PAREF Springdale School held a sports psychology session for coaches and parents to improve their understanding of how to apply sports psychology to the young student-athletes.
The one-day event was led by speaker and sports psychologist Lee Tajonera at their campus in Lahug.
“We have two topics, and in the first session for the coaches, the main point was the concept of positive coaching. The game is not simply about winning at all costs, it’s about developing character,” Tajonera told SunStar Cebu.
“Later, we will have a session for parents. This will focus on sports parenting, how a parent can support a child who’s into sports,” added Tajonera, a sport psychology practitioner for seven years.
“Sports gives you a platform for forming role models in society. The important thing is to build character, not everyone will be a sports professional. We want these kids, after they’re done with varsity, to become positive contributors to the society. This is the purpose of the session,” he said.
Parents’ role
Tajonera is the psychology coach of Cebu’s renowned golfers like Lloyd Jefferson Go and Peter Tyler Po. He also handles team and individual coaching in various sports.
“For parents, we’ve seen that parents that are too involved or we have seen naman baliktad (the flip side), that’s showing no support at all. We will be discussing that with the parents,” said Tajonera.
One of the parent-coordinators for Springdale Football Club, Marko Sarmiento, who is also an accomplished golfer, has come up with this idea for the parents and coaches.
“Right now, we have the coaches in basketball, football, triathlon, swimming, badminton and chess. Later on, it will be for football parents. We have invited around 70 parents to join,” said Sarmiento.
Sarmiento, who’s one of Cebu’s top golfers, said that sports psychology is now essential in any sport.
“The Springdale School and also Springdale Football Club president Alvin Roxas are very supportive of this session. We will see how this goes first and how the coaches react to this. If the response is good, why not do it annually?” said Sarmiento.
Sarmiento said that for a start, they’re inviting first the football parents since it’s the school’s biggest sports program. If the session will be successful, they’re open to do it with parents from other sports. (RSC)