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Emotional Injuries

Is Your Child's Coach Committing an Athletic Felony?

Much has been written lately about the emotional damage coaches can do to youth athletes.

Coaches who selfishly overuse and physically push athletes too far for the benefit of the team's win-loss record or their own ego are committing an athletic felony.

Tammy Beasley (Diet Specialist): Biggest Lesson Learned As Sports Mom Is Difference Between Failure and Unfortunate

Being the mother of an athlete is a challenging yet rewarding role. So momsTEAM has designated May as Sports Moms Month and is celebrating by asking some of our favorite sports moms to share their wisdom by responding to a series of questions.

So far this month we have heard from a fascinating range of sports moms, from a mom of an Olympic athlete to moms who were themselves Olympic athletes, from a mom of two former minor league baseball players to a Minnesota hockey mom and author.

Today, we hear from sports mom and diet guru, Tammy Beasley:

A sports nutritionist, eating disorder specialist, and sports mom says the biggest lesson her boys taught her was to learn the difference between failure and unfortunate.

Elaine Raakman (Justplay Founder): Abusive Youth Sports Coaches Should Not Be Cultural Norm

Being the mother of an athlete is a challenging yet rewarding role. So momsTEAM has designated May as Sports Moms Month and is celebrating by asking some of our favorite sports moms to share their wisdom by responding to a series of questions.

So far this month we have heard from a fascinating range of sports moms, from a mom of an Olympic athlete to moms who were themselves Olympic athletes, from a mom of two former minor league baseball players to a Minnesota hockey mom and author.

Today, we hear from Canadian youth sports reform advocate and sports mom, Elaine Raakman:

The Canadian founder and developer of Justplay, a program which monitors the behavior of coaches, spectators and players and generates reports which youth sport administrators can use to make data-driven staffing and policy decisions, says if she could change one thing about the culture of youth sport, it would be the acceptance of abuse by adults in general and coaches in particular as the cultural norm.

Critical Coach or Bully?

Constant criticism from a youth sports coach, especially when involves personal attacks, can cross the line into bullying, and often backfires, creating a crisis of confidence in an athlete, damaging their self-esteem and hurting, rather than helping, performance.  Here's advice from a sports psychology professional on what parents and athletes can do about a critical coach.

Emotional Abuse: Youth Hockey's Dirty Little Secret

The story of the Foglietta family tells a cautionary tale highlighting the problem of emotional abuse.  At center ice are 9-year-old identical twins who became the unintended but innocent victims of a real life power play in the adult-centered world of youth hockey.

Sports Are Great For Kids, But Too Much Comes With Risks

The benefits of sports participation are numerous, says Lyle Micheli, M.D., Director, Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, including improved physical fitness and opportunities for socialization.  Parents should help their child find a sport they enjoy, but too much sports can result in psychological burnout, physical injuries, and turn the child off to physical exercise.

Cyberbullying: A New Threat to Our Kids

Recently, I learned that one of the players on my hockey team was Tweeting negative statements about another player. He claims he though that only the other player could see it. We discussed the situation with him, told him it was unacceptable, and asked him to remove the Tweets and apologize to the team. He started out by saying to his teammates,  "I was told I need to apologize for Tweeting," and then promptly quit. Wow, talk about lack of sincerity or honesty.  The incident offered several "teachable moments", which we will take advantage of as we work through this issue. 

Cyberbullying is rampant in the teen-age culture today.

Study Finds Strong Link Between Bullying and Mental Health Problems, Family Violence, Drug and Alcohol Use

Middle and high school students who are both bullies and victims of bullying are three times more likely than students who are neither to seriously consider suicide, intentionally injure themselves, report being physically abused by a family member and witnessing violence in their family, and to use drugs and alcohol, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Sexual Abuse in Sport: The Problem No One Wants To Talk About

On July 12, UNICEF's Innocenti Research Center in Florence, Italy released an important report on violence against children in sport in industrialized countries, including the United States.

The report found a troubling lack of awareness of and education on child protection issues among youth sports coaches, parents, and other stakeholders. To combat the problem it recommends improvements in data collection and knowledge generation about violence to children in sport, development of structures and systems for eliminating and preventing such violence (including promotion of ethical guidelines and codes of conduct), and education, awareness-raising and training.

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