Parents should allow their children to play
sports for enjoyment, exercise, and for the love of the game. I have coached many teams growing up in many different sports; baseball, soccer and, basketball. Youth sports are more popular than ever. I have found that it starts when the child is younger the parent usually pushed them as an attempt to make their son or daughter the best out there. In reality it usually just end up making the child not wanting to play the sport and getting sick of it. . It seems that some parents carry their
support too far, by emphasizing winning rather than developing skills and
having fun at a young age.
My parents went to every game that they every played in and would give me advice but they would never take it that far where they would scream and try and disrupt another child on the other team. For example I used to coach 7-8 grade basketball and my team was winning with 10 seconds left by 3 points and someone on the other team tried calling a timeout when they didn't have full possession of the ball so the referee didn't grant them the time out. The child's dad ran onto the court and started screaming at the referee because his sons team had to foul and ended up losing the game. As a parent I will always be there for my son or daughter and push them to make them the best they can be but i would never take it to that extent and put my child in harms way due to injury. Another team I played on for soccer we were in the semi-finals and our goalie dove and landed on his hand awkwardly and broke his wrist, we ended up winning the game and his father tried to make him play in the championship which was a day after. Meanwhile the poor kid couldn't even put the goalie glove over his cast.
Parents
need to keep in mind that there are good ways to encourage your child and
reduce the anxiety they may have about playing a sport. Having your child play a sport at a young age is a great way for them to make friends and develop a good sense for social skills. It is good for children to work on their
communication skills at a young age and sports are a great way to do it.
