This week, Charlie Hull has been nominated for the Sunday Times & Sky Sports Young Sportswoman of the Year. Charlie was one of the wonderful 2013 European Solheim Cup players who not just managed to retain the trophy but blew the US team out of the water.
I have been fortunate throughout my playing and coaching life to meet many of the top performers in my sport and have spent many hours researching and reflecting on what makes them successful? One of the great debates in sport or in life for that matter is the “nature V nurture” one. Are we born to be champions, is it just down to hard work or do high performing sports people have additional skills and supports to help them in their quest for success?
In 2011 at the Ladies Home Internationals at Hillside I was travelling coach to the Irish Team. I was lucky enough to chat with Charlie’s dad Dave one morning at the club and to get a real insight into one of the many reasons she is so successful at such a young age.
Her Dad is clearly is a guy who would do everything he possibly could do to help his daughter achieve her dreams of becoming golf professional golfer but at the same time, he was not a parent who was living through his daughter vicariously. He had set her off on the golf course that morning ensured she had everything she needed but as he said himself, the rest was up to her. Dave said he had no reason to watch her play all the time as that golf was “her thing”. What was really interesting was the reaction of other parents at the breakfast table that morning, I’m not sure they felt entirely comfortable with the conversation (I wonder why?).
It was clear to me that as much as he supported Charlie, he did not define his daughter by her results on the golf course. That to me meant that fear would almost never darken her door as an emerging golfer. As long as she kept enjoying the game and learning from her mistakes Charlie would be a winner. And so it has come to pass, what we saw at Solheim Cup and her Young Sportswoman of the Year nomination this week is a culmination of all her hard work and the support of her parents, but the right kind of support. I have seen many of parents and coaches, well meaning though they may be, who have not allowed their children to make mistakes and learn from them. As parents and coaches we are way too eager to circumvent the learning process at a cost to the life lessons and long term development of our players.
However, this approach takes faith and perhaps also the realisation that golf might not be the right path for our kids in the long run. But on the positive side, we have provided them with the coping skills they will need throughout their lives whilst still retaining a lifelong love of golf.