It is sad to see parents do this to their kids. Obviously living through their child and pushing them way too far, this isn't the only sport that it happens. I had a friend growing up a very long time ago that was ruined in baseball by his Dad. I have seen it happen in soccer, golf, basketball, you name it.
There is a difference in supporting your kid and helping them grow in the sport and improve and then going completely over the top and ruining it all.
Yeah but look at how superior Jakob turned out to be
New post on Instagram about her DNS, apparently the dad is blaming dance rehearsal for a school play and not the 80 mile weeks with 3 threshold workouts as the reason she strained her quad 🙄
Yeah but look at how superior Jakob turned out to be
The athletic world could very well have lost Jakob (in 2021) because of his father coach -in an interview from 2020 the prodigy stressed that he might retire early, if he won a global championship or broke a record…
And we know Jakob was really really fed up after his Olympic gold in 2021, and we know (from later interviews) that the reason was Gjert.
But Jakob clearly was saved by the break up with his father in January 2022.
So how would Jakob have fared if Gjert hadn’t been his coach? -Well, we don’t know for certain, because this father coach might have had some strengths that aren’t that common among normal coaches -e.g an ability to turn every stone when his sons got injured (quickly getting them into alternate training, and involving doctors/physiotherapists maybe faster and more thoroughly than one else could expect)…
My speculations: I think Jakob would have profited hugely from having another coach than his father, for instance a guy like Eric Toogood, who trained Henrik Ingebrigtsen to European champs gold, and a fifth placing in the 2012 OG 1500m. Or Marius Bakken; the inventor of the Norwegian double threshold method.
One could stress that it was extremely important that Jakob started his training so early, and that that was a family thing. But that doesn’t have to be a parenting thing -maybe the key thing here is the models and motivation his older brothers were, and as mentioned Henrik was Toogood’s and indirectly Bakken’s “product” and not Gjert’s…
Gjert seems to have strengths as a coach -but those may mostly be that he lent the right training principles from Toogood/Bakken, but also some others. And his weaknesses as a coach (compared to others that coach double threshold) may possibly far outweigh the strengths: We know (from interviews) that he ruined his daughter’s and oldest son’s career, (they stopped running because of him) and maybe also the same for another son, (and it’s premature to say anything about the youngest, 12 years old), and we know that the injuries (Henrik) came when Gjert succeeded Toogood as a coach (I may be a little unfair here, because Henrik, Filip and Jakob seem to be as injury prone also without their father coach). And we have heard from Jakob and his sister that they were forced against their will to train with huge pains -Jakob from a stress fracture. And I don’t need to mention all the psychological things I think…
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
It is sad to see parents do this to their kids. Obviously living through their child and pushing them way too far, this isn't the only sport that it happens. I had a friend growing up a very long time ago that was ruined in baseball by his Dad. I have seen it happen in soccer, golf, basketball, you name it.
There is a difference in supporting your kid and helping them grow in the sport and improve and then going completely over the top and ruining it all.
Yeah but look at how superior Jakob turned out to be
Mary Etta Boitano (from Wikipedia) Mary Etta Boitano (born March 4, 1963) is a former child road running star who achieved some spectacular results in the 1970s, chasing world age group marathon records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mary Etta earned an appearance in the Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd as the first female finisher in the 6.8 mile Dipsea Race at the age of 5. Five years later she became the first female to win the race overall, at the age of 10. At the age of 5 she started running marathons, running 3:46:21 at the West Valley Marathon as an 8 year old, which set a world age record. Her 3:57:42 at the 1970 Petaluma Marathon at age 7 years 284 days makes her the youngest human being, boys or girls, to run the marathon under 4 hours. Her 4:27:32 on the same course a year earlier was believed at the time to be the youngest anyone had completed a marathon. She won the Avenue of the Giants Marathon at the age of 10. Still at the age of 10, she ran a 3:01.15 marathon which ranked her #13 in the world and 4th in the nation for the year 1974. From ages 6 to 13 she logged in well over 40 marathons with the 3:01:15 being her personal best. She was on the cover of Runners World April 1974. At the age of 11 she began a string of three straight victories in the famous Bay to Breakers race. She later ran cross country and track for San Francisco State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing. As Mary Blanchard, she is an assistant track coach at Justin-Siena High School in Napa, California
New post on Instagram about her DNS, apparently the dad is blaming dance rehearsal for a school play and not the 80 mile weeks with 3 threshold workouts as the reason she strained her quad 🙄
An overscheduled Asian kid being pushed in multiple disciplines by a father seeking to monetize their activities? Wow! You don't see that very often.
Maybe she hurt herself at figure skating lessons, robotics club, or coding camp? Are we sure the school play is to blame?
The problem is I don't think her parents have the genes. She will be a good runner if she keeps going but her father is a hobby jogger despite serious training. Maybe her mother has the elite running genes but father doesn't.
The point is to make money via social media and get attention from outlets like the LA Times.
Normal stuff = no attention. Basically child abuse.
Yep, they're taking advantage of the fact that hardly anyone else their age is doing these kinds of things (for good reason) so they stand out and get notoriety.
I truly hate stories like this. There is a girl near me who is setting all kinds of records, but whenever I see her she looks miserable. Last spring, she cried at the end of one of her track races because she didn't PR. From what I hear it's pretty typical.
And the family may think she has all kinds of talents, but just wait until high school when kids from other sports enter the mix.
I can't imagine what a miserable experience running is for these kids.
Exactly. Some kid in SC parents brag about him breaking world records at 9 and 10 years old in random 15k and other events but then get him in a 9-10 year old USATF state xc race and he gets smoked
Whatever happened to Bria Wetsch? I remember her early childhood theatrics and that dumb site
Wherever she is I bet she deeply regrets defining herself by her running at such a young age
I'm pretty sure that she has bigger childhood traumas to deal with than whether she was too defined by running.
Anyway, she's not really the best example of a precocious kid with big dreams who didn't pan out. She's a sub-2:30 marathoner and is still competing. Clearly she loves it.
Mary Etta Boitano (from Wikipedia) Mary Etta Boitano (born March 4, 1963) is a former child road running star who achieved some spectacular results in the 1970s, chasing world age group marathon records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mary Etta earned an appearance in the Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd as the first female finisher in the 6.8 mile Dipsea Race at the age of 5. Five years later she became the first female to win the race overall, at the age of 10. At the age of 5 she started running marathons, running 3:46:21 at the West Valley Marathon as an 8 year old, which set a world age record. Her 3:57:42 at the 1970 Petaluma Marathon at age 7 years 284 days makes her the youngest human being, boys or girls, to run the marathon under 4 hours. Her 4:27:32 on the same course a year earlier was believed at the time to be the youngest anyone had completed a marathon. She won the Avenue of the Giants Marathon at the age of 10. Still at the age of 10, she ran a 3:01.15 marathon which ranked her #13 in the world and 4th in the nation for the year 1974. From ages 6 to 13 she logged in well over 40 marathons with the 3:01:15 being her personal best. She was on the cover of Runners World April 1974. At the age of 11 she began a string of three straight victories in the famous Bay to Breakers race. She later ran cross country and track for San Francisco State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing. As Mary Blanchard, she is an assistant track coach at Justin-Siena High School in Napa, California
Ran Bay to Breakers in1978, so thankfully avoided going home devastated.
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