ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Lindsay and Zoe are chartered sport and exercise psychologists. There are two routes to becoming qualified in sport and exercise psychology in the United Kingdom; through the British Psychological Society (BPS) or British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). A handy tip; when looking for a sport psychologist to work with your child, ensure they have one of these qualifications or are on the route towards this and have an appropriate supervisor in place. If the practitioner has taken the BASES route, the letters CSci will follow their name. If they have taken the BPS route, the letters CPsychol will follow their name. The title Sport and Exercise Psychologist is protected by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), so do ask to see a practitioner’s qualifications or search on the HCPC, BASES or BPS directories to ensure you are seeking support from a suitably qualified practitioner.
These are the links to the respective organisations if you are looking for a sport psychologist to work with you and your child:
DR lINDSAY WOODFORD By her parents
Sport parenting isn’t so much a competition as a marathon. You are in it for one reason, to get to the finish line. When you get there, your child gets the medals.
It starts easily enough, games at school and local clubs and the odd out of school activity. It takes very little time and effort. You see your friends as well as they theirs and everyone has a good time, then home for tea. And then it changes.
THE sport is chosen. In our case, Lindsay chose rowing. Our social life ends. The car becomes a taxi, the diary is filled with practice sessions, training and the occasional race. Meals are planned only for nutrition. Holidays are scheduled around regattas and the washing machine has to be replaced yearly.
But it’s worth it. Several times a year, you get to drive 100 miles or so to sit on your own by a lake. It’s raining, you jump up and down to keep warm. You have no idea what’s going on, the tannoy system is broken. You think your darling is in heat 12, but you don’t know. The start is a mile away and the crew are facing backwards. The race is on, they approach the winning line, they are ahead. They’ve won. Cheer loudly. They turn around. Wrong crew. It’s a long drive home.
We don’t regret a minute of it but having this book would have made the whole process more understandable, allowing us to participate more, and ultimately to contribute more effectively.
Suzanne and John Ball
ZOE TAYLOR by her parents
To understand how Zoe ended up in the competitive world of horses means we have to go back in time! It was way back when Zoe was not quite two that her sister was embarking on her riding lessons, which were not going to plan! Zoe insisted at the end of the lesson to have a ride back to the stables and would be very persistent, she had the biggest smile when sitting on a horse.
Zoe had said she wanted to do top level eventing and not long after she turned 21, she found this horse that was going to fulfil the desire and competitive streak that was still as strong going through Zoe. After a few mishaps (a very green young thoroughbred and very much amateurs), the partnership came together, we moved to an eventing yard and Finn took on the role he had been purchased for. He was a dream and with a proper trainer we headed high! The eventing world is tough, not only do you need to be very fit, but so does your horse. Once you start to go up through the levels, you realise that you are a very small fish in a MASSIVE tank! The events are full of lorries, meanwhile, we are in our little old trailer…and there are not many trailers at this level!
The journey has been a great one which I believe has needed a lot of parental support. Keeping all six legs fit is a very tiring job and not having a string of horses, while trying to run a top-level horse on a shoestring budget is challenging but extremely rewarding. There have been huge disappointments too, we felt Finn was a potential Badminton horse and accepting and stepping away is difficult (not just for the athlete, but for the parent too!), not only do you lose the world you have become accustomed to, but your hobby and dream is immediately halted. We have to be grateful for what we achieved and on reflection we are, it is a tough sport which needs total dedication from the athlete and the parent!
Sue and Derek Taylor