Why Johnny Hates Sports

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Why Johnny Hates Sports

• Book Review

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Youth Sports

• Sports is the greatest tool we have in todays
  society to help children develop positive
  character traits and life values.
• All children must have a safe, positive and
  meaningful experience from sports
• Youth sports were intended for fun, relaxation
  and recreation

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Youth Sports (2)

• Key questions to address
• what do children at different ages want from
  sports
• what role does winning play
• importance of having fun
• why kids quit sports

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The problems

• Pain, frustration and anger that results from a
  negative sports experience
• Damage feelings of self-worth
• Frozen by the fear of making a mistake
• Begged to quit because the pressure was too
  unbearable and playing was no longer fun
• 70 of the 20 million children who participate
  in youth sports will quit by the age of 13
  because of bad experiences

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Who is at fault ?

• Youth sports administrators who allegedly set the
  standards for conduct, fail to recognize when
  those standards are breached, and neglect their
  duty to discipline appropriately those
  responsible.
• Sportsmanship and fair play have become
  virtually non-existent, while cheating, taunting,
  attacking officials and running up the score have
  increased dramatically

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Sports in America Today

• The ideals of sportsmanship, fair play, and
  simply doing your best have been traded in for
  the far less noble pursuits of todays
  ultra-competitive, high pressure,
  do-anything-it-takes-to-win world of athletics.
• A great deal of blame goes to the media for
  popularizing negative and violent behavior. Its
  all part of the game, they say as they replay and
  replay the bad incidents leaving them branded in
  our memory.

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Its All About Image

• Sports have become a stage for individuals who
  constantly fight for a piece of the spotlight.
• The emphasis has shifted to style over substance
• Image is everything
• Colleges are becoming hypocritical as education
  now plays second fiddle to the big business of
  collegiate sports.

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3 Overriding Concerns

• Lacking responsible leadership
• Parents too often put their children in programs
  for their own purposes
• Negative sports experiences could affect
  childrens lives both physically and
  psychologically

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Parents

• At times, youth sports can bring out the best in
  children and the worst in parents.
• There are too many parents who operate in their
  dysfunctional world of insults, violence, ill
  manners, and downright obnoxious behavior where
  winning is all really matters.
• its ironic that nobody yells at a child who
  forgets lines during a play, but watch out if
  they drop a fly ball.

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Parents (2)

• Parents have a strong influence on youth sports,
  for better or for worse.
• The 3 primary factors that influence parental
  attitudes and behavior toward children and youth
  sports are
• Greed - they want it all scholarship,
  money,
• Fear dont want to be left out - overly
  consumed
• Ego - personal status dont I look good
• The greatest burden a child must bear is the
  unlived life of its parents

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Parents (3)

• Youth sports becomes a golden opportunity for
  many parents to become immersed in a team.
• Too often promising young players fizzle under
  the strain of parents expectations.
• When adults crush the individual spirit with
  discouragement and only support them when they
  conform to our desires for status and
  recognition, we create a world of alienation and
  frustration for the young athlete.

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Parents (4)

• Maturity requires that people anticipate and take
  responsibility for the consequences of their
  actions.
• Immature parents dont take responsibility, but
  blame the referee, coach or others for the
  mistakes.
• Immature parents who berate the coach, insult the
  referee, or scorn the opposition - dont think of
  the consequences, take no responsibility and the
  kids are the losers.

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Parents (5)

• Parents want and deserve the very best for
  their child. Most parents do a really decent job
  of keeping a sense of perspective, setting
  reasonable rules, and caring deeply about the
  welfare of their children.
• Parents lose perspective when their children
  participate in sports. Competition places their
  children in a vulnerable position and the natural
  impulse is to try to control it. It is difficult
  to control that which is uncontrollable
  competition.

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The Youth Coach

• Approximately 85 of the volunteer coaches have
  their own child on the team.,
• In many respects, the coach on the field operates
  much like the teacher in the classroom
• Children, especially those below the age of 10,
  are extremely impressionable.
• Its important to look at exactly who the coaches
  are, why they got involved, and with what kind of
  training.

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The Youth Coach the problem(s)

• No one had ever told him what he was supposed to
  do
• Typically, they dont understand how to organize
  a practice, know what role winning should play,
  appreciate how to deal with parents, comprehend
  what motivates kids, or grasp the important
  lifetime influence they will have on children.

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Youth Coaches the need for training

• Volunteering time is not quite enough
• Need a basic education program that trains them
  to make sports positive, safe and fun.
• Policy requiring every youth coach be exposed to
  a good training program before he coaches a
  child.
• What children will carry away with them from
  their sports experience will endure far longer
  than the outcome of any single game.

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Administrators the key to it all

• Too many administrators are in over their heads,
  despite their best intentions.
• Major areas of concern
• Little understanding of the effects of
• early maturation on athletic performance
  safety
• prevention of injuries recruiting and
  training
• volunteers and financial accountability.

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Problems Administrators Face

• Keep philosophy focused on the participants
• Managing the finances / raising funds
• Recruiting and educating volunteers
• Emphasizing the importance of safety
• Clarifying the concept of winning
• More than 50 of local program organizers dont
  have any type of organizational training
• Volunteer administrators historically only follow
  in the footsteps of their predecessor / status
  quo !!

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Confusing Play with Competition

• Problems develop when we set goals for our kids
  without carefully taking into account the reality
  of a childs nature.
• Play provides children with the chance to learn
  independence, develop self-esteem, explore their
  physical abilities and have fun.
• Play covers everything from amusement to exercise
  to diversion.
• Its what we do for fun, enjoyment, relaxation,
  and stress-free pleasure.

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Play vs Competition

• With organized sports, we have simply taken play,
  put it into an organized form, and added factors
  like skill development and discipline.
• We have now changed the nature of play into
  competition.
• Competition is a contest in which the
  participants seek the same objective.
• When competition dominates, then the original
  goals of play are eliminated for many

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Competition

• Competition for children must first and foremost
  be enjoyable, challenging and fun.
• Children become more competitive as they grow and
  age. You can play while competing if you are also
  having fun
• Competition is a dual-edged sword. It can
  enhance play in some children and ruin it for
  others..
• Competition instilled with values of fair play,
  sportsmanship and ethics can build character that
  will last a lifetime.

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Why Kids Quit

• Sports are no longer fun
• Needs not being met
• Made to feel miserable
• Too much pressure on winning
• Coach presents negative attitudes
• Coach was a poor teacher, played favorites
• Took too much time and wanted to do other things

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Burnout

• Growing weary of the enormous stress and demands
  placed on a person to perform at high levels
• Point of saturation, a vicious revolving door of
  never-ending sport seasons
• Children, and parents, fear taking any time off
  for fear of falling behind and/or being excluded
  from the team the following season

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Burnout (2)

• Choosing to play only one sport early on deprives
  the child of the chance to experiment with other
  sports, to learn and develop a variety of skills,
  and to work other muscle groups.
• Children who suffer burnout are likely candidates
  to develop a life-long avoidance of physical
  activity.

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Putting Kids in Harms Way

• If unrealistic demands are being placed on
  children, then only tragedy can result.
• They become afraid to make a mistake and that can
  cripple the productivity and growth of a young
  person.
• When an adult places unrealistic expectations on
  a child, that is emotional abuse. When
  emotional abuse is delivered during the growth
  periods, the expectations and standards may haunt
  the child for a lifetime. Failure will dominate
  their existence and devastate their spirits.

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Decisions

• Some children will make the internal decision
  that competitive team sports are right for them
  at about the age of 10 to 12.
• This now is the time when sports begin, and the
  idea of play is allowed to become competition,
  with a call for dedication, training, abiding by
  rules and all the other commitments they must
  make in order to become the best they can be.

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Solutions

• Parents
• Set up a mandatory pre-season meeting with all
  the parents child does not play if parent does
  not attend the meeting
• Develop some strategies to keep parents on track
  once they understand what is expected of them.
• Coach and parents have a clear communication link
  established to help overcome any
  misunderstandings.
• Outline parents rights and responsibilities

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Solutions (2)

• Coaches
• Coaches should be certified
• They must subscribe to a reasonable code of
  ethics
• Be aware of the psychological and emotional needs
  of the children participating, understand the
  importance of safety and first aid, conditioning,
  nutrition, flexibility and strength development.
• Be responsible for teaching proper sports
  techniques

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Final Thoughts

• Primary goal is to make sure that the kids have a
  good learning experience, develop skills for
  whatever sport theyre playing, and have a
  positive fun experience.
• 93 of the communities reported that a coaching
  certificate mandate had made a positive
  difference, finding that trained coaches tend to
  be cooperative, placed greater emphasis of fun
  and participation, and greatly improved the
  quality of instruction.