On February 20, 2026, Alysa Liu won Olympic gold in figure skating, completing a remarkable comeback after stepping away from the sport in 2022 at the height of early fame. She made history by becoming the first American woman to earn a gold medal in figure skating in 24 years! Her final score was 226.79. Her path to gold included many setbacks that she has impressively overcome. She was once labeled a prodigy, but Liu chose to retire as a teenager, citing pressure and the need to rediscover joy outside elite competition. She took a nearly two-year break from skating after placing sixth in the 2022 Olympics. After training at an elite level again for the past year, she made an amazing comeback.
Her return—and ultimate victory—has reignited conversations about the intense demands placed on young athletes in America, where year-round training, social media scrutiny, and high parental investment can blur the line between passion and pressure. Liu’s journey offers a timely reminder that youth sports should foster character, resilience, and a love of the game—not anxiety or burnout. For parents, it calls for support without control. For spectators, encouragement without unrealistic expectations. And for athletes, freedom to compete from joy rather than fear. Her gold medal shines not only for athletic excellence, but for a healthier model of perseverance and perspective.
In a culture that often equates performance with worth, how can we teach young athletes that their identity is not found in medals, rankings, or scholarships— but in who they are beyond the scoreboard?
The pressure for young people to perform in our culture is immense, weighing heavily on our children, but it also pushes parents to make unfair demands and make sacrifices. Parents are fretting from a young age about kids' social, emotional, academic, and physical performance. Often our schedules are packed full with schooling, tutoring, multiple sports, hobbies, and more. A parent's hope to offer our kids every opportunity in this world is often misinterpreted by our kids as pressure. We all need to find a balance between pursuing our passions and finding contentment in our lives.
Alysa made the brave choice to step back when the pressure felt greater than she could handle, and that should be something many of us can learn from. Accepting our need for grace and rest can ultimately even be a key part in our success. She is not alone in expressing her need for respite; other top athletes have shared similar experiences, including gymnast Simone Biles, skier Ilia Malinin, and skier Mikaela Shiffrin. These prominent athletes are shining a light on an unsustainable performance-based culture that our world has created for our young people.
Scriptures to Guide Parents and Young Adults In Our Performance-Based Culture
Scripture can help us on this difficult journey. As a mom of six, I often waver between feeling the need to push my kids to do their best, to fill our schedules with activities, and ultimately to see them do great things, and also the need for them to enjoy life, live without anxiety, and utilize our resources in a more balanced manner. It’s not easy for kids or parents to navigate that we must strive to live the good life. I often have to go back to Scripture and bring our calendar to the Lord, prayerfully, to ensure I am building a home that is rooted in love and faith rather than wrapped up in the allure of success. Galatians 6:3-4 teaches,
“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.”
As we strive towards our goals, we have to ask ourselves whose glory is this work? We can become the best, and ultimately it can leave us more empty than when we began our pursuit if the Lord is not with us and we are not working for his glory. Let’s not let our kids waste their lives on empty pursuits; show them God’s way, and all their work gains eternal meaning and purpose. 1 Corinthians 10:31 drives home the point,
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Ultimately, our why for what we do matters more than what we are doing, which takes the pressure off because God is not looking for us to achieve in a particular way; he wants our hearts. Our identity is not as athletes or amazing parents; it’s not based on our intelligence. We have value because we are children of God. He gets the glory and also gives us the strength when we make it to the pinnacle of success or fail miserably. Psalm 57:2 states,
“I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”
We have to ask God to fulfill his purpose for our lives. Faithfulness, not fame, is our aim. 1 Peter 5:7 reminds,
“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
When pressure mounts in our lives, it’s a chance to bring these cares to the Lord. If we are feeling overwhelmed by a need to perform, God wants to remind us that we can let go of our fear of failure and remember that he cares for us, whether we fail or succeed.
Parents Have a Powerful Role in Guiding the Next Generation
As parents, we find ways to use wisdom and discernment when pushing our kids. Proverbs 3:13 encourages,
“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.”
When we find wisdom, we are blessed more than even those who have riches. A parent’s voice in the life of a child is incredibly powerful, and while it’s great to see more famous athletes choosing to speak up about their need for balance in their lives, what many young adults need is parents who will encourage them not to find their identity in doing, but find contentment in being. Rather than always opting for more training, more sports, and a more elite level of performance, we can encourage our kids to find joy in their talents and offer them as gifts to the Lord. Pray together and ask God if more is best for your child or if you are ultimately investing in anxiety and busyness over what is best for your family.
We must encourage the generation we are raising to be those whose ultimate aim is to serve the Lord. This flies fully in the face of our success-driven culture. It’s hard to place boundaries around your time, money, pursuits, and more. Yet in the end, we see that the current pressure cooker in which kids are being raised is not good for them. We can take a note from Alysa if we see our kids struggling and offer them a break from doing and allow them to grow, be, and find joy in who they are as precious children of God.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Matthew Stockman / Staff
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