Sports Parents

Today's blog was written by J.C. Obringer.  J.C. is a rising sophomore at Ball State University majoring in Sports Administration and Digital Sports Production and is interning with Play Like a Champion Today this summer. 

I have grown up around sports my whole life.  My parents were standout basketball and collegiate volleyball players. I always enjoyed playing sports with them. Over time, however, as I played more and more, I realized that while they loved sports, my parents never pushed me to play. In fact, it was quite the opposite. They always told me if I didn't want to play, I didn't have to.  But if I wanted to get better, I needed to practice, which they couldn't do for me. They never forced me to practice or anything. I did it on my own. There are always some parents that want their kids to be the greatest athlete ever. They push their kids so hard that they lose sight of what really is the point of playing sports: kids having fun.

You come across many types of parents, ones that don’t care about their kids sports, the ones that push to hard, the ones that want their kids to be the best out there, or want their kids to be just as good as they were when they played. The one type of parent that I find most upsetting to see is the parent that coaches their kids from the stands. I have seen kids that have been pushed by their parents so much that they hated going to a game or practice. They lost interest in the sport that they were playing.

Now you might say what does a 19-year-old college student know about parenting? I don’t have any parenting experience, but I have experience as an athlete and as a coach.  I have seen many of my friends' parents push too hard. I have also coached  7^th  and 8^th grade boys basketball, where I have witnessed parents "helping" from the stands first hand.  The over-involvement of parents was often most evident at practice when kids would show up and clearly not want to be there or when in games, my players would look to the stands for advice, not to the bench.  As a coach, this undermined everything we had been working on as a team.  On occasion, I would see parents that were the total opposite--they only showed up to drop off or pick up their son or daughter from practice and games.  I was very fortunate to have parents that were supportive, but not overly so.

I won't claim to be a parenting expert, but from what I've learned while working here at Play Like a Champion Today, I will advocate that all parents strive to Parent Like a Champion.  Parents should work to make sure their children are playing because the children want to be there, not because parents want them there. Parents, encourage your children to play. The love of the game is what keeps children playing. There are many lessons to be learned from playing sports, but only if the children (and the parents) are open to learning.