Take a moment to revisit your childhood. Do you recall spending hours on end riding your bike around the neighborhood, exploring backyards for unknown treasures, splashing in the pool with your friends, or playing in the snow without thought or fear of the cold? Ahhh…the glory days of childs’ play. Hopefully, you engaged in a variety of activities, both structured and unstructured. You likely played soccer, or little league, or swam on your swim team. With luck, those days provided positive memories and awarded many positive traits that you carry with you today related to teamwork, leadership, creativity, passion, resilience and the importance of failure. Yes, the importance of failure. That is the framework for Matt’s highly personal episode this week about childhood development in sports: the value of sports for children, setting up your kids for long-term performance, and the mindset and approach to being a supporting parent in their journey. Matt takes on this important topic from three perspectives: as a former elite athlete, as a coach, and most importantly, as a father of a six-year-old son. What are the global benefits of participation in sports as a youth? Why should you build in unstructured play as well? How do you set up your children for success? How do you set them up for failure? The journey of an athlete at any age extends well beyond physical development. It is a gateway of imagination, adventure, and shared journeys. It is a confidence booster and, quite often, a catalyst to problem-solving. Most importantly, though, it should be fun.    To ask questions, email: questions@purplepatchfitness.com  Follow Purple Patch Fitness and learn more about our Coaching Services, Training Camps, Promotions and Matt's Latest Book, Fast Track Triathlete: Purple Patch Fitness Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Thanks for taking a listen and, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, share, rate and review. Your feedback is appreciated. Subscribe to the Purple Patch Podcast: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts   Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved