Raising Pro Athletes - Decoding What Parents of Pro Athletes do DIFFERENT

When the world shut down, Toby Roberts’ dad built a backyard climbing wall. Years later, Toby won Olympic Gold. 
A global shutdown wipes out climbing gyms and competitions, so we look at what actually keeps a young athlete moving forward when access, routine, and motivation disappear. 
I trace how Toby Roberts’ family support and their own pandemic wall build one principle I want every sports parent to try: be the constant even when you are not the expert. 
Raising an elite athlete doesn’t mean you have to be the ultimate expert in their sport. 
In this episode, I dive into the incredible journey of Olympic sport climber Toby Roberts and his father, Tristan. 
We explore how Tristan went from a software developer with zero climbing experience to coaching his son to the Paris Olympics and discuss the realities of parenting a pro athlete, overcoming the terrifying risks of extreme sports, and why leaning into your child’s natural passions is the ultimate key to the podium.
Key Takeaways:
Don’t tame their nature: Why trying to suppress a hyperactive or adventurous child can kill their athletic potential.
The 2020 pivot: How a DIY backyard climbing wall kept an Olympic dream alive during global lockdowns.
Find the experts: Why Tristan Roberts succeeded by outsourcing technical coaching rather than pretending to be a guru.
Be the constant: The crucial difference between being a sports expert and providing a safe, reliable foundation for your child.
If you care about raising resilient athletes, sport climbing mindset, and practical support strategies that work in real life, hit play. Subscribe, share with a parent who needs it, and leave a review so we can keep building this village together.

If this episode moved you, subscribe and share it with one other parent who needs to hear this. 
Please leave a review and let us build this village together. 
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
SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST UNCENSORED HACKS and TIPS
https://raisingproathletes.com/sign-up/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/raisingproathletes/ 
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingproathletes 
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@raisingproathletes 
Website - https://raisingproathletes.com/

What does it really take to raise an X Games champion? Discover how Hailey Langland’s parents nurtured her wild side to make snowboarding history.
Haley Langland’s X Games moment shows what can happen when talent meets a family willing to build a whole life around growth. 
I break down the incredible journey of this elite snowboarder and explore the massive family commitments required to raise a competitive athlete. 
From encouraging risky play in toddlers to relocating to mountain towns, homeschooling, and managing the financial burden of a youth sports career.
I also share my own family's parallel journey moving to Barcelona for competitive youth climbing.
Key Takeaways:
The "Inner Wild": Why you shouldn't clip the wings of adventurous, risk-taking kids.
The Power of Environment: How changing your child's peer group by relocating accelerates their skills.
Education Shifts: The realities of homeschooling to accommodate an international training schedule.
Family Logistics: Navigating the financial and career sacrifices required to bankroll a young athlete before the sponsorships arrive.
If you’re trying to raise a serious athlete, this conversation will help you think clearly about commitment, tradeoffs, and what your next step could be.

Subscribe for more real stories and parent strategy, share this with a family who needs it, and leave a review with the biggest question you’re wrestling with right now.
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
SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST UNCENSORED HACKS and TIPS
https://raisingproathletes.com/sign-up/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/raisingproathletes/ 
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingproathletes 
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@raisingproathletes 
Website - https://raisingproathletes.com/

How do teachers with zero climbing experience raise an Olympian? Discover the unconventional sports parenting behind Oriane Bertone's massive success.
In this episode of Raising Pro Athletes, I'm exploring the incredible true story of Stefano Bertone and his wife, who raised Olympic rock climbing phenom Oriane Bertone on a remote volcanic island. 
We rewind to the Bertone family’s roots: a judo background, a move to a tiny volcanic island far from mainland France, and a father whose entire academic career centers on one question: how experts pass skill to learners.
Instead of hiring expensive coaches or pushing for early burnout, Stefano used his academic background in education to teach himself how to coach.
We dive into the science of skill transmission, the hidden sacrifices of the "unseen parent," and the crucial moment a parent must step back from coaching to save their relationship. 
Whether you are raising a climber, a gymnast, or a soccer player, this episode reveals what it really takes to nurture elite athletic talent.
Key Takeaways:
The Power of Academic Coaching: How Stefano applied education science to youth sports training, focusing on technique over brute strength.
Pacing for Longevity: Why capping climbing grades and avoiding hangboards early on prevented injury and burnout.
The "Unseen" Parent: The vital, stabilizing role of the non-traveling parent in holding the family together.
Knowing When to Quit: Why stepping down as your child's coach is often the most important decision a sports parent can make.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, please leave a review, share it with your friends so that I could keep on giving you these incredibly inspiring stories of behind the scenes of the parents of the athletes that we see in front of us every day.

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
SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST UNCENSORED HACKS and TIPS
https://raisingproathletes.com/sign-up/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/raisingproathletes/ 
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingproathletes 
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@raisingproathletes 
Website - https://raisingproathletes.com/

We challenge the way people glorify “grit” in elite athletes when that grit may come from abusive homes and toxic pressure. We argue that survivorship bias makes harmful parenting and coaching look like a winning formula, even when most kids pay the price.
• Survivorship bias in sports and why success stories distort reality
• Famous athlete examples that spark the conversation about abusive households
• Respect for achievement without excusing harm to children
• The difference between healthy discipline and abusive treatment
• How toxic dynamics at home can spill into abusive coaching cultures
We keep hearing the same story: the hardest childhoods create the toughest champions. But when we look closer, that story often relies on survivorship bias in sports. We see the winners on TV and forget the many youth athletes who never make it through the bullying, verbal attacks, and fear-based “motivation” that should never be part of childhood, let alone athlete development.

We talk through why resilience, grit, and tunnel-vision focus can look heroic while still being a sign of harm. Using well-known athlete examples as a starting point, we unpack the temptation parents and coaches feel to copy extreme methods because “it worked” for someone famous. Then we draw a clear line between healthy discipline and abusive parenting: structure, accountability, and hard work are not the same as intimidation, humiliation, or control.

We also zoom out to coaching culture. When toxic parenting is normalized, abusive coaching can feel normal too, and that’s where injuries, burnout, anxiety, and broken trust pile up. The goal isn’t to shame ambition. It’s to build a healthier model for youth sports, mental toughness, and high performance that doesn’t require kids to “survive” their way to success.

If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share this with a sports parent or coach, and leave a review with your take: where do you draw the line between tough training and abuse?
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
SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST UNCENSORED HACKS and TIPS
https://raisingproathletes.com/sign-up/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/raisingproathletes/ 
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingproathletes 
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@raisingproathletes 
Website - https://raisingproathletes.com/

Suprising reaction to Michael Jordan's biography that left me physically shaken, not by his talent but by the family dynamics behind the legend. 
Wrestling with what it means to study athlete molding and parental support when the public story collides with alleged private harm and hypocrisy.

• being disturbed by the biography and not being able to finish it
• separating respect for talent from disgust at the home environment
• anger at both parents and why the mother feels worse
• recounting the sister’s disclosure of abuse and being told to stay silent
• the “Family First” branding and why it feels repulsive
• how seeking a father’s approval can shape drive and behavior
• trying to process what this means for how we talk about sports parenting
Michael Jordan's biography hit us like a punch to the chest and it had nothing to do with jump shots, rings, or “killer instinct.” Talking about the part that doesn’t make the highlight reels: the family system around the athlete, the harm that can hide behind charisma, and the sickening feeling that greatness sometimes grows in soil that should never exist in the first place.

Don’t take anything away from Jordan’s talent, resilience, or work ethic. But we can’t ignore what the story suggests about toxic sports parenting, childhood trauma, and the lifelong hunger for parental approval. We talk through the allegations that shook us most, including a disclosure of abuse and a response that demands silence, then we sit with the hypocrisy of preaching “Family First” while failing the people who needed protection. It raises uncomfortable questions about safeguarding children, accountability, and why the public so often rewards the best-looking version of a family story.

From an athlete development and sports psychology lens, we also unpack how conditional love can wire a kid for relentless competition and how that drive can show up later as harshness, distrust, or the need to dominate. If you’re a parent, coach, or athlete, this conversation is a reminder that support isn’t branding, it’s behavior, and performance can’t be the price of safety.

If this made you think, subscribe for more, share the episode with someone in youth sports, and leave a review so more people can find it. What do you think real “family first” should look like?

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
SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST UNCENSORED HACKS and TIPS
https://raisingproathletes.com/sign-up/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/raisingproathletes/ 
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingproathletes 
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@raisingproathletes 
Website - https://raisingproathletes.com/