Cass White, Staff Writer
Sports can be very beneficial. They teach you many lessons that can be applied and translated to life. Participating in sports builds character, discipline, poise, consistency, focus, determination, accountability, self-confidence, industriousness and hard-work–all in one.
There are several ways our community could improve youth sports, especially for the safety of our youth. The most popular sports in America tend to be the more physical sports. This popularity is due to the action, the skills required and the attention these sports receive from social media.
Football, soccer, baseball and basketball are the most popular sports in today’s society; all of these sports have physical contact throughout the entire game and injuries occur often.
Inexperienced and unknowledgeable coaching can be very harmful and dangerous to the kids because they will not be taught the proper techniques and forms.
Therefore, we need to improve the level of coaching of the coaches that teaches our youth sports programs. Individuals working for these organizations need to have certain credentials and qualifications to become a youth coach. As of now, anyone can go, sign-up to become a youth sport coach, get hired and just go through the motions. The right coaching will prevent injuries by teaching kids how to actually play the game correctly and safely while still maintaining a fun and enjoyable experience.
Another way to improve youth sports is teaching sportsmanship. This would involve instructing kids that while winning may be important and part of the game, it is not everything; having fun and actually enjoying yourself are and should continue to be the main reason for youth sports.
Teaching equality is another way to improve the youth sports system. Showing equal attention to each player, from the best to the worst athlete, is very important. By treating each kid the same, even if they are not earning or receiving the same amount of playing time, will help the children’s confidence, satisfaction and build coach-to-player connections that are so crucial to athletics.
An additional improvement in youth sports could be the proper involvement of parents and guardians. There are plenty of parents that put their children in youth sports just to take up time while the adults are doing other activities. These parents will not even support their child at practices or games. On the other side, though, there are parents who are too involved with the game, yelling at every practice or game and not giving their child the correct support. Over involved parents may actually bash and criticize the kids. This behavior can cause the kid to not have fun or enjoy the game and rob them of their love for it.
These tips and suggestions, if taken seriously, will improve youth sports programs, organization and leagues.