Sideline support and direct instruction are two very different things. In this article, Founder of Working with Parents in Sport, Gordon MacLelland discusses the damage that can be caused from parents overstepping and instructing children while they play. Every weekend all over the world millions of parents, children and coaches set off for their weekly sporting ritual ‘Match Day’. Many will follow the same process each week and will never question their routine or behaviour. Many of these parents and coaches are well intentioned, trying…
parenting
Ase Strandbu, Kari Stefansen, Ingrid Smette, and Morten Rensio Sandvik The Big Idea “Involved parenthood” in organized youth sports is what these Norwegian researchers are attempting to better understand. Child-centered parenting they note—using the United States as an example—is still evolving since its early cultural development in the 1960s. Organized youth sport in those days was in its infancy, preceding the appearance of involved parents. On a personal note, this reviewer—who is from the U.S.—recalls his early childhood sporting days in the 1960s, and happily…
Throughout sports history there have been examples of militant coaches and stories of those who go too far on the sideline. However, the line can be crossed and coaches must recognise the position of influence they have on young athletes lives. Founder of Changing the Game Project, John O’Sullivan shares an article on a terrible recent story of bullying in American Sports which has left lives ruined and raised a huge number of questions in the coaching industry. On May 29, 2018, University of…
C. Ryan Dunn, Travis Dorsch, Michael Q. King, and Kevin Rothlisberger The Big Idea The estimates in the United States vary. But anywhere between 24 and 44 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 participate in organized youth sports. The measurement discrepancy is due to the wide-ranging framing of the demographics, geographies, and organizational structures. Let’s just say there is a glut of kids at play in the U.S. today, organizationally speaking. On the one hand, there is good reason for this popular…
The question this week comes from Nick via Facebook: “As an NPL (National Premier League, Australia) coach and now a parent, my son has been identified as a good player with great ability and a great football brain, but he has been told he needs to improve his awareness. What can I do as a parent now to help him improve his awareness so he can progress to the next level?“ Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be…
The question this week comes from Dave: “I am coaching an U14 side who are in the second year of 11 v 11 football. I am struggling to cope with the parents as many of them seem to interfere or have unrealistic expectations. How can I get them on board and get them to understand what I am trying to work on?” Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be able to help with? We would love to hear…
Play is a fundamental human right for children. It is even recognised in article 31 of the UN Convention of Rights of the Child. So, why is it that adults feel the need to interfere with this? John Haime from New Edge Performance discusses the impact of parents and coaches living vicariously through young players and outlines a few steps to make positive change. In my work, I see a lot of games, a lot of athletes and a lot of interesting coach and parent behaviour….
How do you deal with parents in your environment? This can be one of the most challenging aspects of coaching at all levels. Parents are the stakeholders of your team, they have a vested interest in their child’s development and it’s your role as a coach to do your best by them. Joining us for a discussion on this at times difficult topic are Reed Maltbie & Skye Eddy Bruce. Reed is a TEDx Speaker, Founder of Raising Excellence & holds two Masters degrees, one…
One of the saddest things I had to do as a Director of Coaching for numerous soccer clubs was conduct exit interviews, meetings with players whom had decided to leave the club. Children quit sports for a litany of reasons, and my job was always to see what we could learn, so we could improve the experience for other children. When I got these players alone, and asked them “what was your least favorite moment in sports?” I often got a very similar and sad…