A change of season requires a change in thinking

It's that time of the year again and winter sports in South African schools have finally kicked off.  Kids might get an opportunity to be part of a team this season where they will learn valuable lessons on the sporting field. Parents will end up spending their time gathered around sports fields eagerly supporting and cheering on their children. Coaches will have an opportunity to impact the souls an hearts of every young player that crosses their path.

Looking back at school sports a few years ago there were two key role players that influenced the sporting environment:

1. the commitment of the coach and

2. the athlete's desire to succeed.

Player-coach relationships were quite straight forward and easy to manage. Unfortunately parents couldn't always be around to watch and support their children during team practice or matches because of work responsibilities.

Over the years we've witnessed a change in the sporting environment with parents now playing a more prominent role than before. Live streaming has made it possible for parents to watch their children participate no matter where they are and video footage of your child playing sports has become so easy to access and share. Working remotely has opened up the opportunity for parents to watch their children train or play a match while attending an online conference call standing next to the field/court.

We've reached a point in school sport where a lot of coaches are complaining that parent involvement has reached a stage where it sometimes feels out of control. Boundaries between coaches and parents are constantly at risk and no one is exactly sure where to draw the line. Parents feel they are investing so much time and effort into their children that they want to see them succeed by ensuring they give them the best possible opportunity. A big problem today is that young players are constantly finding themselves in a position where they are confused and not sure who to listen to as they get overloaded with information.

How can we set boundaries in the school sport system ensuring everyone involved can contribute to a healthy sport eco system?

It's important for us to acknowledge that the school sport environment has changed and as role players we need to adapt our perspective. In every situation there will be three role players involved the athlete, the coach and the parent. Each of them will go into the situation knowing that they have made an investment and therefore they have an expectation of what the outcome should look like. Reality is that there will always only be one result and to make sense of the outcome we need to understand that each of the role players will therefore have a different perspective no matter what.

School sport has a big impact on the development of young athletes and it's really important that each of us involved fulfil our roles. This is the phase of life where players should enjoy what they are doing and fall in love with the sport. Players have a responsibility to give a 100% of themselves to the coach and the team. Coaches have to support athletes through this phase focussing on their athletic development. Teaching players the basic skill fundamentals to play the sport and creating an environment where players can enjoy doing sport. At school level sport will give players on opportunity to develop their character and therefore parents play a significant role in teaching children important values that will carry them through life.

Communication will always be key in order for the player, coach and parent relationship to be fully functional. Therefore coaches make sure you communicate to players what you expect of the them during the season, never assume that players know. Parents make sure you listen and learn from you children during this season of their lives. It's important for coaches to communicate with players and parents before the start of the season on what they expect from them. More importantly we have to respect each other and the roles we need to play.

For more information on this topic or if you would like to to find out more about 3D Talks - parent|player|coach visit my website www.amandzi.com