#270 Jen Harris - Examining the Experiences, Views, and Needs of Highly Committed Children in Youth Sport

I’m delighted to speak with Jen Harris this week. Jen is an expert in the field of parenting in youth sport. As the mother of a child athlete Jen was struck how little help there is for parents and decided to help change this. She undertook a Masters degree in Sport Psychology, the focus of which was parenting in youth sport. For her dissertation she created the Super-P Approach; an easy to teach parental communication style which can significantly reduce worry levels in child athletes. Jen is now completing her PhD at The University of Edinburgh to extend the research into her Super-P Approach.

Jen has also launched a business, Raising Happy Champs, which offers workshops and an extensive e-learning program to parents of children involved in competitive sport. Jen teaches parents sport psychology principals and how to apply them to improve their child’s experience of sport.

In this episode we speak about Jen’s experiences as a sport parent and we discuss the results of a study Jen undertook along with Prof Dave Collins and Dr Christine Nash entitled “Let’s Hear It From the Kids! Examining the Experiences, Views, and Needs of Highly Committed Children Involved in Youth Sport”.