What Are the Benefits of Parental Involvement in Sports?
Does this sound nice? Watching your child become stronger, more confident, and more capable. The opportunity to give your child advice, guidance, and support. Meeting other parents and your child’s friends. These are some of the benefits you get as a parent by being involved in sports with your child.
But of course, you aren’t signing your child up for sports so you can get something out of it…or at least, you shouldn’t be.Hopefully you do all that's required of you as a sports parent - the huge investment of time, energy, and money - because you recognize the lifelong benefits the experience can provide. These benefits show up in your child’s character, attitude, teamwork, courage, and more.
But the benefits that come from this experience can only be maximized if you commit to doing your part. That’s where positive parent behavior in sports comes in. I’ve always said, you can’t expect your child to behave like a champion if you don’t behave like one first as an example. That’s why I’ve collected these sports parents resources in our latest blog about the benefits of getting involved with your child, especially in athletics.
Importance of Parental Involvement in Child Development
Before talking at length about my real passion, effective sports parenting, I want to take a step back and talk about child development in general. Whether a child chooses to participate in sports, drama, music, art, outdoors clubs, video games—or all of the above—the most important thing is that parents be engaged, interested, and involved in their child’s life. Here are some statistics which underscore this, and highlight the benefits of sports in particular:
One or more caring adults in a child’s life dramatically increases the likelihood they will flourish. (Child Trends)
High (but achievable) expectations are the dimension of parenting that most positively impacts adult achievement. (International Journal of Behavioral Medicine)
By the age of 13, children spend three-quarters of their day sitting down. (The British Journal of Sports Medicine)
Children and adolescents who have a close relationship with a non-parent adult such as a coach or teacher are less likely to have behavior problems like bullying, and also have reduced risk for mental illness like depression. (Child Trends)
Setting fair and energizing expectations for your child, making sure they lead a healthy lifestyle, and connecting them to other adults they can trust are just some of the important reasons to be involved with children all the way through high school and college—as much as they will let you, anyway!
What is Parental Involvement in Sport?
There are many ways parents can get involved with their child in sports, including:
Setting The Example: Great sports parents recognize the important influence their own behavior has on their kid's sports experience. That means intentionally calibrating your perspective and your attitude. Decide who it is you're going to be - even in those moments of challenge or difficulty - before you ever set foot in the bleachers or on the field.
Cheerleading: No, don’t go buy a cheerleader uniform—unless your child’s team is into that. But even without pom-poms and a megaphone, you can still build your child’s confidence. This is especially important after a tough loss or poor performance. Even when–and especially if–you are also frustrated and disappointed, set your own feelings aside for the moment versus handing them to your child when they are already feeling low.
Listening: If your child is receptive, try to get them to open up about their teammates, coaches, and competitors. There is great value in allowing your child to talk about their experience, so don't feel the need to interrupt, give your two cents, or offer an opinion. Sometimes it's healthy and productive simply to listen, and you might be surprised what you learn in the process.
Inspiring: Lastly, as we touched on in our statistics earlier, parental expectations are incredibly important for children to develop into successful adults. Keep these expectations inspiring and positive, not negative or anxiety-inducing. Your child must be happy and proud to live up to your expectations without being too afraid of falling short. Of course, that fear is also natural and something they will learn to manage along their sports journey with your support and care.
What is Sports Parenting Experience and Why is it Important? Learn Along with Champions 101
Because every circumstance is unique to your child's experience, there is no cookie cutter formula for exactly what your positive parental involvement will look like. But with purpose and intention, you can glean valuable insights today that can help you fill this role more effectively tomorrow. You can get a crash course in many of the insights you need through my sports parent curriculum at Champions 101. My course will help you:
Avoid the most common traps of sports parenting
Prepare your child for greater success in sports and in life
Have more fun being a sports parent who is a positive influence
I’ve also created courses for child athletes themselves, school systems, and coaches! Each are uniquely tailored with insights from my decades of experience as a coach, educator, and sports parent. Explore our full course catalog and see why you can trust Champions 101 as your partner for youth sports education.