Travelsports Newsletter – Tenth Edition

The Role of Parents and Coaches in Youth Sports – Ways to Provide Support

Parents play an important role in the development of their kid’s athletic career. Parents are kids’ main mentors on and off the playing field. Their influence helps with an athlete’s skill development, emotional support and helping them cope with winning and losing. There are a number of strategies parents can use to help their kids have a successful athletic career. 

According to Believe Perform, parents can help encourage their kids to develop self-awareness of the skills they’ve learned. This can be done by supporting them and showing support throughout practice and competitions and asking them how it went afterwards. As a parent, it’s important to give coaches autonomy and put trust in their methods. As long as the coaches’ and parents’ messages are aligned,  it will lead to less confusion for the athlete. Additionally, it’s important to provide emotional support whenever your child has a tough match or loss.

Though providing support is essential, it can sometimes be too much. Becoming over-involved could cause stress and increase burnout rates at a young age. To prevent burnout, it’s important to not put too much pressure on winning and success, but encouraging the athlete to do their very best. The importance is that they should always enjoy their sport and additional pressure could cause a decrease in their performance. If you disagree with a coach, it’s important to prevent giving conflicting advice, but to talk with the coach another time so it does not come across as being disrespectful.