Keeping Sports in Perspective

“How you do and who you are, are two different things,” is another one of the lines I often say to my kids and students. When parents and coaches put so much stock in their kids sports performance kids may begin to feel like their identity is defined only by the sport. Judging a players effort is the key and not their results along with being able to “let bad games go” so kids don’t dwell on rough games too long.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Positive Sports Tip of the Day

Positive parenting posts:

1. Positive Parenting in Sports – New Year’s Resolutions Following are a few new year’s resolutions for parents for...
2. Positive Parenting (Coaching) Tip of the Day Image by Getty Images via Daylife What to Say...
3. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Burnout – Parenting Advice   Burnout – Another common word when talking about yout...
4. The Travel Ball Conundrum Image by Getty Images via Daylife Whether a child...
5. Ways to Minimize Parental Pressure – Positive Parenting The following tips can help parents to minimize the pressure...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Sportsmanship
Part of learning to be a good sport is learning to be accepting of other players’ inadequacies. It is very common for better players to get upset when their teammates make mistakes. Getting upset is natural but displaying this unhappiness should never be allowed by sport parents and coaches. Good positive coaches watch for player’s reactions and should be on the lookout for situations where other players “show up” a teammate after a bad play. Additionally, parents in the stands are sometimes guilty of doing the same thing and this should also not be allowed. Good positive coaches should address this situation in a diplomatic way with players and parents when this negative situation occurs.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Positive Sports Tip of the Day

Positive parenting posts:

1. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – N Negativity – First word that comes to mind when I...
2. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – T   Trust - The obvious word that comes to the...
3. Positive Parenting in Sports – When to Volunteer There are a number of considerations adults should take into...
4. Positive Parenting (Coaching) Tip of Day Image by Getty Images via Daylife How to help...
5. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Burnout – Parenting Advice   Burnout – Another common word when talking about yout...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Knowing When to Shift Gears
Good youth coaches are very observant and the second they observe boredom setting in with players they are prepared to shift gears with a new drill or practice routine. Generally, there are three signs that they are becoming bored: 1. When kids begin to look around 2. screw around  3. get lazy with their actions. When a coach sees any of these signs it is good to be prepared to switch to doing something else. Of course, learning ways to make doing the same actions “fun” is a way of staying with the same routine. Spicing the same drills up with a little competition can take the boredom out and keep players working on the necessary skills.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Positive Sports Tip of the Day

Positive parenting posts:

1. ABC”s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – Z ZEAL – Finally made it to the end of the...
2. Positive Sports Tip of the Day Image by gaspi *yg via Flickr Sportsmanship Part of...
3. ABC’s of Positive Parenting – M   Motivation – The first word that comes to mind...
4. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – R Resiliency – Another one of my favorite words with regards...
5. Positive Parenting (Coaching) Tip of the Day Image by VDP Sport fotograaf via Flickr Burnout There...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What to Say During Games
I see it happen all the time – a kid goes up to bat and his coach starts yelling to do this (“swing level,” i.e.) and the player’s parents are saying to do that (“keep your hands up,” i.e.) and then the hitter lets pitches go by that are right down the middle.  The coach and parents both sigh with disbelief thinking “why didn’t he swing at that.” Little do they realize that the batter didn’t swing because he was thinking about how he was going to keep his hands up and swing level. The point is that giving mechanical instructions during games takes concentration away from what is important, timing the ball in this instance. Coaches and parents should just give words of encouragement during games and leave the mechanical tips for practice. This gives players the chance to give their ultimate concentration to the things that are important to succeed. When success doesn’t come, it’s back to the drawing board (practice) for the mechanical adjustments.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Positive Parenting (Coaching) Tip of the Day

Positive parenting posts:

1. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Coaching Philosophy   Sports Coaching Philosophy Coaching Philosophy     It is important...
2. Developing Coachable Players Image by Getty Images via Daylife Often when working with...
3. ABC’s of Positive Parenting – M   Motivation – The first word that comes to mind...
4. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – T   Trust - The obvious word that comes to the...
5. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – U Understanding - ”I understand that just because a skill is easy...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Developing sel-esteem in youth is crucial to there development and sports is a great medium to be able to do this. Good coaches know how to do this by using the following actions:
1. Good coaches recognize the different personalities of each player and encourage each player to be themselves – trying to get players to be like someone else or to act differently is not usually good. Though, this is not to mean that coaches should not encourage all players to give as close to %100 as possible.
2. Good coaches look for ways those players can use their personal gifts to help the team beyond just the playing aspect. For example, players who have a good sense of humor should be encouraged to use that trait to keep the team (and coaches) loose.
3. Good coaches mention positive contributions to player’s parents when possible. Nothing encourages a kid more than feeling like they have made their parents proud.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Building Self- Esteem in Youth – Positive Coaching

Positive parenting posts:

1. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – X Xample – OK, I know I am cheating a little...
2. Are the Athletes Listening? Positive Coaching Image via Wikipedia      I work with baseball and...
3. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Q Quit - An obvious word when it comes to the...
4. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – S Success – The old saying “nothing succeeds like success” does...
5. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Coaching Philosophy   Sports Coaching Philosophy Coaching Philosophy     It is important...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It is very common for kids to dislike their coach for what ever reasons. Sometimes kids have a legitimate gripe but parents should not allow kids to trash talk their coach. Kids should be brought up to respect other adults as long as those coaches are not abusive in any way. It is important that parents inform kids that their coach is volunteering their time and have good intentions, even if the coach is not great at communicating or when the coach is short of knowledge of the sport. When kids get bad coaches, parents should use the situation as a good teaching moment and look for any possible alternatives for their kids, but still should not let their kids bad-mouth their coach. Of course, this does not mean that parents should not listen to their kids concerns and help their kids get through the season as smoothly as possible. 

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Don’t Allow Coach Trashing

Positive parenting posts:

1. Developing Coachable Players Image by Getty Images via Daylife Often when working with...
2. Positive Parenting (Coaching) Tip of Day Image by Getty Images via Daylife How to help...
3. Positive Parenting in Sports – When to Volunteer There are a number of considerations adults should take into...
4. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Coaching Philosophy   Sports Coaching Philosophy Coaching Philosophy     It is important...
5. Positive Coaching – Check Ego in at the Door Image by melissajonas via Flickr Over the years, one...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you are a coach or parent and are not reading blogs and articles at sites like this one http://baseballparentguide.blogspot.com/2009/12/too-much-emphasis-on-winning-not.html then you are not maximizing your potential as a sports parent and/or youth coach. I agree with this article completely and would like to add something to it. Simply put –  leagues, schools and organizations need to have better training for their coaches. There is the age-old complaint that coaches are just out to win and don’t work enough on player development. That is true, but the reason it is true is that most youth coaches do not have the training to observe players to see if players are perfroming the fundamentals correctly. Just because a parent played the sport in their day, does not give them the power of observation to know if players are doing something correctly. I played major league baseball before teaching baseball for 21 years. Just playing did not make me a good coach. It took many hours of study and observation. Because most youth coaches do not have this experience does not make them  bad coaches, they just are not rained enough. The one thing they can fall back on without this observation abilility is to put all their effort in trying to win. This is unfortunate, but without better trained coaches, the situation will not change. Once again, coaches will just fall back on the only thing they know – trying to win. Leagues should put more emphasis on their coaches training – one preseason coaches clinic is not sufficient. 

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Youth Coaches Training

Positive parenting posts:

1. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Coaching Philosophy   Sports Coaching Philosophy Coaching Philosophy     It is important...
2. Positive Coaching – Check Ego in at the Door Image by melissajonas via Flickr Over the years, one...
3. Positive Parenting in Sports – When to Volunteer There are a number of considerations adults should take into...
4. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – U Understanding - ”I understand that just because a skill is easy...
5. 5 Keys to Success in Sports Following are parenting tips to help bring out the best...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Sports Coaching Philosophy

Coaching Philosophy

    It is important for coaches at all levels to have a philosophy of coaching. Of course, this philosophy should be arrived at based on the age of athletes and the competitive level of the league the athletes are playing in. For example, travel leagues tend to be more competitive so this should be taken into account when coaches are drawing up their philosophy. Three main objectives of playing sports revolve around winning, player development and fun. Coaches need to decide how much emphasis they are going to spend on these, once again, based on the age and competitive nature of the league and playing level. It is important to note that having fun should be an objective for all, but many coaches do not know how to make things fun. This does not make them bad coaches, as long as they teach the game to all players in a respectful manner.
    Coaches should write this philosophy down before the season and share it with team members and tem parents. This will help keep everyone on the same page and help keep the coach accountable to this philospohy as the season progresses.
   With younger athletes, most of the emphasis should be placed on player development. Coaches can still play to win but they should not dwell on winning or losing with these players. This is best done by keeping the same demeanor after wins and losses, and by not mentioning the importance of winning to the team. Coaches of young athletes should spend a great deal of time with developing individual skills and teaching basic game strategy.
    As kids age level increases, coaches expect a certain level of expertise from players and can start to emphasize the importance of winning more. This “winning attitude” should not be an obsession, but treated as a reward for coaches and athletes. This reward of winning creates good feeling with all because it shows that players executed better than the opposition and that the coach better prepared their team for competition.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Coaching Philosophy

Positive parenting posts:

1. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – W Winning – The first word that comes to mind when...
2. Positive Parenting in Sports – When to Volunteer There are a number of considerations adults should take into...
3. Youth Coaches Training Image by Brian Sawyer via Flickr If you are...
4. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – U Understanding - ”I understand that just because a skill is easy...
5. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – X Xample – OK, I know I am cheating a little...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.