• Press Reports
• Latest Workshops

East Renfrewshire parents embrace PCS message

Over 200 parents of youngsters involved in sport in East Renfrewshire gained an insight into the importance of their role during a workshop at Eastwood Theatre last night.
 

Sir Bill Gammell, founder and chairman of Winning Scotland Foundation kicked off the event, providing an insight into the lessons he learned through sport. Gammell, a former Scottish internationalist, believes the experiences he had on rugby pitch assisted him in life and helped him to create Cairn Energy, the fourth biggest company in Scotland.

Laurier Primeau, Head Coach at Scottish Athletics proceeded to address the audience on his experiences of sports parenting. Primeau spoke about the stereotypical negative sports parent, or ‘hockey mom’ in his home country of Canada. “You don’t want to be a hockey mum or dad, it’s not about you, it’s about them,” he said.

The parents then heard from Tommy Boyle, Positive Coaching Scotland Programme Director and world-class Athletics coach. Boyle introduced them to the key aspects of the culture-changing programme, which concentrates on success through learning and development rather than on the scoreboard.

“If we are not successful in youth sports, if we don’t ensure the base of the pyramid is as wide with participation as possible, guys like Laurier have got no chance,” said Boyle.

“Why do we not just start being positive in every aspect towards children? We will have a lot more children involved in sport and they will stay longer. You guys are the ambassadors for sport in Scotland.”

Next up, the parents heard from a panel of influential people in Scottish sport which, along with Gammell and Primeau, included Louise Martin CBE, chair of sportscotland and Jim Fleeting, Head of Development at the Scottish FA.

Martin kicked off the debate by underlining the crucial role parents play in the development of youngsters in Scotland: “If parents use sport as a childminding session, the youngsters will never improve. Parents need to support and encourage the whole way through,” she said.

Speaking from both a sporting and business background, Gammell highlighted the crucial aspect of self-belief which parents should help to instil in their children to give them the opportunity to be the best they can be: “To me its all about the individual believing in themselves. It’s about picking up the ball and running with it.”

Laurier urged the parents to take their attention off the scoreboard and instead thing about a long-term success of using sport as a platform for creating better Scottish citizens: “Instead of focusing on results we need to focus on the process. Parental involvement should be in a positive encouraging mentoring role,” he said.

Jim Fleeting, Head of Football Development at the Scottish FA urged parents to encourage their kids to participate in as many sporting activities as they can. “Set your kids realistic challenges that they will get success from because there’s nothing better than seeing that every day you wake up, those smiles are absolutely fantastic.”

Talking to positivecoachingscotland.com after the workshop, a parent from the audience highlighted the problems he experiences as a coach of his son’s football team.

“I take my boys TASS football team and my wife is a teacher so we see it all the time. We see a lot of it from coaches and parents from the sideline. I think a lot of the problem is that the coaches are in it for the glory for themselves rather than the children succeeding and learning life skills.”