Giving Thanks for a Positive Youth Sports Experience

Today I am thankful for youth sports coaches who:

• Treat every child as though they have a chance to succeed
• Let their players address the banquet crowd with stories of what the season meant to them
• Reach out to each player’s parents at least once a season to give them a brief update on their child’s progress
• Realize that a child would rather play and lose instead of win and sit the bench
• Have fun
• Teach 
• Do not play favorites 
• Smile
• Dodge league politics
• Lobby for positive change
• Laugh
• Do as they say
• Run laps with the team because maybe the coaches are also partly to blame for the mistakes that were made
• Can look a child in the eyes and admit that he was wrong
• Know the strengths and weaknesses of every player
• Expect the best from every player while realizing that their circumstances might not always allow them to focus completely on the task at hand
• Do not assume that every child loves the game as much as they do
• Understand that sports are secondary to school work
• Are not in love with the sound of their own voices
• Do not treat a parent’s inquiry as a threat to his authority as the leader of the team
• Yell words of encouragement
• Are always looking to learn and improve

 I am thankful for parents of youth athletes who:

• Volunteer
• Do not speak poorly of their child’s coaches while the child is present
• Cheer for both teams
• Do not coach from the bleachers
• Smile at games
• Volunteer more
• Do not angrily approach the coaches after a game
• Do not force a child to participate in a sport that they do not enjoy
• Let the coaches do their jobs
• Do not put unnecessary pressure on their child
• Volunteer a lot
• Do not criticize their child
• Talk about something other than the game on the ride home
• Do not overbook their child with too many sporting activities
• Enjoy the pure spectacle of children learning to contribute to a team

 I am thankful for youth athletes who:

• Thank their coaches after every game and practice
• Thank their parents for bringing them to and from their sporting events
• Help teammates who are struggling
• Lead by example
• Never criticize a teammate
• Practice as hard as they play
• Do not talk back to the coach
• Give back to their leagues
• Never forget that every person on the team deserves their respect
• Do not question an umpire or referee
• Help an opponent up after a hard hit
• Bust their butts to get whatever it is that they are going after
• Achieve high grades
• Play for that special feeling that comes from dedicating every ounce of energy towards a goal
• Have kind words for their opponents after every single game, win or lose

I am thankful that our children are free to decide whether they’d like to kick a soccer ball into a net or shoot an Airsoft gun at a target but not be forced to do either.

I am thankful for green fields, blacktops, and frozen water with painted lines and supervised by caring adults.

And I am thankful to each of you who take the time out of your day to read the words that I have written.

Please take the time to recognize those who have made a difference in your youth sporting community over the past year. Sometimes a pat on the back is worth a thousand THANKS.