Hopefully, you’ve had a great Little League season with positive coaches and parents who have a healthy perspective on youth sports.
Trying to win (and dealing with losing) in youth sports is definitely part of the learning process, but we all know how unnecessarily intense many coaches and parents can be…to the detriment of the kid’s enjoyment and development.
Last weekend, I witnessed a coach screaming “LET’S GO – GET YOUR HEADS IN THE GAME! THIS IS THE PLAYOFFS” at a team of 7 and 8 year old girls during warmups before a softball game.
Crazy.
We’ve all seen the worst in adults around youth sporting events and sadly, the intensity only increases once playoffs and All-Stars rolls round so here are some things we can do to help lower the temperature at the field and make sure the post-season is a fun and rewarding experience for our kids.
- Be Chill!
- Kids know it’s the playoffs and they want to win; there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They will likely be overly excited and anxious (which is a good thing because it means they care), but if parents and coaches are also overly excited and anxious that will only elevate their nerves, often to the point where it can affect their play in a negative way. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed they will be! And the more relaxed they are, the better they will play!
- Don’t Argue With The Umps
- This is a great rule at ALL games but especially during the playoffs. Arguing with umpires can turn the whole atmosphere at the game negative while also teaching the kids that it’s OK to blame officials for “bad calls.” A player who learns to complain or meltdown after every call that doesn’t go his way is a player who is taking himself out of the game mentally. Let’s teach the kids to be mentally tough and resilient by not reacting at all to calls we disagree with. Put on your best poker face. The kids will become better athletes as a result!
- Treat The Playoffs Like Any Other Game
- There’s no need to spend extra time talking about how important this game is or what a win or loss could mean for the team going forward. Approach the post-season like every other game this season. Have a spirited warm-up, keep the kids’ loose in the dugouts, and encourage them to try their best. Joe Maddon, while leading the Cubs to the 2016 World Series Championship famously did everything in is power to distract his team from the enormity of the games they were playing in as a way to keep them loose and having fun, because that’s when players and teams are at their best. Rather than talk about how important a game was, he would hire magicians, snake charmers, and musicians to entertain his players in the clubhouse before his squad took the field!
- Take A Walk
- If you’re in the stands and recognize that you’re having some trouble controlling your emotions, take a walk. Go watch an inning from behind the outfield fence. Do a lap around the parking lot. Head to the Snack Shack for Gatorade. Model the same type of emotional control that you want to see from your child.
- Think Before You Act/Speak
- Emotions can run high in elimination games. The games will end and there will always be another season, but the way you act in the heat of the moment (or in a moment of weakness) will follow you around forever. Once you’ve been labeled as “that crazy parent” or “that psycho coach” there’s usually no coming back from that; your identity in the community gets set in stone so be known as the type of parent and coach that makes you proud of the way you behave at the field, especially in the “big moments.”
- HAVE FUN!
- A recent study just came out that said parents have, on average, 7 total years of watching their kids play sports and with post-season games only happening for kids ages ~7+ you will quite possibly only get to see your kid play in the playoffs 3 or 4 times IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE; don’t ruin that experience by feeling anything but grateful to have the opportunity to watch them play…while it lasts.
Youth sports can and should be an incredibly special time for players and parents; let’s all commit to making sure that EVERYONE enjoys every minute.
PLAY HARD, HAVE FUN!