To create the best possible
environment for youth sports requires cooperation and coordination
between parents, coaches, and game officials that can only be achieved
through education.
Parent's training
Fundamental to improving the
youth sport atmosphere is educating parents. Training can help bring
parents more in tune with their reasons for having their child involved
in youth sports. Properly trained, parents will commit to following a
standard of behavior that will be healthy for their child as well as
the other youth participants in the game. Through parent training, a
positive healthy atmosphere can be created on the sidelines.
Goals
Parent education should have three goals:
- Highlight the values of youth sports
- Educate parents about the specific rules of youth sport
- Obtain the commitment of parents to display only positive behaviors at youth sport contests.
Extensive training is required because:
- Limited training only permits a focus on parents' negative behavior and the setting of minimum standards for parents' conduct.
- More extensive training permits the youth sports organization to actually improve the quality of parent involvement by:
- Teaching parents about the special rules of youth sports
- Allowing them to assess their own behavior on the sidelines, and
- Helping parents learn new skills to deal with the stress that they invariably experience when they attend youth sports contests.
- Mandatory training is
required. If a parent wants their child to be part of the sport
program, he or she must participate. If participation is required for
all parents, they will all have a stake in achieving a positive
outcome.
Elements
The following should be components of parent training:
- Localize The Problem.
It is critically important that parents understand, up front, that the
problem is local, not something that only happens in other parts of the
state or country. Use personal or newspaper accounts and videotape, if
available.
- Set Behavioral Expectations. The behavioral expectations for parents at youth sports contests should be clearly described.
- Teach Specific Coping Skills.
Teach parents specific skills to use to help contain and focus their
own intensity on the sidelines. Showing parents a videotape
presentation to help them improve their behavior on the sidelines can
be particularly effective. There are several companies that have
developed videotapes, such as Human Kinetics and PAYS [links].
- Explain The Rules.
A significant number of the incidents that occur in youth sports are
the result of a failure by parents to understand the special rules that
apply at a particular level of youth sport.
- Obtain A Pledge Of Good Behavior.
Parents should be required to sign a pledge to behave appropriately at
each youth sport event. The specific expectations should be clearly
spelled out. When the parent signs, it means the league has the right
to hold the parent accountable for violations. The parent can choose
not to sign, but, as a consequence, his or her child will not be
allowed to play in the league.
Coaches' training
The training of coaches should
include many components, but the focus here is on those that will
enhance the relationship between coaches, parents and officials.
In developing this aspect of a training program for coaches, it needs to be recognized that:
- Coaches are ultimately responsible for parents' behavior.
The coach is the one with the most influence over the behavior and
attitude of the parents on the sidelines. While some coaches would
argue that they have enough to worry about in a game and should not
have to worry about what spectators are doing, parents can
unfortunately create an environment where kids can't do their best on
the field. The coach needs to accept the fact that if officials have
any trouble with fans, the coach will be the first person approached to
control parental behavior. If the coach cannot change the behavior of
the parent, it is likely that the team will be penalized. While this
may seem unfair to players, it is necessary to give parents and coaches
the necessary incentive to work together to create a positive
environment.
- The time for setting behavioral expectations is before the season starts. It is easier to prevent problems from happening then to clean them up.
- Coaches must always model good behavior towards players, parents and officials.
Unfortunately, too many coaches do not know how to behave properly
towards their players and officials. They need to be taught that
physical or emotional intimidation toward players of any age is simply
not acceptable. The coach needs to show how to properly communicate
with officials, recognizing that he or she not need to agree with every
call but always modeling appropriate ways to disagree with an official
that are not abusive. When the coach uses these positive styles of
communication with the officials, it helps parents to also keep their
comments positive.
Officials' training
Officials set the tone during
competition. Oftentimes, youth sports officials, due to youth,
inexperience, or lack of training, do not know how to control the game
environment. The training of officials should therefore include
teaching crowd control:
- An ounce of
prevention can prevent an unpleasant outcome on the playing field.
Officials need to meet with coaches before every contest to inform them
of the behavioral rules they will expect parents, players and coaches
to follow.
- The coach, in turn, will be much more likely to inform parents as to the importance of proper behavior.
- When
the official does not use this preventative strategy, the coach and
crowd are more likely to test to see how far they can go to intimidate
the official's calling of the game, emulating a practice in
professional sports where abuse of officials is all too common.
- Officials receive respect when they expect respect.
Designating Spectator Areas
Setting up designated spectator
areas can help parents keep things positive on the sidelines and reduce
the risk of confrontations
- Where there are no permanent bleachers:
Parents should stand or sit on the same sideline as their children's
team. Not only does this arrangement put parents in close proximity to
the coach, who is responsible for their behavior, it lets the coach
more effectively model positive sideline behavior for the parents. In
addition, if an official needs to issue a warning to the coach for poor
behavior (whether it be for misconduct by player, parent or coach),
there will be no mistaking to whom the warning is directed.
- Where there are permanent stands:
Different sections should be set aside for each team's supporters. When
there is a problem, the game official will know which coach is
responsible.
If every league or club follows
these guidelines, visiting teams from different clubs or leagues will
always know where their fans should stand or sit. Setting up the
physical arrangement in a positive, healthy way will help other teams
comply, even though parents may not have been through the same training
as in your league.
Protecting Young Officials
When the official-coach-parent
triad is working - when they are all well trained and working together
- youth sports is fun and enjoyable for everyone. Unfortunately, the
volunteer nature of youth sports often causes the triad to break down.
In many sports, the use of
young officials is encouraged. While this is important for the
long-term stability of a youth sports program, young officials, in
particular, need to be protected against intimidation, or many will
simply decide that the abuse isn't worth it and quit.
Here are four practical suggestions to protect youth officials from abuse:
- Make setting behavioral expectations about positive behavior part of the pre-game routine.
- Give young and/or inexperienced officials a pre-printed card outlining rules of conduct to have coaches sign before every game.
- Have officials issue warnings
to coaches at the first sign of verbally aggressive behavior. If the
abuse continues, empower officials to take more severe measures (up to
and including declaring a forfeit) to protect the integrity of the
game.
- Require parent training to reduce the number of disagreements caused by ignorance of the rules and to help parents respect youth sports officials.
The Value Of Positive Peer Pressure
Parents invest their time and
money in youth sports because they want their child to have a good
experience and have his or her life enriched. Parents want to solve the
problems that arise in youth sports, not be part of the problem. When
parents are given the opportunity to do the right thing, they usually
do.
Intensive parent training
helps to create positive peer pressure. Having agreed to promote the
positive values youth sports can instill, parents:
- Help each other enforce the rules of positive parent participation
- Keep problems from escalating, and
- Feel empowered to take whatever steps are necessary to create a positive environment.
Updated December 9, 2012
Teaser title:
A Model For Better Youth Sports Through Education
Teaser text:
To create the best possible environment for youth sports requires cooperation and coordination between parents, coaches, and game officials that can only be achieved through education.