Effectively Engaging with Parents in Interscholastic Athletics
Max Golden
Wayne State University Effectively Engaging with Parents in Interscholastic Athletics
For this assignment, I chose to complete the NFHS course entitled “Engaging Effectively with Parents”. The course focused on how to interact with the parents of athletes with a focus on what to do to prepare for the season and how to handle upset parents during the course of the season. Anyone who plans on working in interscholastic athletics whether as a coach or administrator will have to interact with parents on a near daily basis, this is simple the nature of the field. Parents are valuable to interscholastic athletics because they serve as role models for their
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While I was able to translate the lesson in my head so it made sense from an athletic director standpoint, not everyone may be able to. Engaging effectively with parents is vital for athletic directors as they are the head of the whole department and should be expected to talk to parents on a daily basis, especially if someone has an issue with coach. While the content was up to date and useful, the delivery of the material left something to be desired. Yes, it is not easy to make an online course fun and exciting but I felt my self not paying full attention at times as the pace of the course was far too slow and did not grab my attention fully. An interesting aspect that continuously came up repeatedly of the entirety of the course was the issues with sportsmanship. Obviously, it is important to teach athletes the importance of being a good sport but the parents are just as important in this area as well. If a student see’s their parents being disrespectful to an opponent, official or coach will send the wrong message to the athlete. Just a few years ago, 116 boys’ soccer players in Minnesota were thrown out of games, which is a troubling statistic (Sawyer 2015). If coaches and athletic directors can communicate to the parents the importance of good sportsmanship we will hopefully see the students act more responsibility. The course also focused on how athletics is an extension of the educational environment. It
Some schools with strong sporting traditions reinforce participation in sport. The sports that students are encouraged to participate in can depend on the school’s history and traditions, the facilities and equipment available, and the expertise of the teachers.
Because disciplines such as character building academic success directly compliment the progress of the athletic program, when issues within this area arise, it is important to communicate this to the parent. This facilitates the active and necessary role that each parent must take to ensure that their child progresses not only within the athletic department, but in other areas that contributes to their overall
Sadly, dealing with unreasonable, loud, obnoxious parents can be the most challenging part of coaching. Many coaches just want to make a difference in young lives instead of having to deal with the extra baggage of a high-strung parent. “If a parent does not like what you are doing as a coach, then there is no reason that parent can’t become a coach. One of the most difficult problems in coaching youth sports is dealing with an irate parent, but this problem can be diminished by holding parent meetings before and during the season.” (Put ‘Em In Coach, 33)
Sharon Wheeler conducted a research on elementary kids identified as “sporty,” meaning playing sport is important in their lives as well as their parents. She is a PhD student who attends the University of Chester in the UK. She found out parents believe it is important for children participate in sports. In addition, she also found out that parents also have an important role by investing, energy, and willing dedicated family time. Parents are the one that take their children to every practice and game that it becomes a routine or in other words life style. But that support also came with limitations. They are not there to coach them nor critique them, they are just there to vocally encourage them. In the UK parent are not pushing nor forcing them to excel in
EXS 496 Final Project Participation in youth sports can be extremely beneficial to children – the ability to form lasting friendships, be an active member of a team, and development of physical skills and abilities. However, youth sports can be controversial, and often political. Many coaches of youth sports participate in favoritism of their players or use dictator-like coaching methods to yield the result they desire. Additionally, the risk of injury, especially due to specialization at a young age, is a major concern for child athletes. After observing a youth basketball game, watching several sports-related movies, and learning a vast amount of information regarding sports in American culture, I have come to the conclusion that participation
A major problem regarding youth sports are overzealous parents. Overzealous parents have is an epidemic that is occurring not just in middle class America but can be witnessed in celebrity parents as well. David Beckham, world famous soccer player, was ejected from his son’s youth soccer game for badgering a referee (Atkinson, 2014). Another example of parents taking youth sports too far is that of a proud hockey father. The Hockey father, who was attending a banquet proudly describing his sons many accomplishments as a hockey player (his son is 6) did not account for the negative effects of being “so successful”. The son of this
The author has had a lifetime of experience with athletics in multiple sports as an athlete, as a coach, and now as an athletic director at a high school. As an athlete that was highly competitive, his mindset was to always work hard and do whatever it took to win. About a year after all of his college eligibility has been completed his good friend took a job at a high school in San Bernardino as a water polo coach and asked him to come out to the pool to teach his boys a few things. The author took on an assistant coaching position from that point on for the next 6 years because he loved teaching the athletes what it was to not only be a competitor but to be a competitor the right way, through hard work and respecting the game. He eventually took over the program and progressed from a coach who wanted to desperately win to a coach that wanted his kids to be successful at everything they attempted to do above all else. That mindset has spilled over into his job as an athletic administrator at a new high school.
While organizing and presenting learning experience to children, the teacher can utilize different methods, ranging from a direct, teacher-centered approach to an indirect, more student-centered approach.Recently, the mode of teaching sport and PE has shifted from the teacher-centered style to towards the student-centered style, in which the teacher has less influence in the decision-making, and the student becomes the prime decision maker (Baker et al., 2009, pp. 77-89). This is important because it can help to develop a player having innate understanding of what is going on around them for instance, on a football field, and has the talent to influence the game. In a bid to reach the aim of this paper, an outline of academic theories of child development, learning theories and professional philosophies, roles played by generic teachers, PE specialists, and community sport coaches will be provided. In addition, key stages in the National Curriculum and steps set out in the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) framework will be
Students who play sports learn important lessons that aren’t always taught in the classroom. Lots of things that are taught on the fields and courts like responsibility and perseverance can’t always be taught in the classroom, when there is other things to worry about like your next math test. Let’s say you did really bad on your math test, and your grade was brought down by a lot, and then suddenly, just because of one math test, you whole spring season of soccer was over. You aren’t allowed to play anymore, which is unfair. In this article, ¨19 Unexpected Things That Only Sports Can Teach,” there are many skills taught by sports, like trust, being able to self-reflect, and following instructions (1-2). If students don’t have good grades
Physical activity is a large part of being healthy, especially at a young age. Participating in sports is a very popular form of obtaining this exercise, as nearly thirty-six million kids play organized sports each year (Source 6). Coaches are extremely influential in the development of minors. They are the role models for the children to learn and grow from. Most coaches are parents, almost eighty-five percent (Source 6). However, this can have positive and negative effects on the participants that would differ from the effects of having a trained, “unbiased” coach. Many problems are evident when it comes to coaching staffs for youth sports; many parents take on the task of coaching without knowing they are unqualified, partial, and may damage their child psychologically.
A calm Saturday afternoon at the sports fields, wind blowing, sun shining down, not a cloud in the sky. This is quite possible the perfect day, that is, until they start. The one parent in the back of the crowd or off to the side, the one that argues every call, screams at their own child, and even goes so far as to taunt the other team’s players. This once scarce phenomenon of parents getting out of control has escalated to new levels not only in the number of incidents, but also in the level of severity of these incidents. When children sign up for sports they do it to be with friends, to have fun, and to learn the fundamentals of the game, however this is not what they are getting and this new
“Ugly” parent behaviour is becoming increasingly common in youth sport. Sideline rage, aggression and abuse are ruining children’s sport. In a recent study 15% of youth reported that their parents got angry if they did not play well. Inappropriate and unnecessary pressure is being placed on children due to unrealistic goals and too much of a focus on winning. Coaches feel that 36% of parents negatively influence their child’s sporting experience (). This is not surprising when news reports are more and more frequently about parents who have become abusive, threatening and even violent at youth sporting activities. In 2000 a father from Massachusetts used a hockey stick to beat a coach to death over a minor incident in a junior ice hockey game.
Over the past years, parents involvement has increased in youth sports. The purpose of youth sport is to potential to bring families together, however, the possible of not being close and causing problems. Acorrending to the statement, "We are not teaching kids today, we are training their parents” is debated topic in youth and sports. For the most part, I disagree with the statement because organized youth sports is providing a safe environment for all players to enjoy and learn the sports. The youth sports purpose is to dealing with children safely and responsibly with organizing practices and teaching skills of the sport. It is important for the coach to teach and help children learn a life lesson. However, The concepts are the children
The pressure to succeed in a sport can cause a tremendous amount of anxiety and nervousness in an athlete. Performing in front of classmates, parents, coaches and other visitors is often the most difficult part of being an athlete. The New York Times Upfront notes “74 percent of the kids surveyed said they had witnessed out-of-control adults at their games.” and “15 percent [of the kids] said their parents get angry when they play poorly”. The fear and “what if” of letting down the team down, falling in front of
In comparison to Bocarro et al (2008), Alferman, Lee & Wuerth (2002) show the positive side to parental involvement, such as praise, understanding and direction given by parents. It was found that Mothers offered more praise than Fathers, however they offered direction and advice. Using the Quantitative methodology, Alferman et al (2002) was able to find parents are key to an athlete’s development. A limitation of the report is the fact the participants were from a certain area, near Leipzig, Germany, and not global. It cannot be assumed