There’s a lot of debate about the role of parents in Youth Sports today. The editors at GMP Sports want to know your thoughts.
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Beneath The Surface is peeling back the layers of this onion we call sports.
This week in an article publishd by Sports Illustrated, Peter King talked about Mike Matheny’s run as a Youth baseball coach for his son’s team (It’s about halfway down the article). Matheny talks candidly about the set of rules he laid out for the parents, not for the kids. He petitioned for all the parents to basically stay as much out of the picture as possible during team practices and games. He even went as far to say that he wouldn’t coach the team if the parents didn’t agree to the rules.
I think he’s on to something.
As a kid who grew up playing baseball from the time I can remember (I’ve been told I was four), I know what it’s like to have a parent equally as passionate about my success as I was. There are times it can be detrimental to the experience for the kids playing the sport, but where’s the line?
We want to know what you, our amazing readers, think about being a parent in a world where “success” in sports is only attainable through the relentless pursuit of perfection for every kid.
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Submit your perspective to Adam Crawford at [email protected] and help us start a new conversation about the changing climate of youth sports.
Here are a few questions we have:
How do you perceive your roll as a parent to a child participating in Youth Sports?
Are we supposed to be full-time cheerleaders? Part time coaches? Full-time chauffeurs?
What do you think is best for developing the love of the sport; or sport itself?
As a parent is it your decision to chose which sport, if any one in particular, the child pursues based on ability? Do you sit back and let the kid decide based on social situations?
How has the role of sportsmanship in Youth Sports changed since you were playing Youth Sports? Is it for the better or worse?
There seems to be a different level of competition in Youth Sports, has that changed the way we teach our kids to interact on and off the field (court or course)?
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The Good Men Project exists because we are trying to have the conversation no one else is having. It started with masculinity, but it’s developed into so much more, thanks to you. We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think about Youth Sports.
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Photo: Flickr/Aberdeen Proving Ground
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