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:
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
Links:
[1] http://www.momsteam.com/alpha/features/teambuilders/build-team-relationships.shtml