Keeping Your Partnership Alive While Raising A Competitive Athlete

Let's talk about the elephant in the room (or maybe the belay station) – your relationship with your partner! This episode is all about keeping the spark alive when your life revolves around raising champion athletes.

Do you remember why you fell in love with your partner in the first place? Juggling kids, competitions, and early morning belay duty – who has time for romance? Well, I’d love to share some tips on how to keep your relationship strong, even when your kids are the ones conquering the walls.

• naming the unspoken strain on couples in youth sports
• why a strong partnership lowers family tension
• examples of role imbalance and how to reset it
• simple rituals to reconnect without kid talk
• using boundaries to protect time together
• how happier parents shape calmer, braver athletes
• building a village to share rides and duties
• inviting listener strategies and experiences

If you guys enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, share, do the whole thing

About This Podcast

It takes a village to raise a pro athlete.

For the first time ever this channel takes you behind the athlete’s ‘unspoken’ road what it really takes to raise athletes.

What to expect when you listen:

Real, Raw Truth

Laughter

The Struggles & Successes

ABOUT YOUR HOST:

Marina Kuperman Villatoro, a mama who is on a mission to help her sons reach their athletic (rock climbing) goals and dreams.

Connect and be Part of the Strategic Village

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Chapters

• 0:00 Naming The Unspoken Topic
• 0:20 Why The Couple Bond Matters
• 1:01 Sports Roles And Imbalance At Home
• 1:49 Choose Connection Over Another Trip
• 2:29 Reconnect Without Talking Kids
• 3:00 Family Proof: Happier Parents, Happier Kids
• 4:09 Your Turn: Share What Works
• 4:36 Build The Village, Share The Load

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Parents of athletes, how's your relationship with your partner, your spouse, your other half, whatever you want to call it, how's that going for you? So here's something that is never actually discussed, right? As far as a parent of athlete thing that is happening. And that is maintaining the relationship with your spouse, right? Or your partner, or whoever it is that you have that, you know, romantic, you know, that partnership with. It doesn't have to be the parent of the athlete if you have, you know, somebody that's come into your life a little bit later, but you find yourself completely being devoted to your kid sport, which is a good thing. But then again, you cannot forget that relationship with your partner for many reasons. First of all, when you're happy, when you guys have that strong relationship, that happy relationship, that healthy relationship, guess what? Your kids are healthier, your kids are happier athletes because there's less tension, there's that love that is spread throughout, right? Because we tend to forget that we have this relationship. I cannot even tell you the amount of times I see parents that have completely devoted themselves to the kids' sport, right? Whatever that sport is, especially in extreme sports, because usually one of the parents is somehow more involved in this fact. Like in our household, my husband is the climber, right? So he goes on a lot of more climbing trips with them. He's the one that's much more emerged in that sport simply because he understands it more. I'm not a climber, but I do support in many other ways. But you know, for instance, if my kids and my husband want to go on a climbing trip and my kids could go with a friend on their own, I'm gonna be like, no, let's hang out. We need to connect, we need to reconnect, even if it's something as basic as going out to dinner or maybe even doing a little trip away, whatever, or just going out for a drink, right? I don't know, going out for a beer, going out for a sangria, whatever that can be. But you guys cannot forget that union that first brought you guys together. And a lot of times it wasn't the sport. If both of you are those athletes, absolutely, but it doesn't matter. You were still brought together before the kids enter the picture, right? So you need to take that time for yourselves, you need to reconnect however your reconnection is. It doesn't matter even if it's going for a walk for an hour, just the two of you, and not talking about the kids. Okay, I know that's gonna sound crazy, but guess what? That's what's gonna maintain that solidarity in your family because there are gonna be a lot of really tough moments with the sport or with life, but when you have that foundation, when you have that bond already there, it could be a much more easier way to get past the problems or to be able to solve the problems, and also you'll be there much more for your kids, both of you happier together, and the kids get it. It's funny because the other day, me and my husband were saying that we want to go away even for like a night, just to you know, go out to dinner, maybe even go and spend a night in a hotel, whatever. And my youngest son is like, oh no, no, no. And my oldest son, who's now 19, he's like, you know what? When mom and papa go out together, they're happier, right? Like they have that bond and they come back and we're all happier. He even said it, right? And it's funny because I remember when he was, when my oldest was really young, he was the one that never wanted us to go anywhere. We used to bribe him by saying, you know, we'll bring you cool gifts or whatever. But he understands that today, that because we have been taking that time to be together, to hanging out together, overall, our family is a stronger unit, and we are also much more committed to their sport, to them, to everything. So, guys, take that time for yourselves. Okay, I would love to hear your comments, your feedback. How have you been managing this? What do you guys do to maintain that connectedness, right? To be able to just go back to the two of you, to the root of how it all began in the first place, right? Even if you are a step parent or whatnot, there was a moment with just the two of you at one point that you connected, that you had this relationship before the kids' sport and before getting so immersed in that world as well. If you guys enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, share, do the whole thing. I'd love to hear your experience and what you can offer as well because it's all about the village, right? It's all about how we could all work together in a strategic, strategic village and focusing on things that we really that we don't think about as often as we should.