Parental Intrusion in Youth Sports
Running Head: PARENTAL INTRUSION IN YOUTH SPORTS
PARENTAL INTRUSTION IN YOUTH SPORTS
STEVEN J MAYNOR
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
PARENTAL INTRUSION Parental intrusion in youth sports is nothing new. There will always be adults who act inappropriately or disrupt the league. A lot of the problems lie with adults who use youth sports to gratify their own egos, adults who can’t deal with the emotional ups and downs of youth sports and there are even those who see the time and money spent on their child as an investment. There are a lot of reasons for out of control parents when it comes to youth sports. My purpose for this paper is to come up with a plan for a youth sports league that is seeing a lot of parental intrusion during their games and practices.
The National Alliance for Youth Sports says that, "15% of parents at youth sporting events display obnoxious, unruly, or unsportsmanlike behavior." As a percentage this statistic seems low. But, when we think about that percentage in number terms, meaning that 30 out of 200 parents at an event could display bad behavior, it becomes very concerning. In the book, Parenting in Youth Sports: From Research to Practice, the author Nicholas Holt talks about how times have changed for parents from when they were kids to now. In fact, in this day and age kids are viewed as extremely vulnerable to physical and emotional harm. So, it’s no surprise from this view that parents today will do anything and everything they can to protect their kids.
From my point of view a lot parents like to insert themselves when they shouldn’t. For example, a parent demanding that their kid gets more playing time, or doubting the coach’s abilities to the point of making demeaning slurs. As parents we have to remember that positive behavior and support pays off, and we need to know when to speak up and when to keep quiet. “Wurth et al (2004) found that athletes who made a successful transition from one athletic career
PARENTAL INTRUSTION IN YOUTH SPORTS
STEVEN J MAYNOR
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
PARENTAL INTRUSION Parental intrusion in youth sports is nothing new. There will always be adults who act inappropriately or disrupt the league. A lot of the problems lie with adults who use youth sports to gratify their own egos, adults who can’t deal with the emotional ups and downs of youth sports and there are even those who see the time and money spent on their child as an investment. There are a lot of reasons for out of control parents when it comes to youth sports. My purpose for this paper is to come up with a plan for a youth sports league that is seeing a lot of parental intrusion during their games and practices.
The National Alliance for Youth Sports says that, "15% of parents at youth sporting events display obnoxious, unruly, or unsportsmanlike behavior." As a percentage this statistic seems low. But, when we think about that percentage in number terms, meaning that 30 out of 200 parents at an event could display bad behavior, it becomes very concerning. In the book, Parenting in Youth Sports: From Research to Practice, the author Nicholas Holt talks about how times have changed for parents from when they were kids to now. In fact, in this day and age kids are viewed as extremely vulnerable to physical and emotional harm. So, it’s no surprise from this view that parents today will do anything and everything they can to protect their kids.
From my point of view a lot parents like to insert themselves when they shouldn’t. For example, a parent demanding that their kid gets more playing time, or doubting the coach’s abilities to the point of making demeaning slurs. As parents we have to remember that positive behavior and support pays off, and we need to know when to speak up and when to keep quiet. “Wurth et al (2004) found that athletes who made a successful transition from one athletic career
References: Atkinson, J. (2014, May 4). How parents are ruining youth sports - The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/05/03/how-parents-are-ruining-youth-sports/vbRln8qYXkrrNFJcsuvNyM/story.html Beach, R. (2012). Put 'em in Coach Primer for Youth Coaches and Parents of Youth Athletes. New York, NY: Trafford on Demand Publishing. Holt, N. (2008). Positive youth development through sport. London: Routledge. Jowett, S. (2007). Social psychology in sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Smoll, F., Cumming, S., & Smith, R. (2011). Enhancing Coach-Parent Relationships in Youth Sports: Increasing Harmony and Minimizing Hassle. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 6(1), 13-26.