Parenting young athletes can pose various challanges throughout the elementary years. How do you handle bellowing parents and angry coaches?
Many of us put our children in sports very early to increase socialization skills, increase motor skills and learn valuable lessons on sportsmanship. Participation in athletics can make all of that happen, but as children go from the early years of T-ball to elementary school-age participation, competition rears its ugly head and changes the landscape of every ball field.
Competition starts to rise with skills because parents just seem to expect more from both the coach and their children. The children, of course, will pick up on the rising feelings of competition and will either rise to the occasion, sink under the pressure, or become ball field bullies, reflecting the parent’s attitude. This switch in emphasis can do much, depending upon the athlete's personality, to either cement his participation in High School athletics or make them dig-in their heels and not participate one more season. The pressure of competition, of course, will not in and of itself, cause a child to react badly. what affects our children is our reaction to the competition. Do you turn into the ugly ballfield parent?
There were teammates my children had that I literally groaned when I saw them on the team – especially since I had to sit next to their parents on the bleachers. These types of parents and players are especially hard to go through a season with – yelling and protesting each and every call against their child, sometimes bellowing angry words at teammates, the coach and officials. Thank goodness, this type of parent seems to be relatively scarce!
Coaches can be the same way, angry and pushy, frightening the children more than teaching them during the course of the season.
What do you, as a levelheaded parent of an athlete does to handle these situations? Do you confront the coach or parent directly?
How do you explain this type of behavior to your shy 7-year-old who is being exposed to a type of behavior you wouldn’t want him to learn?
What’s more, do you really know what your child expects from his coach and teammates - and his parents?
Join us tomorrow for advice on these subjects and more from none other than Cal Ripkin, Jr.!
