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Parents
Code of Conduct
Sports
Done Right
Applause
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Key Safety Measures For
Responsible Sport Parents
The
major areas of safety that we, as Responsible Sports Parents, must
address:
Conditioning:
Check
with your family doctor to assess your children's fitness before they
begin any sport programs.
Hydration:
As
you may have seen in the news recently, hydration is a big issue in
sports. Teach your children the importance of hydration – send them to
practice with water bottles, remind them to have water throughout the
day, and greet them after practice with a nice cold bottle of water.
Nutrition:
We
all know nutrition is important. It becomes even more important for our
youth athletes who are burning lots of calories during practice and
games. Do your best to ensure your athlete is eating a balanced diet and
touch base with your coach on special nutritional needs before practices
and games.
Equipment:
Make sure the equipment your children use for practice and games is safe.
Make sure your children wear adequate protective gear and ask your
children's coaches if you can examine blocking sleds or soccer goals for
safety. Also, teach your children to use equipment only for its intended
purpose.
Injury Prevention and Treatment:
Partner with your children's coaches to
ensure greater safety. For example, keep a first aid kit in your car to
supplement the coach's first aid kit. Consider getting certified in
first-aid and CPR and encourage other parents to do the same. You can
never have enough qualified hands in case of an emergency. A first-aid kit
and at least one adult trained and certified in first-aid and CPR should
be present at all practices and games. To learn more, visit
the Positive
Parenting website by clicking
here.
Ten
Signs of a Good Youth Sports Program
By Brooke de Lench, President
of MomsTeam.com
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Has
implemented comprehensive risk-management and child protection
programs. A good youth sports
program recognizes that it owes every child who participates a duty of
care, has identified best practices, and implemented a child
protection program (including background checks of all adults working
with children) to reduce the number of out-of-control parents, abusive
coaches, team bullies, spectators and volunteers and to reduce the
number of catastrophic injury and deaths.
-
Is
child-centered. The emphasis on winning in today's
youth sports is because adults want to win. Studies repeatedly show
that the vast majority of boys and girls, when asked what they would
like to see changed about youth sports, say they would like to see
less emphasis on winning. A good youth sports program is listening to
what our children tell us they want; it emphasizes having fun, skill
development and fair play and keeps winning, losing and competition in
proper perspective.
-
Does not
exclude (i.e. cut) children before Eighth grade.
The goal in childhood should be to prepare children for adulthood by
giving them a chance to develop coping skills and the self-confidence
to succeed in the adult world in a safe and nurturing environment.
Many say cutting children from athletic programs foster an environment
that hurts, rather than fosters, self-esteem. A survey in one New York
City suburb found that eight out of ten parents overall and three out
of four parents involved in tryout-based programs believed that there
should be no tryouts and cutting before fifth grade.
-
Before
Eighth grade its teams are comprised of kids of same age, from same
neighborhoods, and of mixed abilities.
There is no proof that forcing "better" players to play with
those who appear at an early age to be less skilled somehow keeps them
from developing their "talent" or that they somehow deserve
to play with similarly "gifted" players. Every child
deserves a chance to play, receive the best coaching, and play on the
best fields.
-
Uses
independent evaluators, not parent coaches, to select its teams.
Parents in one New York City suburb who responded to a youth sports
survey were nearly unanimous that tryouts run by parent coaches are
unacceptable because of concerns about the fairness, politics and
behavior associated with such a selection process.
-
Has
implemented equal playing time (before sixth grade) and significant
playing time (sixth grade and above) rules, which are strictly
enforced. Following an equal playing
time/significant playing time rule creates a win-win situation for the
players (who play together more as a team, are less selfish, and feel
less pressure to excel in order to earn more playing time), parents
(who, knowing that their child will be getting the same or significant
playing time as every other player, are likely to put less pressure on
their child to perform), and the coach (the rule eliminates two of a
coach's major headaches: complaints from players and their parents
about playing time).
-
Is
accountable to parents and solicits their input.
A good youth sports program provides for input from parents, makes its
mission statement, bylaws, and names, phone numbers and e-mail
addresses of board members and other administrators publicly
available, provides for term limits for directors, holds open board
meetings, and engages in benchmarking.
-
Requires
that coaches receive training and be evaluated after every season.
Coaches receive training not only in the sport they are coaching but
in child development; evaluations are used to identify those who
should no longer be coaching because they are abusive, violate equal
playing time rules or overemphasize winning at the expense of fun and
skill development.
-
Makes
parent training mandatory.
Parents who have been trained are better able to handle the stress of
watching their child compete without losing their cool.
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Sets sensible
limits on the number of practices and games per week. The
program understands that nearly half of the injuries children suffer
each year playing sports are overuse injuries and sets age-appropriate
participation limits
Parent
Spotlight
Each week EYSA will
spotlight exceptional parents. Age Group Commissioners, Coaches,
other parents, Board members, or Referees, are asked to recommend a
"Model" Parent from each age group who has shown any of these
qualities during a game each weekend; sportsmanship, praise to all
players, kindness to opposing team/parents, goes above and beyond for the
organization. Parents name, child's team and age group need to be
submitted and we will feature that parent for a week on this web
page. All submissions must be emailed to me at vcscovel@gmail.com
with Parent Spotlight in the subject line by each Tuesday of the
week.
Children Learn What They Live
Children who live with:
criticism: learn to condemn.
hostility: learn to fight.
ridicule: learn to be shy.
shame: learn to feel guilty.
tolerance: learn to be patient.
encouragement: learn confidence.
praise: learn to appreciate.
fairness: learn justice.
approval: learn to like themselves.
acceptance and friendship,
Anonymous
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