Youth Sports Safety Month: 7 Methods To Help Encourage Your Child In Sports

Encouraging Your Child in Sports is Important; Keeping Them Safe is a Must.

April is often referred to as Sports Safety month so we feel it is important to highlight 7 ways you can encourage your child in sports while keeping them safe. Athlete Intelligence is committed to making sure our youngest athletes are safe and protected. As part of our commitment, Athlete Intelligence will be posting a series of articles and resources to help young athletes play smarter and play safer. Make sure to keep checking in on our Resources page to see our latest blogs, press releases, and new announcements.

Here are 7 ways parents can help support their kids in their sports activities:

1. Make Sure It’s Fun

Sports isn’t all about just having fun. But if your child doesn’t seem to be having any—and their activity seems like just a chore or worse to them—you need to recognize and address that. Express to them that their enjoyment and happiness is what’s most important to you about them participating in sports, and that you’re in their court all the way!

2. Stress The Importance Of Safety

Teaching your child the importance of following the game rules and safety protocols, and wearing the required equipment, is a must. Certainly, their coach will be doing so as well, but you can never have too much precaution when it comes to your child and preventing sports injuries. Run through a safety and gear checklist with him or her.

3. Ensure That Your Child Is Healthy

This is another one that seems like a no-brainer, but it bears repeating. In order for your child to perform at their optimal level during a game, they need to eat the right food, get enough rest, and all-around take care of themselves physically. As a parent, you are in the best position—even more so than the coach—to make sure this all happens.

4. Maintain A Positive Environment

Sometimes, youth sports can get a little bit rough. Whether it’s kids fighting during the game—or parents doing the same from the bleachers. That’s why it’s key to help keep a positive environment around your child’s participation in the sport. If something seems amiss off the field, address it with the coach. And avoid confrontations with other parents.

5. Encourage a Healthy Competitive Attitude

Of course the immediate goal in playing a sports game or match is to win, but the value of the activity is a lot more than that. Stress to your child the importance of maintaining a healthy attitude about winning and losing, to respect sportsmanship, and to understand that ultimately, they are competing against themselves.

6. Build Their Self-Esteem

Maintaining his or her self-esteem is going to be vital for a child to get the most out of the sport of their choice. You can help greatly by not only by keeping their spirits up, but maintaining communication with your child regarding their experiences in training, on the field or court, and among their teammates.

7. Be A Supportive Parent—Not A Coach

Most likely, your child will have a coach in charge of their sports activity, with all the requisite skills and knowledge to lead them through the game. So in some ways, you could say that the coach does a lot of the “heavy lifting.” With that out of the way, you can focus on giving your child all the emotional support he or she needs to enjoy and get the most out of the game.