I played in the World Cup and more than 200 Premier League games, but my son could give me my proudest moment at the Olympics
Danny Mills has quite the football CV, but his son is building an impressive career in a different sport.
Mills Sr represented England 19 times and played in all five of England's matches at the 2002 World Cup, and also boasts 321 club appearances.
But all those achievements could pale in significance this summer, the former Leeds and Manchester City defender said.
Mills' son George is a successful middle-distance runner who will represent Team GB at the Olympics, competing in the 1,500m and 5,000m events.
Although, George nearly followed the same path as his father at a young age. Mills told talkSPORT his son was 'half decent' and could have made it, but his heart was with running.
“Running is great for football, but football isn’t great for running," he he explained in a special interview for talkSPORT alongside his son, said.
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"If you want to take running seriously you’re going to have to give up football. For a 14/15-year-old to go from a team sport to an individual sport is a big leap.”
Despite giving up the football, it didn't mean George was going to get an easy ride from his father. Mills still made sure even on family holidays that George made it out for a run.
"I would try and sleep in," George revealed. "But he would wait for me so I had to join him on his run. Even if I didn't get up until 10 or 11am."
Despite the holiday exercise, George says his father's encouragement and persistence gave him 'the fundamentals of how to be a professional sportsman.'
Having watched his son George and his other son, 20-year-old Stanley, who is making his way at Everton, play football numerous times, Mills revealed it's easier to watch than athletics.
"Watching athletics is the worst on the planet," he continued.
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"With football, if you make a mistake you’ll get another chance. If you miss an open goal, you’ll get another opportunity.
"Watching athletics is a little bit like watching a sudden death penalty shoot-out for about half an hour. It just goes on and on and on.
"One mistake in a race and you’re done. You’ve got to get the tactics and positioning right.
"I’ve always been able to help him out psychologically. Being able to say let’s not get too carried away. Emotion is not great for sport, you need to be calm. We’ve gone through a lot this year in terms of qualification for both events at the Olympics."
And the whole Mills family will be out in Paris to watch George compete in the Games, which is also live on talkSPORT from 26 July.
“We bought tickets back in January. We won’t see him during the Olympics, I know a lot of families will go see their athletes but we just leave him, he’s in the zone," Mills said.
"We’ll share a few texts and have a chat from time to time. But they all know what they’re doing, you got yourself into this position now and just go and run. Give it everything you’ve got. Get through the heat, and if you do that we don’t have to sell our tickets for the semi-final.
Despite being a tough right-back for most of his career, Mills stated: "It’ll be one of the proudest moments in sport for me no matter what because of the individuality of it. I got to a certain level but it was a team game and we had some great times.
"To do it as an individual and I’ve said all along being a footballer is one of the best jobs in the world, but to achieve that standard as an athlete I think way surpasses what footballers do and go through.
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"I will 100 per cent be the proudest person in that stadium if he makes the final.”
The full interview with Danny and George will be broadcast from 7pm om Kick-Off on talkSPORT on Tuesday evening. You can tune in to talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 via our free online streaming service at talkSPORT.com, DAB digital radio, download the talkSPORT app, or ask your smart speaker to play talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2.