5 Ways to Motivate Your Child to Do Sports

A 5-minute read that will help you build a better relationship with your child through sport.

Hi, Oleksii Kononov here.

During my live sessions, one question comes up again and again: how do you motivate — or convince — your child to do sports?

This topic is personal to me for two reasons.

First, I'm a father. I have an energetic daughter, Ulyana, and I want her to be active.

Second, my mission is to bring as many people as possible into a healthy lifestyle — and children are absolutely part of that.

So in this short article, I'll share five personal rules I use to motivate my daughter, and that were used on me when I was growing up.

Let's go.

1. Lead by Example

During my live training sessions, you often see a little girl in leggings quietly appearing in the background — and sometimes the foreground — doing every exercise right alongside me.

I see the same thing when participants share their home workouts from my challenges. If there's a child in the house, they will not miss your training session.

That is the power of a personal example.

For a child, parents are the strongest authority in the world. Children watch us — they don't listen to us. They copy exactly what they see.

Show your child what it looks like to train, and that behavior will stay with them forever.

But if you push a child to exercise while skipping sessions yourself, they catch the contradiction immediately. And contradictions are one of the most damaging things in a child's development.

2. Praise

The brain runs on two forces: moving toward pleasure, or away from pain.

Pain triggers work fast. You raise your voice, you scare, you pressure — and yes, you get an immediate result. But in the long run, this approach fails. It creates natural resistance.

Using fear and pressure can push a child to go to one training session — and permanently destroy their desire to ever go back.

My own coach used fear as a primary training tool. He said: "You should be more afraid of me than of the apparatus." He made me a good gymnast. But in my final years of training, I went to the gym without joy, and our relationship never recovered.

I believe I only stayed in gymnastics because of the love and pleasure I found later at Cirque du Soleil.

Training is already stressful — it pushes the body out of its comfort zone. That's why it's important to end every session with feedback and genuine praise.

Praise works like a magnet. The more you use it, the stronger the pull becomes. And there's a compounding effect — the more positive experiences a child accumulates around sport, the more they want to return to it.

Two friends are talking. One says: "My wife has gone completely off the rails — I argue with her every day and she just gets worse and worse." The other says: "I praise mine every day — and she keeps getting better and better."

This works with anyone — not just children. People move toward where they felt good. Praise your child after training, and they'll come back with a smile.

3. Create Emotional Experiences

It's been a year, but I still see it clearly: the University of Florida stadium, and Ulyana — when asked what she wants to be — answering: "A gymnast like Marissa."

That was the effect of one short visit to a gymnastics hall where an Olympic athlete and family friend, Marissa King, trained with us.

Emotion is one of the most powerful forces for igniting desire in a child's heart.

Watching competitions together on YouTube, going to a stadium, buying sports gear, watching a film based on a real athletic story — all of these light a fire.

Honestly, even I feel like a kid rushing back to the gym after experiences like this.

Use involvement. It works incredibly well.

4. Competitions and Performances

Competition is the engine of progress. And competitions are the best way to push every engine to maximum.

I remember coming back from competitions as a child — me and my friends on fire. If you won, you flew back to the gym to keep riding that feeling of being in perfect form. If you lost, you came back even faster — to figure out what went wrong, to prove yourself.

I loved those few weeks of emotional highs that followed every competition.

Now I watch Ulyana get caught in the same magical current. Our apartment is starting to look like a gymnastics hall.

5. Let Them Choose

People often ask me: "Are you going to put your daughter in gymnastics?"

I learned long ago that what I love isn't necessarily what my child will love. Yes, I can convince her. I can push. But if the fire isn't there, it all turns into disappointment and self-deception.

In my opinion, it's far better for a child to genuinely enjoy a sport they chose themselves — even at an amateur level — than to be broken by a professional sport they were pushed into.

Give your child the chance to try different things. Then leave the choice to them. I'm convinced that works.

Final Thought

Training with your child is pure joy — and one of the greatest investments you can make in your relationship with them.

So train, friends. And whatever happens, remember: you can always do more than you think.

If you want to start moving with your child — or finally build your own training habit so you can lead by example — browse the full program catalog in the store. The BaseBuild Challenge is a great starting point for adults who are building from zero. And the Handstand Challenge is something kids almost always want to join — they'll be on the floor next to you before the second session.

FAQ

At what age should a child start doing sports?

There's no single right age, but movement in any form — playing, running, gymnastics basics, swimming — is valuable from the earliest years. Structured sport typically begins between 4–7 years old, depending on the discipline. The most important thing at young ages is enjoyment and exploration, not specialization or results.

What if my child starts a sport and then wants to quit?

First, listen to understand the reason — boredom, difficulty, a bad experience with a coach, or simply wanting to try something else. If there's a genuine reason beyond discomfort from normal challenge, it's worth considering a change. Forcing a child to continue a sport they genuinely dislike rarely produces good athletes and often damages the relationship with physical activity entirely.

How do I balance encouragement with not putting too much pressure on my child?

Focus praise on effort and improvement, not on results. "You trained hard today" lands differently than "Why didn't you win?" A child who feels seen for their work — regardless of outcome — builds intrinsic motivation. Pressure tied to results creates anxiety and performance avoidance.

Is it a problem if my child wants to do a different sport than I did?

Not at all. In fact, it's healthy. Children need to find their own identity, including in sport. A parent's role is to expose them to options, support their curiosity, and celebrate whatever they choose.

Keep Reading

• Gymnastics vs Fitness — why gymnastics specifically is the best entry point for children and adults alike
• Kindness, Leadership, and Resilience in Sport and Life — the coaching approach that builds athletes who stay and grow
• 5 Rules an Athlete Should Know and Follow — the habits you can model for your child every day
• Continuous Sequence — why showing up daily matters more than any single hard training session
• Why Handstands Matter More Than You Think — the skill that reconnects adults and children with playful movement