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Ten Tips to Being a Good Sports Parent
He stands at the plate with his heart pounding fast.
The bases are loaded; the die has been cast.
Mum
and Dad can not help him. He stands all alone.
A hit at this moment would send the team home.
The ball meets the plate. He swings and he misses.
There's a groan from the crowd. Some boos and some hisses.
A thoughtless voice cries, "Strike out the Bum."
Tears fill his eyes; the game's no longer fun.
So open your heart and give him a break.
For it's moments like this, a man you can make.
Keep this in mind when you hear someone forget.
He's just a little boy...and not a man...yet.
Perhaps you have heard some horror stories about the
overbearing parents and coaches. A good softball experience
for your child begins with us: the parents of each player.
It is up to each of us to make being a youth more enjoyable,
and to make softball season a greater learning experience
for the kids. After all, no matter how much we enjoy it too,
this is for the kids.
The ECB Committee would like to share 10 thoughts on how to
make this a better learning experience for you, too. We
believe that these ideas will help to make the next few
months more fun for your children, more enjoyable for you
and a heck of a lot easier on those people who volunteer
their time and skills.
We hope these ideas can help!!
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Work with your child.
There really is little more
satisfying than going out at least a few evenings a week
and playing ball with your kids. This gives them quality
time, and helps your child improve his/her skills (and,
trust me, the better your child can play, the more
she/he will enjoy the Softball experience). Some day,
your child will look back fondly on the spring evenings
spent playing catch with mom and/or dad.
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Get involved with East Coast Bays.
The program is run on a volunteer
basis, and we can use all the help we can get. Anything
you can do will help all the kids, from helping out at
registration or tryouts, to scorekeeping or field
preparation, to umpiring. If your child sees that
Softball is that important to you, he/she will learn
that it is important to the kids, too. Amongst the
Committee members are those that have helped out
contributing with field prep, scheduling, photo’s,
scorekeeping, umpiring, equipment and uniform
management, and fund raising. Everyone can find a place
to help.
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Show up for the games AND the practices. In today’s busy world it is sometimes hard to
juggle schedules, but this is your child! We’ve seen
many who never tried to excel at baseball, and
invariably these kids were dropped off at practices and
picked up afterwards, without the parent(s) ever
watching a single practice. It’s only a couple of times
a week, a couple of months out of the year! The most
irritating are the parents who don’t ever watch practice
(and, therefore, never understand the coaches
philosophy), but will question (yell!) a coaches
decision during the game. Most people wouldn’t dare to
not show up for work and still tell the boss what’s
wrong with the company, but they will turn around and do
just that with their child’s’ coach.
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Don't create pressure.
Just about every father dreams of his son becoming a
Premier star,
but they are only children
and deserve to enjoy the game as children. Don’t expect more than they can deliver. Give
positive encouragement, and be there when they need you.
Besides, often a child in early years will lack certain
skills, and blossom later on.
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Respect the rules.
This is one of the most important things the kids should
be learning. If you don’t agree with an umpires call,
keep it to yourself. If there is a team rule that
bothers you, well, it’s their team...not yours. If you
think there is a serious problem, take it up with the
coach or a Committee member on your own time, not your
child’s’. Rule of thumb: during practice or games, don’t
speak unless spoken to (except, of course, to cheer on
ALL the kids).
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Have Fun! This should be a positive
experience for everyone: kids, coaches, support staff,
and parents. Winning is nice, but losing is inevitable.
Being a star is fun, but being a bench player is just as
important.
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Losing is a normal result of competition—help your child learn to
accept it. No one likes to lose, but the nature of a team
sport is that one team always loses. A
good Softball batting average
at seniors is
.300
that means that 70% of the time they fail to hit and get
on base. Teach your child that he/she didn’t lose, the
team lost. And they lost to a team that just happened to
play better that day. There is always next time, and the
important thing is to learn from the defeats. One of
life’s most interesting truisms is that we learn more in
failure than in success. It’s okay to analyse why your
team lost, and how they can do better next time. It’s
never okay to place blame!
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Different coaches have different philosophies.
Some
believe in having players play all the positions. Some
want players to become good at one. Some coaches place
more emphasis on winning (and we can tell you, from
experience that players and parents tend to have more
fun when they are winning). It is
IMPORTANT
to remember that your child’s coach is not being paid;
he is working for the love of the game and the kids. Let
him be the coach! Don’t argue in front of the kids and
criticize in the background if you think your child is
being treated unfairly. As parents, it is natural to be
very protective, but most coaches aren’t discriminating.
If you think there is a problem, discuss it with the
coach
AWAY from the ball field; chances are that you will
see his point of view. The important thing is not to
make an issue in front of the players; along with
softball, they are learning to work as a team and to
respect authority and experience...work not to ruin this
teaching.
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As a coach don’t get focused on winning as
being the only way to have fun. If you can’t enjoy the
game without winning you are missing out on some of the
best things about coaching. One of the most rewarding
experiences possible is to take a player with little
Softball skill, no confidence in himself, and help him
develop over the course of the season to the point he
looks forward to his turns at bat because he knows he
can succeed. That player, who came to practice with his
head hanging, now stands tall with pride and a big smile
on his face. Take the opportunity to enjoy your child’s’
childhood, and to teach some important life lessons!
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The program only gets better if you volunteer. We can’t stress this enough:
VOLUNTEER...we need you. One of the biggest irritants we see is those who
will not give their time, but are quick to criticize. If
you can’t be part of the solution, don’t be part of the
problem. If you think that something needs to be
changed, get involved so that you can change it.
He
stands at the plate with his heart pounding fast.
The bases are loaded; the die has been cast.
Mum
and Dad can not help him. He stands all alone.
A hit at this moment would send the team home.
The ball meets the plate. He swings and he misses.
There's a groan from the crowd. Some boos and some hisses.
A thoughtless voice cries, "Strike out the Bum."
Tears fill his eyes; the game's no longer fun.
So open your heart and give him a break.
For it's moments like this, a man you can make.
Keep this in mind when you hear someone forget.
He's just a little boy...and not a man...yet.
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September 2010
