Negative Impact of Parents in Sports

 Negative Impact of Parents in Sports

    

https://changingthegameproject.com/category/article/

    

    Parent involvement is sports is starting to get children, coaches, and referees to hate the sports .We all know the parent who constantly yells onto the court or field during the game Yelling at their kid to take a better shot or to move faster or yelling at the coaches to call a better play or put someone else in. These parents do not know the long term harm they are producing onto others. They are ruining the athletic experience for their children and other people’s children. A lot of parent’s don’t realize that they are ruining these sporting events and claim that they are just trying to help out their child or stick up for the team, when in reality they are making a fool of themselves and embarrassing their kids. No, not all parents are like this but the amount that are, are making a immense impact.

    I myself have experienced a parent yell at me during a 5th and 6th grade basketball game about calls, and then come up and tell me about it after the game. These types of parents are why 80% of referees end up quitting after just two years of reffing(Washington Post). The decline of referees is making it harder to find ones who will actually volunteer for these youth events. The less referees their are that are able to volunteer their time the less amount of games that will be played. When a parent is yelling out on the court to a referee they embarrass themselves, their child, and everyone on the team . From my own perspective that is how I felt whenever I heard an obnoxious fan yelling onto the field or the court. And I could see it in my coaches eyes that he just wants the yelling to stop so we could just get on with the game.  It creates a bad atmosphere when a parent yells during a game and is driving away coaches and referees.(Washington Post)

    The pressure put on children by these types of yelling parents is completely ruining the players confidence during the sport. Many athletes end up quitting their sport because of how overwhelming these parents could be. For example at Haanover Area High school, The football teams number has declined from 47-23 kids from 2018-2022. The correlation from parents that have cause problems in the game to kids quitting is about a 1:1 ratio. Eventually this program is anticipate to either lose the entire football program or having to combine with a neighboring school. So when you are watching a youth athletic event, be careful of what you might say to the players, coaches, and referees. You have know idea how the words you choose may effect your kid or another longterm wise. 

    A study done by a group of German psychologists had taken 72 Italian kids, 48% male and 52% female, and asked them a questionnaire about how their parents are involved in the sport and what kind of impact they have on their child. They had come to the conclusion that parents who are more supportive and understanding towards their Childs level of play and goals, the more willing the child is to live up to the sports expectations of their parents. So all of you parents out there who go and support your child without being vocal in public, you are going to greatly impact his/her future in that sport in a positive way. To those of you who are the loud and obnoxious parents, you may tear down your kids confidence and eventually force them to quit down the line.(doaj.org) 

    In conclusion, parents who yell from the sideline, coach their kids from the sideline, and push their kids too much in one sport end up hurting everyone. They hurt their own kids by embarrassing them in front of everyone in the crowd. They are causing officials to quit refereeing within the first two years of volunteering. And they just make themselves look foolish. I believe that not all parents behave this way but the ones that do are causing massive problems in sports. It doesn’t matter what age group is playing, parent’s and spectators should show respect to the game, players and coaches, and the officials. But off the court as well by setting expectations that their child thinks is way out of their range. All this can be resolved by just sitting and talking with your child about their goals and expectations and trying to help them reach it. That is the negative impact that parents have on sports.