The Benefits of Youth Sports
What are the extra and all-important benefits of sports for kids? That’s a question Dr. Steve Horan, an expert in community health improvement, asked himself after many years of being a coach and sports parent.
“As you look at the numbers, so many kids drop out at age 13 and 14 for many different reasons,” he says. “So I began to ask myself, ‘What value can we deliver through youth sports above and beyond the value that is delivered to the excellent athlete?'”
He realized that sports can help kids develop important traits and skills that transfer to other parts of life, he told us in a recent interview…
Through sports, young athletes can value wellness, learn how to hold onto their ethics in a competitive environment, develop good relationships with parents and coaches, become more self-directed, learn how to be team players, and learn how to be leaders, he says.
However, he says, young athletes don’t develop these social and emotional assets without some help from parents and coaches.
“Parents and coaches have to be very vigilant to ensure that sports have this desired goal of character development,” says the founder of sports parent.net.
“Parents need to be good consumers,” he says.
“They need to make the right decisions about coaching their own children and finding the right programs for their kids.
“The goal,” he says, “is helping kids become happy and productive adults.”
Here at the The Ultimate Sports Parent and Kids’ Sports Psychology Kids’ Sports Psychology, we agree. We have loads of resources that address this issue.
First of all, in our Ultimate Sports Parent workbook, we tell you just how to choose the right coach.
Our workbook teaches parents to:
- Be sure to interview the coach.
- Ask about his or her philosophy.
- Ask him about how he or she handles playing time
- If you think he or she is a bad fit for your child, keep looking. If you can’t find a suitable coach, consider forming your own team.
Related Articles on Youth Sports:
- The Benefits of Keeping Score in Youth Sports
- The Benefits of a Growth Mindset in Youth Sports
- Why Sports Must be Fun for Young Athletes
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Help Young Athletes Boost Confidence in Sports!
Every day, we receive letters from parents like you who want their children and teens to excel in sports. However, these parents can see fear, doubt, and frustration on the faces of their kids who struggle with the “inner” game of sports. But these parents have no idea how to help their kids overcome the worries, expectations and self-defeating thoughts that prevent their young athletes from feeling confident and successful.
You can benefit from our 15-plus years’ of work in sports psychology and sports parenting research. Now, you can tap into our secrets to sports success through a cutting-edge, 14-day program that helps young athletes overcome the top “mental game” challenges that sports parents face—and the top challenges young athletes face.
It’s also important to know a child’s developmental stage and meet his motivation, rather than imposing adult motivations on the child