Help Your Child Be Better At Sports
Although not all children love sport, most will participate during their school years. Part of feeling confident in the sport is support from the people around them. Taking part in team sports is one of the most important ways your child can build confidence.
So, what other ways can you help your child be better at sports?
For more on this topic, check out the full Sports collection
Don’t overshadow
If your children have chosen to play the sport that you or your partner loved and were good at, remember that this is their turn. Let the experience of the sport be your child; although giving them tips is excellent – a lot of the firsts like big wins, significant losses, injuries and team issues are for them to go through.
With the proper support and no overshadowing what they are doing, they can talk to you about things and know that you won’t center yourself.
Progress
If they become serious about the sport, you will be getting regular progress updates from their coach. You can check through their progress and see if there is anywhere that they can do with some extra help.
While an outside coach is not usually a welcome idea, there are many resources online that can help your child master a particular skill. From tackling and shooting to batting videos – you can find the best ways to help them make the progress they will be proud of.
Teamwork
Being part of a team is a great thing! It can teach us many life skills. But one of the most important might be that teams can have ups and downs. If one person is having issues in the team, the effect can be felt by all.
Part of great teamwork is taking responsibility for the decision they make, and taking responsibility can be challenging when the decision they make leads to a loss or something to unsettle the team.
Make sure that the benefits of teamwork are always something that you keep in the frame when talking about the sport.
Failure
Sports is one place where even when you give it your all, you might not get the result that you want. Failure is part of the sport, but not failure is really a failure. Instead, they are all places for great learning.
A loss presents the opportunity to improve how they play and reframe how they deal with failure. Rather than being angry or too sad about it, it’s an opportunity to build and move forward.
Support them as they learn to navigate things like loss in sports games or not getting picked for the team. It can be a great idea to keep a list of names of famous people that suffer losses – only to then go on to have great success.
Growth Mindset for Kids Free Printables
Self-reflection
If your child goes through a string of losses, it can become easy for them to say, ‘I’m not good enough’, or ‘the other team were just better’. Yet, this provides the perfect opportunity for some self-reflection. Understanding that they can look at their achievements, skills and progress and set goals to help them improve.
Here are some great tips for fostering great sportsmanship: Help Teens Have Better Sportsmanship.
For more on this topic, check out the full Sports collection
