How to Being a Great Sports Parent

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Being a good sports parent is like being a good school parent. To make sure your kids get the most out of their participation, you need to participate too. Being involved, in a positive way, means you provide encouragement, support, and practical help.
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If possible, volunteer and back up the coach's decisions and lessons, and help create an environment where your kid can succeed. Then you step back and let them do the hard work. In short, you're a team player no matter the sport.

1) Model Positive Behaviors.
Be a positive role model for your child. Sport should be an extension of your familial values and behaviors, not a suspension thereof. Be an encouraging parent. Don’t talk badly about competitors or loudly second-guess the coach. It’s okay to appreciate the athletic skill of a competitor and you are not a traitor for acknowledging another athlete has talent.
There are enough uninformed critics in the stands hurling insults at kids playing a game, so instead set the example for others. You are looked at just as much by other parents as your athlete is, so be the fan your child needs you to be.

​2) Keep Things In Perspective.
Your child is not a professional athlete.  The whole process should be about learning and fun.  Set realistic goals with your child, do not allow the sport to take over your life and make sure your child has a healthy balance with other activities and family.

3) Encourage risk taking and find joy in the effort.
Sport is one of the few avenues for this generation to take risks and not worry about the consequences.   If they wish to be successful they will have to suffer plenty of failure along the way.  Do not be tempted to intervene or stifle this process.

4) Do Not Fuel Your Child's Ego.
Use of the word talented or telling your child how good they are can have long term implications.  The child will think that they are born with a natural gift and as a result do not have to work hard to foster their talents.

5) Good sports parents get active.
If you want your child to participate in youth sports, the best thing you can do is get active! While some parents might feel that they have to sacrifice their own physical activity in order to raise active children, the opposite is actually true.

6) Encourage activity for kids, not a specific sport.
Registering your young children for a sport you enjoyed as a kid could backfire if they’re not yet ready. As parents, it’s important for us not to push kids into sports until they show interest.

7) Enjoy The Experience.
Sport should be a wonderful thing for parents and children to enjoy together.  With the right environment and with the right attitude all parties should be able to have a fantastic experience.

8) Encourage academics.
Eventually, all athletes have to one day turn in their jersey and find a new passion. Very few elite athletes play beyond college and an infinitesimal number make decent money playing professionally. An education is not a backup plan if athletics doesn’t work out: it is the foundation from which your athlete will build a life upon, athletics or not.

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