Sports Parents Best and Worst
Attending a youth sporting event may provide a view of both positive and negative behaviors exhibited by parents. Influences such as level of play, availability of models to emulate and existing team policy often affect conduct at an event. Examples from my personal youth sport experience at differing levels of competition provide examples of factors that affect behaviors of parents. One example is a recall from my personal experience in club level softball and the other is from a spectator perspective at a local youth basketball league. Each scenario describes the best and worst components of parent behavior in a sport setting.
Traveling league softball for girls is an intense environment. The summary article on
Minnesota PLAYS points out that negative parent behaviors are typically more often associated with a professionalized sport setting. My former fast-pitch club featured top quality uniforms, facilities, and extensive travel to competitions. The father of our most competitive pitcher served as the head coach. Collegiate scouts start searching at middle school age level for talent and his daughter had potential to receive major collegiate scholarships. In order for her to be assessed, our coach demanded that the team win and compete in tournament finals. This created a coach-driven environment of win at all costs as opposed to the suggested PLAYS focus of placing emphasis on fun and enjoyment. When the result did not favor our team, our coach was famous for throwing equipment and degrading athletes and umpires alike. This combination of negative parent/coach behavior eventually tipped the scales in terms of justifying the extreme investment of time and money versus the enjoyment of playing at a competitive level for many club members. The lack of enjoyment created by this ego-centric environment caused the discontinuation of my elite softball participation.
An opposing view of sport parent behavior involves a visit to a local youth sport competition. A friend's child participated on a recreational level basketball team, and as a spectator, I could clearly determine the identity of the most talented athletes. Through questioning parents I found that the policy regarding equal distribution of playing time was known and accepted which is an example of a cultural norm emphasized by many positive youth sport organizations such as the
Positive Coaching Alliance. As the game reached the final stages, it was encouraging to NOT hear comments related to playing the better athletes. Parents were conditioned to accept the practice of regular player rotation. The game ended in a one point loss, but the effects of the actual outcome were negated by a last second three point basket. Players focused more on the occurrence of the skill execution instead of the actual score which is synonymous with a mastery-oriented climate. Everyone expressed that they had fun despite the loss, especially the parents who were pleased to see their children improve.
Youth sport settings bring out positive and negative behaviors in parents. Programs such as PLAYS develop curriculum that emphasizes practice comparable to examples found in the youth basketball example. It is often unfortunate that the best intentions of parents, like in the softball example, create a negative sport environment. It is the responsibility of parents to reiterate positive practice associated with encouragement and enjoyment allowing kids to thrive and continue participation.
