Is this familiar to any sport parents?

Over the past decade I have frequently found myself standing among large group of parents at sports tryouts, which is not always a comfortable place for parents to be. See if any of these thoughts about some of the realities and challenges sports parents face resonate with your experience.

• We desire for our children to be recognized for their talents and efforts, but this doesn’t always occur, or in the way we hoped or wanted.
• We don’t like seeing them disappointed, or not making the team/role they want.
• We aren’t sure why those making decisions, and others around us, don’t seem to be seeing the same things we are.
• We want them to own and earn their experience but we also have a strong urge to step in if we think it might prevent them from experiencing adversity or disappointment.
• We haven’t fully defined all the ways we will measure their progress and success so we rely on things like the affirmation of others, team placements, and wins and losses to be our primary measurements on how things are going.
• We desire to see them be placed on a team that allows them to play, have fun, get recognized for their talents and gives themselves the best chance to make their next team. But we also tend to get caught up by the perceived status of the team they are on.
• We hope and believe sports will help them grow, not just in their skill, but also as a confident and equipped young person. However, we don’t have an intentional plan on how we are going to support and work on those areas.
• We are emotionally involved in the outcome they receive from the experience. Yet, we may not feel fully equipped to help them deal with the emotions they experience going through the season.
• We really don’t know how to best support their development, so we often default to following the herd with no real knowledge if that is what is best for our child.
• We don’t feel confident that we have a plan for how they are going to get better. But we are really hoping good things happen for them.
• We often find ourselves looking at things outside of the control of their efforts to determine our satisfaction with their experience.
• We focus on and discuss with them outcomes outside of their control instead of helping them focus on what they can control.

If any of the following resonates with you email me at nholm@teamshep.co and we can connect to discuss. There are strategies you can employ to address these challenges and questions. If it doesn’t connect with you no worries and continue to enjoy your child’s sports journey.