Youth Sports: How Parental Pressures Affect Young Athletes
The atmosphere around youth sports isn’t what it used to be.
The atmosphere around youth sports isn’t what it used to be. More than ever before, competitive youth sports are built around elite athletes — the kids who play one sport all year round, have been playing since a very young age and are on multiple club teams. They are typically considered the best players.
And oftentimes, those kids have an increased amount of pressure on them.
With the prospective of college scholarships and the earning potential for professional athletes constantly increasing, youth sports are becoming much more highly specialized to groom those elite athletes for a particular future. And parents seem to be the driving force behind that.
Today’s young athletes are feeling more pressure to play a certain sport or even a certain position within that sport from their parents. And some are even being told to ignore defense in favor of scoring, as putting up big numbers is an easy way of getting recognized.
In these cases, parents look at their child’s athletic ability in terms of an investment — no different from a parent capitalizing on their child’s cuteness by putting them in commercials or pageants. They hope that if their child focuses on just one sport that they excel at early, they’ll master that sport and be able to land a college scholarship or professional career.
As a parent, it’s only natural to want to expose your kids to certain activities and steer them in a particular direction. But there’s a line between pushing your child toward a certain sport and being a “stage parent.”
Everyone knows the parent that is trying to live vicariously through their kid and push them to be a professional athlete. They’re typically the ones screaming at refs, coaches, other players or even worse their own child.
Nothing good ever comes from this and it just puts unfair pressure on the child. It’s embarrassing for them and helps build insecurities, as they always envision their parent screaming at them from the stands. It also puts them in a bad position with their coach.
It’s important to remember that the whole point of youth sports is for kids to have fun, be exposed to new things and learn valuable life lessons. There are simple, fundamental skills that athletes learn at the youth level that are taken for granted as the skill level increases.
So when the games revolve around only the best players or the best players are held back from exploring new sports, it hinders the growth that young athletes need.
And when youth sports are clouded by intense pressure, kids stop wanting to participate all together.
Remember, elite skill isn’t the only thing that makes a pro athlete. Passion for the sport plays a major role too; and the quickest way to burn an athlete out is by putting too much pressure on them.
Kids have enough pressures, particularly when it comes to youth sports. It’s important to let young athletes explore new sports, try different positions and learn fundamental skills. After all, keeping things fresh helps to keep them engaged.
Let Young Athletes Explore More Options
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I think this is also where things like versatility come into play, when athletes takes principles they have learnt in other sports and apply them to another, a great example of this is Michael Jordan, being one of the best basket ballers and then going off and playing MLB, a legend and a great example of freedom in sports at the highest level. just another reason why kids should be able to play a multitude of different sports.