Welcome to AYSO Region
253
Serving the communities of Bentley, Halstead, Kechi, North Wichita,
Park City, Sedgwick, Valley Center and Whitewater.
What I Have Learned from Youth Sports
by Tom Williams, Soccer Parent and Volunteer
I’ve been
blessed with some great experiences in watching and participating in youth
sports. Those good experiences have come just lately, since my own
youth sports career was pretty bleak. The good Lord blessed me with
two left feet, and all thumbs on both hands. He saw fit to add to
the insult by giving me just about zero eye-hand coordination. The
closest I came to sport in high school was marching
band.
Fortunately, my
children have some talent, so I’ve been able to experience sport through
them. Since my stepson, Alan, just graduated from high school, I’ve
been thinking lately about what he and I have learned over the last few
years. Alan has been lucky to have some great coaching, good teams,
and excellent friends, during his youth, and I’ve been very lucky to tag
along. Both of us have learned as we went, and he went
pretty far, garnering a State Championship in his final event, in his
final year….what a way to end a high school career!
Along the way,
I’ve learned some things that are important, and weren’t inherently
obvious. I hope by sharing this information, maybe somebody else can
be spared the mistakes that I made, or saw my friends make. This
isn’t a top ten list, only 5 things, but they’re all
significant.
Number
1: The Value of Teamwork
The most
important lesson that a kid can learn from participation in youth sports
is the value of teamwork. We’ve been blessed with some good teams,
and some not so good, but one thing we’ve both learned, you can’t build a
successful season on one person. If children can internalize that
lesson, they should succeed in life, because our world is increasingly
reliant on big organizations, corporations and large companies, and
teamwork is paramount for success in those types of
businesses.
Number
2: The Value of Coaches
Coaches are
great people; respect them. Alan’s been lucky, by and large, with
his coaches. Most have had good knowledge of their respective
sports. The best ones have been good examples for him. Coaches
that display love of their sport, kindness to their players, and high
moral character are the best possible role models for our children.
There have been a few that were exceptional, including the coaches in the
last two sports he played. Coaches teach by what they say, and they
teach by example, and some of them forget that last
part.
Number
3: The Value of Watching What You Say
As a parent, be
careful what you say about somebody else’s kid. You may regret
it. One thing that parents sometimes don’t remember is, if you’re
kids are playing on a team with another kid when they’re eight, it’s very
likely that you’ll be playing with the same kid when they’re
eighteen. If you get “sideways” with another parent when your kids
are young, the next few years may be unnecessarily uncomfortable.
Harsh words, whether directed at your child or some else’s, are
remembered; remember that.
Number
4: The Value of Volunteering
Parents just
have to volunteer and participate, to make youth sports happen. All
those sports leagues don’t just blossom from nothingness; it takes
referees, coaches, field caretakers, team moms, team managers,
scorekeepers, umpires, concession workers….it takes a lot of people!
Don’t duck your head and hide when the organizer asks for help, get
involved!
Number
5: The Value of Just Getting Out There
Lastly, I’ve learned the value of just getting out there and doing something. Every child has some gift, some ability, to play some sport. Parents must be there, sometimes forcing them to play, taking them to practice, attending those games, and being there for them when things don’t go as expected. That’s part of the job of being a parent, and the payoff is spectacular.
Last Updated 8/21/2007
