You are the coach!

This article is about you!
JuniorMoto.com is about how you train your child to ride a motorcycle – especially Toodler and Cadet.
That being children under 10 years of age. The younger the child is, the more it demands of the coach – i.e. you.

You are the Coach, mentor and motivator.

I will try not force my morals on you, but instead try to give advice that has worked for us. However, as this subject is very close to my heart, I do have some strong options about this.

I am convinced that training young children requires extra focus from the coach. Motorcycle sport is an individual sport, and it is my conviction that most training should also be individual – especially for young children, or children starting to ride.

This means that the coach can only train one child at a time – and therefore the coach will often be one of the parents – in other words, you!

It also means that it will be you, as well as your child, starting the sport. It’s important that you know how much it involves you, as well as your child.

It takes a surplus of energy to have a child attending motorsport. It’s better to stay at home, if you do not have the energy on a race day. Don’t try to fool your child (or yourself), because at the end of the day, your child will have read you like an open book.

Remember that you’re not training an adult!

When training your child, keep in mind that you are not training an adult.
Things goes slower, and you need more patience. It might be necessary to explain things several times before you see an effect, and sometimes it even feels like things are going backwards.

It’s important not to give up and get frustrated, because the progress will undoubtedly come – it only takes a bit of time.

A few good advices.

1. Only one gives instructions to the rider.
   Children (and, in fact, most adults too) get confused when there are more “coaches” giving instructions. Therefore, do not interfere with someone else’s training, and only contact the coach if you have an idea or correction – never the rider.
2. Only focus on a few things.
   The less you let the rider focus on, the better the focus of the rider. You might get inspiration from the article on focus points and capacity.
3. Stop while you both still having fun.
   Keep an eye on the watch and stop training while your child still having fun.
   It might be a good idea to have agreed this with the rider beforehand, to reduce the likelihood of a conflict.
4. You can never praise too much!
   It cannot be said enough – Praising works! Basically no one gets better, being told how bad they did!
   If you have something you want to change, get it formulated positively – and preferably while telling the child about the good things that you’ve seen.

Although it can be hard, and sometimes challenging to train your own child, it will give you some invaluable experiences with your child.

Look forward to it – because you have started a fantastic journey!