Positive Parental Involvement in Youth Sports

Youth sports give you the fantastic opportunity to be involved with your kids. Once your child decides to play sports, you've taken on the important role of "sports parent". Being involved is not just about coaching. As a spectator, you will undoubtedly experience the joy, frustration and intensity of watching your kids play sports. But win or lose, it is important to be a good influence.

Sports have serious benefits, not just physically, but socially and emotionally as well. It's all about striking a balance. If you understand the good role parents play in a program, you will find many ways to boost your child's self confidence and create a positive, long lasting sports experience.

HEY TEAM PARENTS!   Organize your team snacks, carpools, and fundraisers with ease.  Find out how.

10 Ways to be Positively Involved:

1. Choose a coach: Find an appropriate team and coach for your child. Every coach has a different style, so seek out one that you think will manage and motivate a team, encourage sportsmanship and boost your child's confidence.
2. Learn the game: Patient, consistent, sequential exposure to the game will help you and your child learn all the basics about the game: the rules, field positions and how the game is played.
3. Practice encouragement: Truly believe that every athlete is capable of learning the game and becoming a champion - even those whose skills have been underdeveloped. Be really familiar with your own child's strengths, skills and abilities.
4. Be realistic: Set manageable goals with your child, instead of always communicating high expectations. Let your child have fun, play freely and intuitively. Don't always focus on results, rankings and statistics. It's not about winning and losing, but how you play the game.
5. Rally the troops and volunteer: It's a good idea to support the coach and program as much as possible. Rally together the parents as a team. Volunteer to work the concession stands, make weekly team dinners and pack snacks for practices or all-day tournaments. You can coordinate a carpool or help recruit volunteers for team fundraisers.
6. Be social: Value the social experiences of the athletes and their families. Make sure your interactions with the coaches, parents and children are always positive and encouraging.
7. Practice sportsmanship. Never criticize the other athletes or teams. Encourage conversation about the diverse strengths and contributions of every team player.
8. Be Positive: Practice positive mental game strategies with your child: Help them learn how to stay composed during crunch time, not be afraid to make mistakes and to focus on having fun.
9. Build memories: Be a team photographer. Take lots of pictures of each and every kid. It helps create lasting memories and everyone enjoys a good slide show at the end of season party. 
10. Be supportive: Of course, the biggest thing is that you are there. Go to the games and support your kids

Posted by Helena LaGarde