Your Children and Sports

Sporting skills and enjoyment learned in childhood build foundations for enjoyment in sports throughout life. Sports are a way of making exercise an enjoyable and social event.

Importance of Sports

    Playing Sports Can:

• improve physical fitness
• improve confidence through learning skills and success
• help children to learn to control their impulses. This is necessary for success in sports as well as social relationships.
• help build friendships
• start lifetime interests
• help children learn about rules and fair play
• help children to cope with winning and losing
• help children do better at school work

What Parents Can Do?

• Play and enjoy sports themselves so children are more likely to want to copy them and join in.
• Play with children and teach them the skills.
• Set challenges that children can succeed at and develop confidence. For example, set the target for a throwing game just within the child's skill level.
• Support children to take part in sports without making them do so or pressuring them to do what they don't enjoy.
• Go with children to their sport and stay to watch them.
• Encourage children and help them to focus on improving their own skills and doing the best they can do.
• Give children encouragement for what they do well.
• Show children how to be a "good sport" by how they themselves react to winning and losing, ie. clap whenever there is a good play; not just when it is your child or team that has succeeded.
• Help children to learn the rules of the game and explain why rules are important.
• Never criticize or blame children for mistakes. Help them see that everyone makes mistakes, and mistakes are to learn from.
• Explain to your child that winning does not simply mean coming first or being the best. Achieving a personal best or performing a skill for the first time is just as important as winning and should be praised and encouraged as such.
• It is important that parents show courtesy and consideration at the sporting events and do not argue with or abuse the umpires or other players. This stresses their own children as well as making it unconfortable for everyone else.