The biggest thing I noticed growing up when I was doing BMX racing or playing rugby through to secondary school level, was seeing the parents who were so desperate to see their kids do well that they were almost living their lives through their kids and putting huge pressure on them to the point they weren't enjoying it.
Interpretation
Parents' pressure on children can hinder their enjoyment and success.
In this quote, Chris Hoy reflects on his observations from his youth in sports, noting that some parents exert excessive pressure on their children to succeed. This pressure can transform the experience from one of enjoyment and personal development into a stressful obligation, ultimately hindering the child's passion and love for the activity.
In practice
In a talk about youth sports, you might use this quote to illustrate the importance of fun over competition.
Someone like Jessica Ennis-Hill having her first baby then bouncing back to become world champion in the space of the year. I maybe wouldn't have appreciated just how big an achievement that was until I had my own child. It's an incredible thing.
Everyone engaged in research must have had the experience of working with feverish and prolonged intensity to write a paper which no one else will read or to solve a problem which no one else thinks important and which will bring no conceivable reward - which may only confirm a general opinion that the researcher is wasting his time on irrelevancies.
Typically, when you read, you have more time to think. Reading gives you a unique pause button for comprehension and insight. By and large, with oral language - when you watch a film or listen to a tape - you don't press pause.
I don't think we should see the world of books as fundamentally separate from the world of the Internet. Yes, the Internet contains a lot of videos of squirrels riding skateboards, but it can also be a place that facilitates big conversations about books.
Though we do need more women to graduate with technical degrees, I always like to remind women that you don't need to have science or technology degrees to build a career in tech.
'Good English' is whatever educated people talk; so that what is good in one place or time would not be so in another.
In a way, math isn't the art of answering mathematical questions, it is the art of asking the right questions, the questions that give you insight, the ones that lead you in interesting directions, the ones that connect with lots of other interesting questions -the ones with beautiful answers.
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