To Drive their Game, Drive Their Growth: a playbook for raising elite athletes

For Guylaine Blanchette, basketball has always been a family affair. The former elite player, who competed in NCAA, U-Sports and international competition with Canada’s national team, is now celebrating the success of her children, Olivier-Maxence “O-Max” Prosper of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and Cassandre Prosper of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. The siblings made history as the first and only Canadian siblings of Haitian descent to be drafted into the NBA and WNBA.

Blanchette and her husband, Gaetan Prosper, played a major role in helping their children navigate the demanding path to elite basketball. Busy professional lives never kept Blanchette and Prosper from coaching their children during their youth years or sharing their knowledge with young athletes and parents in the community when asked.

It was Blanchette’s experience and the parents’ questions that planted the seeds that grew to be To Drive their Game, Drive Their Growth. “I went through it,” Guylaine Blanchette said. “I have the perspective of a parent, a kid that played basketball, a coach that coached kids playing basketball. I was able to put all these experiences and what I’ve learned to help others that are in the same situation and haven’t played the sport. I felt like I could give my experience and it’s not the perfect path. It’s just my experience, and maybe help some parents that are looking for advice or for clarity of what it is, what was our experience.”

Blanchette’s book is aimed at parents and coaches of young athletes on an elite path in their respective sport. To Drive their Game, Drive Their Growth was also a team effort that included the input and approval of Prosper, O-Max and Cassandre. “Writing this book was a team effort, Blanchette said. “It was asking for my husband’s approval opinion. Asking for my kids, are you okay with this? How will that impact you? Can I say that, or what do you want me to change? And they’re all supportive and say we’re all in this together, and we’re supporting you. If it (the book) can help, then great.”

Her husband added concerning the group effort, “Everyone’s story is different,” Gaetan Prosper said. “There are some parallels and there’s some commonalities, but this is our story. Traditionally we’re very private people, we’re not out there showing off or things like that. We’re very private and kind of stay low key. It took some self convincing to do this.”

Drawing on the family’s journey from youth basketball to the NBA, WNBA and NCAA, Blanchette shares the parenting principles, challenges and lessons that helped shape Olivier-Maxence and Cassandre. She encourages parents to be positive, active contributors to their children’s athletic journeys while allowing young athletes to take ownership of their own development.

Her approach focuses on creating a system of skills that combines mental and life skills, physical and basketball skills, and people skills. The goal extends beyond producing great basketball players. It is about helping young athletes grow into confident, resilient people and giving families the tools to help them pursue their dreams. “The most important takeaway is having a positive mindset,” she said. “It really is about staying positive, believing in yourself, and being yourself. Confidence, that’s something that people give and take away. It’s easy to say I’m going to keep my confidence, but when things happen to you, or when decisions are made, when challenges come your way, you need the skills to deal with those situations. I think giving them that skill to stay positive, to believe in themselves, and to say okay, as long as I’m doing the work, then everything else would come.”

The book is available across regional Amazon storefronts, such as Amazon.in and Amazon.sg, and can also be purchased on the Indigo Books & Music website. n