What 3 Things Should a Parent Do to Help Support Their Child Athlete?
Although a list could be made of hundreds of specifics of how parents can help their children in athletics, I’m going to look at three broad categories.
keep it fun
maintain your perspective
make purposeful decisions as the parent
Let’s look at each of these categories in more detail and provide some sports parent resources to give you specific recommendations for each one.
Keep It Fun
This should be at the top of all resources for parents of athletes. It is most commonly thought of when dealing with younger children, but should remain near the top of the list for parents of older teen athletes as well. Focusing on providing emotional support for your child as they explore their athleticism can help keep it fun at all levels. A parent's help keeping your athlete focused on the enjoyment of the sport is important at every stage. It can happen as they choose which sport to pursue, how much time they want to devote to it, when they want to stop or try a different sport, and how it fits in with their greater emotional, social, and academic experiences during childhood.
Parent involvement in high school sports can make focusing on the fun aspects trickier, especially as the stakes get higher, the games get more competitive, and the opportunities involved in the experience - like college scholarships, for example - become more prevalent.
It is equally important for you to help your child stay connected to what they enjoy about the sport and pursue as many of the fun elements as possible, especially in high stress situations. Continuing to show your child that they are valued for things outside of their athletic performance can give them coping skills for the stress and possible disappointment they may experience both in athletics and more broadly.
Maintain Your Perspective
Parental influences on youth involvement in sports go beyond just driving them to practices and cheering them on, as you well know. Maintaining your perspective on what’s important about their participation in sports will help your young athlete get the most out of their experience too. In the big picture, the teamwork, character development, and life lessons involved in this experience are much more important than the score of any individual game or the result of any individual performance.
Keeping those benefits in mind for both our own sakes, as well as our children’s, goes a long way in answering the question of “How can I be a good parent to an athlete?”
Make Purposeful Decisions As a Parent
Another way to put this could be “Champions breed champions”, so if you want your child to be a champion, you need to prioritize thinking and acting like a champion yourself. This is an often overlooked or underemphasized element of positive parent behavior in sports. As a parent, you have so many things to juggle with raising children. In hectic day-to-day life, it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture with a child in sports. When trying to make a decision about how to be a supportive parent in sports, remember the bigger purpose sports plays in your childs and your families life. Modeling good decision making through questions that come up about their athletics is a great way to help them thrive.
Deciding if they can skip a practice to do a different activity helps your child think about priorities and responsibilities. Helping them get the right kind of nutrition to support their physical goals can be a great tool in creating a life-long good relationship with food. Being able to talk with them about how different teams handle winning and losing can prepare them for the ups and downs of adult life.
How Can I Help My Student Athlete
So far, we’ve talked about the more philosophical and theoretical elements of supporting your child in sports. Now let’s get into some very practical recommendations for achieving these goals as a parent. It may be impossible for any parent to check every item on this list, but it's a good way to evaluate yourself and ensure that you are meeting the needs of your young athlete in many different ways.
Emotional Support: watch them practice and compete, let them know you are proud of them regardless of if they win or lose, be supportive of their teammates and coach
Nutritional Support: help them understand how food will affect their athletic performance, provide good options for food and drink that fit well with their practice and competition times
Financial Support: provide gear and access to training if financially possible, help them explore options for secondhand gear and fundraising/scholarship opportunities that allow them to participate if needed
Encourage Independence: allow them to navigate relationships with coaches and teammates, navigate scheduling
Positive Attitude: assist in developing positive conflict resolution skills with referees, other parents, coaches or other teams
Take Their Lead: don’t pressure them to be more or less serious about their sport than they are, gauge the way you talk to them before and after competitions on their preferences
What Role Do Parents Play in Sports?
A big one! We’ve talked about the theoretical and practical ways to support your child in their sports, and how much impact this can have on them into adulthood. Now you just need the skills and practice to support your individual child in the best way for them. That’s where Champions 101 comes in!
Champions 101 is an on-line performance and leadership program for athletes, coaches, and sports parents. My online libraries include hours of instruction within several different categories and will give you the fundamentals you need to parent like a champion. To start your winning journey today, subscribe or contact me now!