a variety of sports (or) focus on one
What is the right sport for the child based on his/her unique personality
How to find the right coach
Pros and cons of a parent coaching their own child
What should be the parent’s expectations while raising a child in sports.
The pitfalls and cautions of youth sports

And, much more...

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Why you should READ this book?

There are two types of people in this world. First set of people do mistakes and learn from their mistakes. Second set of people will learn from others mistakes by reading books, attending workshops and so on. Most of the people in first set quit after few mistakes as they lose their enthusiasm and confidence.

Example: If John has 25 years of experience in baking and makes best CAKE in the world and if you want to be like John? What you need to do?

You need to learn the receipe from John which saves you time and money.

Similarly, this book includes 25 full length interviews of parents of champions, coaches, psychologists, nutritionists and strength and conditioning coaches. They share their journey and knowledge to aspiring sports parents so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They can just learn from the experience of others and use their advice based on the child's unique personality.

BEHIND THE SCENES ABOUT THE BOOK

In order to write a comprehensive guide to help parents, Sreekar spent several years traveling the world and conducting 60+ interviews with parents of champions and their coaches, nutritionists, psychologists, sports medicine doctors, conditioning coaches, etc. Through this journey, he gained a wealth of knowledge that he supplemented with his own personal experiences to pen down the three-part series of “RAISING A SPORT’S CHAMPION”.

This book is in no way all-inclusive of all the experts. There are certainly many experts, past and present, who could have been easily included, but there were quite a few challenges along the journey.

Busy travel Schedules - Sometimes it was challenging to connect with most of them in the city I am in, as some of the players were travelling for playing tournaments. So, I had to travel two to three times to the same place to interview everyone.

Trust - When my team connected with the experts for scheduling the interviews, some of them trusted my passion and agreed and some did not. I respect their decision.

Conflict of interest - In some cases, the professional players signed biopic sports movies or book contracts so they could not give interviews..

Fees - Some of the players were managed by Sports management companies and we need to pay them to get their interviews.

Lanquage Barrier - Understanding the local language was quite a challenge when Sreekar travelled to the different parts of the world for conducting interviews. Most were comfortable speaking their regional dialect.

Homesick - Some days I felt homesick and missed my regular tennis practice. There were days nothing was happening as I could not meet any of the players or coaches or champions’ parents, but my passion and purpose were bigger than the challenges ahead.

He says, when he looks back at his journey to write this book series, it was priceless! And he would love do all over again. Sreekar personally thanks every one who has contributed to this book series and especially those champions and their support teams for believing in his vision and contributing to the future generations.