If you want to succeed in life, you have to put in the effort - a truism that certainly applies in motocross. In this particular form of extreme sport, no competitor gets an easy ride. It is often the fathers who work hardest to get their son or daughter off to a flying start, not only cheering them on from the side-lines but also acting in the role of coach.

ADAC MX Youngster Cup rider Maximilian Spies (13) from Ortrand in Brandenburg has been riding an MX bike for a good eleven years, having put in his first laps at the tender age of two and a half. Ever since, his dad has been drumming in the message that nothing comes from nothing. Max is consequently motivated to train hard and take a disciplined approach. Now attending a selective secondary school, Max goes to the gym four times a week and also does two sessions at the track together with his father Lars, who used to compete in BMX, supermoto and motocross. "We really spend a lot of time together, which creates an incredibly strong bond. Of course, there are also occasional fall-outs when dad moans too much or I'm reluctant to take a piece of advice from him. On the other hand, my father is able to size me up accurately and adjust the training sessions to what I'm capable of on the day. This can be enormously helpful. The negative aspect is that I can't hide anything from him either, because he knows me so well."

As a former amateur motocross rider himself, construction engineer Wolfgang Stephan may lack the in-depth expertise of Maximilian Spies's father, but he nonetheless hopes to impart enough technical knowledge to his son Richard (12) who competes in the ADAC MX Junior Cup, a series held under the auspices of the ADAC MX Masters: "I learn a lot myself when Richard attends courses with MX pros such as Marcus Schiffer, Christian Brockel and Heike Petrick. But I am firmly convinced that fathers have a vital role to play in motocross. For youngsters, this counts as a real performance sport, so you have to approach it with a certain level of seriousness. However, I always try to explain things in terms that a young person such as Richard will understand." At the same time, however, he admits that it is sometimes not so easy to ratchet down his own expectations while training with his son: "As a dad, you always think that your own offspring are capable of more, but this is certainly due to the fact that you as a grown-up see a situation quite differently to the way your son sees it on track."

For team principal Robert Sturm and his son Robert (32), the emotional complications are long since gone. Robert Sturm Jnr is already one of the oldest contestants in the ADAC MX Masters; his father now only takes him on one side if there is some urgent matter to discuss: "In 2007-08, I was still functioning as his coach, but now he can identify his own mistakes and knows what racing is all about. We have an extremely good understanding, which made things very easy in the days when I used to actively work with him on his technique." Sturm has a big grin on his face as he continues: "And when I'm tearing my hair out because I'm so passionate about what's going on out there and feel like I'm actually riding in the race myself, my wife immediately tells me to calm down. As regards my other son, Josef, he was more stubborn, so this father-coach setup didn't work quite as well. We decided he needed somebody else as his coach, who would be able to tell him more."

ADAC MX Masters rider Davide von Zitzewitz (25) from Karlshof in Schleswig-Holstein knows only too well how difficult it can be to take advice from a father who also happens to be team principal and coach. As the third generation of this family to compete in motor racing, he was given his first motorcycle at the age of four and a half but only took an active interest in competitive motocross at the age of twelve. He has inherited his talent from his father, Bert, and from his uncle, Dirk, who won 27 German championship titles between them: "My dad is the perfect choice for coach thanks to his many years' experience as a motocross professional. He has taught me all the basics and given me valuable tips on riding technique. He also works with me on the fitness side. The conditions have always been optimum, because we have an MX track right outside our front door, which we use extensively for training. In addition, Dirk sometimes has a different perspective, so I'm able to learn a lot from both of them. But when your coach is also your father, that can have its down side. I always want to win the respect of my dad, so if I don't fulfil expectations, that is doubly frustrating - on the one hand because I'm not satisfied with myself, and on the other hand because the atmosphere between my father and me is then not the best. In those circumstances, we don't talk much on the way home from a long race. All the same, though, I've never been told by my motorsport-obsessed relatives that I should be as good as they were, which certainly takes off a lot of the pressure."

In the case of ADAC MX Masters rider Michel Kaschny (27) from Borstel-Hohenraden in Schleswig-Holstein, the coaching roles have now reversed to the point where the son is teaching the father: "In 1994, my brother Andre (30) and I started going to motocross events with our father, Hans-Peter. This developed into a passion for the sport. My father was a motorcyclist himself and taught us youngsters the basic handling techniques. Of us three, I was the one who got most deeply involved with motocross and ultimately began to dictate the direction of our training. In the meantime, my father has resigned himself to the fact that it's his youngest who explains what's what in the MX world," Michel adds with a chuckle. "We mostly train on Wednesdays and at weekends on a nearby circuit, all depending on the race calendar. My father and brother copy what I do and ask a lot of questions. In this way, we analyse everything together and I'm able to make suggestions of how they can improve based on all the courses I've attended. But, for example, I would never encourage my father to try out a double jump, because I wouldn't want to put him in a situation where he might injure himself. We all go at our own pace, so there is no stress. Motocross has created a very close relationship between my father, my brother and myself, so this family training setup works to the benefit of all three of us."