How Involved Should Parents Be In Their Children's Sports Activities?
Why should parents be involved in sports? No one can deny that parents play a key role in the youth sports experience. The basic responsibilities are transportation, financial support, introducing them to the game, etc. But then there are the next-level responsibilities, that really define great sports parenting - offering guidance, support, encouragement, training, and more. Next-level sports parenting is all about using the game for a deeper purpose. Obviously, there is no go-to playbook for how to be a supportive parent in sports - every child, family, and youth sports team is different. But there are several general avenues of involvement parents should pursue to enhance their children’s athletic experience. In this blog, I will discuss the importance of positive parent behavior in sports, explain how to avoid negative involvement as it relates to sports parenting, and provide a few sports parent resources.
How Important Is the Involvement of Parents in Sports Participation?
There are so many critical reasons for parents to be involved in their child’s sporting activities, I won’t be able to get to them all in this blog. Instead, I will give you a general overview of ways parents can positively influence their child’s athletic career and explain how parents influence involvement in youth sports.
Offering Support to Your Child and Their Team: The opportunities for parents to support their child and the sports team as a whole are vast and varied. Oftentimes, a youth sports group can’t function without receiving a generous amount of assistance from parents. This includes packing lunches, carpooling, mending torn jerseys, and even raising money for the youth sports program itself. The efforts of parents like you make it possible for these sports programs to operate and allow the whole team to thrive under a supportive atmosphere.
Providing Encouragement On and Off the Field: As a sports parent you spend an enormous amount of effort encouraging your child, building their confidence, and teaching them how to persevere even in the face of adversity or failure. The beneficial impacts of this encouragement cannot be understated. Demonstrating compassion and understanding after losses and sharing joy as you see your child make improvements helps inspire them to keep improving and persevere even when the going gets tough. Instilling these values into your children helps them demonstrate better sportsmanship and gives them better coping skills for when they inevitably experience failure.
Nurturing A Passion For Sports: Being involved in your child’s youth sports activities and sharing your love of the game will ultimately help nurture your child’s enjoyment of participating in a sports activity. Cheering your child on from the sidelines, helping them practice at home, and sharing fun sports experiences outside of youth sporting events all help fuel your child’s passion and create wonderful bonding experiences!
Be Careful To Avoid Negative Parental Involvement in Sports
There is a lot of buzz surrounding over involved parents in sports, but what exactly does over-involvement look like? The importance of accountable sports parents shouldn’t go unnoticed, and there are times when even well-intentioned parents can lose sight of what really matters. Although parental involvement in youth sports is ultimately a good thing, it is possible to go too far as a sports parent if you’re not careful. Here are a few behaviors you should be intentional about avoiding:
Regularly criticizing the coach
Becoming hyper-focused on winning
Relentlessly pushing a child to practice more against their will
Punishing a child for losing a game or for a poor performance
Criticizing other children’s performances
Criticizing other sports parents
Arguing with parents from the opposing side
Arguing with referees
Refusing to accept the outcome of a match
Parental involvement in youth sports is extremely beneficial and important, but failing to recognize when to pull back and regulate your emotions causes more harm than good. At Champions 101, I have developed a simple blueprint for maintaining a healthy level of involvement as a sports parent. The blueprint looks like this:
Keep it fun
Maintain your perspective
Act and make decisions with intention and purpose
If parents stick to this, they’ll be able to create a meaningful sports experience they can be proud of.
Resources To Help Your Child Reach their Full Athletic Potential
Being involved in your child’s sporting activities is a beautiful experience, and comes along with many benefits. But there is also a lot to consider and manage. That’s why I’ve decided to lend a helping hand. I have a ton of free downloadable resources, podcasts, and videos for parents, coaches, and athletes alike. You can view them all on my Champions 101 website. In addition to these individual resources, I’ve created an extensive online library of courses designed to give parents the tools they need to help their child athlete reach their full potential. Learn more about how my courses can help you skill up your sports parenting style here.