Counterpoint: Too Many Activists and Not Enough Advocates
The definition of an activist is one who campaigns to bring about political or social change. The definition of an advocate is one who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy. Can you spot the subtle difference?
An activist wants change, but generally has nothing specific to recommend. On the other hand, an advocate is about specifics. It’s easy to shout, complain, rant, and troll when you don’t have to be specific. That’s why we see so many more people calling themselves activists rather than advocates in today’s society.
My Advocacy for Better Sports Parenting
I consider myself an advocate. I advocate for better sports parenting. My specific recommendation is for parents to stop trying to push their kids with carrots and sticks. I believe parents should focus on pushing their kids to develop self-motivation instead of using carrots and sticks to motivate them. I offer specific coaching programs to help parents, teams, and athletes adopt this approach. After completing one of these programs, athletes perform 10 times better than when being driven by carrots and sticks. This is the proof in the pudding.
Part of the reason why carrots and sticks are used to motivate so often is because parents don’t know there is a better way. By no fault of their own, many parents still use the same tactics that were used a generation ago. Unfortunately, these tactics don’t work in this new world we live in. With social media, social gaming, out of control college cost, elite travel sports and private coaching, raising a sports kid has fundamentally changed over the last 20 years.
If I was an activist, I would just troll all over the internet complaining about how all the bad parents are ruining their kids. However, this would be more about me making a name for myself and less about driving real change.
That is why advocates must be strategic. Advocates don’t have unrealistic expectations for things to change overnight because of a spot as a talking head on a cable news show. As a result, my goal is to help one family, one team, and one athlete at a time. This truly will make a bigger difference than an activist shouting from a soapbox.