Former Stanford University Gymnast Shelly Goldberg explains a frequent interpersonal dynamic between youth athletes and their parents: the sports parent wants to know everything right away after a practice or competition, but the child just wants to decompress. The best conversations she had, those in which she opened up most to her parents, were those where her parents let her control the conversation.

Once engaged in those types of conversations, Goldberg was most open to learning about determination, overcoming adversity and other life lessons and character traits that would help her succeed in the gym and beyond.