As I write from an office at the beautiful University of Notre Dame, situated in America’s Heartland, in a state known as much for its warm people as it is its basketball, I read of an incident where a parent violently attacked a coach of a Catholic School just up the road in Michigan City, IN (read more here).
Sometimes we convince ourselves that this sort of thing “would never happen in MY area.” We comfort ourselves with certain qualifiers that we sometimes think exempt us from the dangers. “That sort of behavior wouldn’t happen in a RELIGIOUS league.” The reality is that no town, no league, no team, is impervious to the horror stories of toxic parenting, coaching, and player behavior that we hear about in the media every day. The news is frightening, harmful, and we will see the detriments of it as our youth grow up if we don’t change something NOW.
“We never thought this would happen!” “How do we stop it?” “If there was only something we could do!”
Well, there is.
Leagues around the country are turning a corner in creating a healthy, enjoyable environment for children to play sports. Partnering with Play Like a Champion Today ™, they are getting together as a community to talk about these issues, and with the help of experts in the fields of athletics and child development, they are learning ways of bringing back fun, valuable skills, and life lessons back to our youth. The first step is recognizing the values that they are trying to impart by bringing our youth into sporting. With EVERYONE on board, they are learning and discussing the proper roles of parents and coaching in instilling those values. And finally, they are holding each other accountable, and growing as a community dedicated to raising the next generation to be good, healthy, moral people.
