Changing the Game in Youth Sports

changing-the-game-in-youth-sports

As a parent of kids who play youth sports I’m always interested in learning how to be a better parent of kids who play youth sports. Know what I mean?

I learned pretty early on as my son got into playing baseball what kind of dad I didn’t want to be. I didn’t want to be that dad who was yelling at his kids, the coaches & the umps. I had seen that played out on the fields with other dads, other kids, other teams. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I started coaching my son’s baseball team. I wanted to do it better. Encourage the kids. Teach them the fundamentals. And despite our record, my definition of winning was simple. If a kid wanted to play again next season after being on our team, then we won!

I wanted the kids to learn the game, have fun & get better. But most of all, I wanted them to have such a great experience that they would want to play again the next season. It’s one of the reasons I’m a big fan of Mike Matheny’s book, The Matheny Manefesto and why I’ve written about this before.

These days my son still plays baseball but his ability to play has exceeded my ability to coach. But I’m thankful to have coaches who do it the right way. My daughter is playing soccer for the first time & loving it. Why? In part because she has coaches who are doing it the right way. And both teams have a great group of parents who are encouraging all the kids.

Last week I came across this Ted Talk by John O’Sullivan, author of “Changing the Game: The Parent’s Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes, and Giving Youth Sports Back to our Kids.” I haven’t read the book yet, but I thought this Ted Talk was very helpful & encouraging. I hope it will help you too.