If you're a parent of one or more children and are considering involving them in sports, you likely have a lot of questions. Because you treasure your children and want to make the best decisions for them, it's only natural for you to be concerned about everything from your child fitting in or getting hurt, to having the appropriate time to commit, to having good role models for them, to helping them learn to be motivated, self-confident, and an excellent team player. In Introducing Your Child to Sports, Dr. Ross Flowers offers his unique 360 perspective-as a noted sport psychologist, former elite athlete and coach, and father of young athletes himself-to answer the 70 most-asked questions of concerned parents contemplating their child's participation in sports. Within the topics of sport culture, skill development, health and safety, competition, and more, he addresses questions such as: - How do I choose the right athletic program and/or coach for my child? - What are appropriate rewards for playing/doing well? - What if my child wants to quit before the season is over? - What can I do if my child isn't good at the sport or doesn't fit in socially? - What are the best things to focus on when discussing a game or performance? In his professional yet relatable style utilizing an easy-to-read Q&A format, Dr. Flowers lends his extensive knowledge and experience to guide you as a parent through most every expected-and unexpected-scenario, highlighting real-life stories and examples, and providing proven practices for positive thinking and self-talk, visualization, and relaxation. Whether your child is new to sports or has been playing for a while, this book will be your go-to source for the invaluable advice every parent needs to raise a healthy, balanced, happy athlete.
About the AuthorFlowers, Ross: - Ross Flowers, Ph.D. is an experienced sport and performance psychologist, executive coach, author and speaker. He is a partner in Giles Consulting Group, a leadership development coach for the Center for Creative Leadership, international sport psychologist, psychologist in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and sport psychology instructor. Ross designs, teaches, and implements skills development programs for culturally diverse individuals, teams and organizations. Ross is also the author of Introducing Your Child to Sports: An Expert's Answers to Parents' Questions about Raising a Healthy, Balanced, Happy Athlete. As a leadership development and executive coach, Ross administers and interprets assessments, conceptualizes growth opportunities, builds coaching relationships, and provides custom mentor-coach and leadership development opportunities for business managers and executives. His experiences working with an international clientele of government, for-profit and non-profit companies provide Ross with a uniquely diverse skill set. Ross's breadth and depth of experiences help him engage diverse issues, and integrate meaningful skills to reach impactful solutions. Ross served at the Associate Director level of the United States Olympic Committee as a senior sport psychologist. In addition to creating sport psychology programs for national governing bodies of sport and implementing services to teams and individuals, Ross successfully integrated performance services into the culture of an Olympic Training Center through coaching, mentoring, psycho-education, psychotherapy, individual and group consultation, leadership training, team building, capital project requests, research, written reports, educational programming, and training venue development. He served on many USA World Cup, World Championship and Olympic teams for summer and winter sports. Ross founded and directed the Applied Sport Psychology Program at the University of California, Davis, working in Counseling and Psychological Services and the Intercollegiate Athletics Department serving 26 intercollegiate athletic programs, over 800 student-athletes and 121 coaches and staff. He also supervised the professional development of psychology doctoral candidates specializing in applied sport psychology. Ross has expertise in assessing individual attributes such as; self-confidence, decision-making ability, leadership, clear communication, emotional and anger management, adaptability, and achievement planning, in order to develop successful strategies to improve individual behavior, team performance and organizational culture. His productivity in the realm of elite performance enhancement is supported by his background as an elite athlete, NCAA Division 1 coach, and consultant to national and international business professionals. Ross holds a doctorate of philosophy in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with emphasis in performance and sport psychology, and a bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
