More About "Family Bye" Days

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 18:32. | comments

In my last blog I wrote about how I incorporated "byes" as a family day for members of my soccer team. I always made it my policy that everyone on my team played three-quarters of the games and I alternated the players that played the entire game. I encouraged kids to take "byes" as a family day, so that when I had a fuller roster we could pull off the ¾ policy.

Return to Play: Parents Can Play Important Role

Dr. Doug Glazer suggests that parents can play a role in deciding whether their child is psychologically ready to return to sports after long-term injury.

Making Fitness Fun for Children

Tips for parents on ways to make fitness fun for children.

Equal Playing Time: Absolute or Within Certain Guidelines

Kid Instinct to Be Competitive and Win

Submitted by The Coach Pickles on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 06:32. | comments

Is it human instinct for kids to be competitive and win? Many adult's will misinterpret young children's survival instinct for an affinity to win or be competitive. Few would disagree that children are innately selfish. Some are more outwardly selfish than others. When a younger child takes another child's toy, it is not about having the toy and being competitive or better than the other child. The child with the toy is only looking out for his or her best interest.

Having Fun More Important Than Winning For Most Kids

Children aren't born competing; it's something they learn. The best thing we can do for our kids, as parents and coaches, is to keep the amount of competition in youth sports from becoming excessive, to make having fun and learning the sport as important, if not more important than winning, especially for younger children. They will have a lifetime of competition soon enough.

Setting Boundaries But Supporting Independence Work Best For Sports Parents, Study Says

Parents who set boundaries and expectations for their teenage daughters but encouraged independence within those limits were better able to gauge their child's mood, provide feedback on their child's sports performance at the right time, and maintain open lines of communication, a Canadian study finds.

Conundrum: Student Athlete or Athletic Student?

Submitted by Craig Morton on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 15:18. | comments

Perhaps the finest conundrum of circular arguments is the classic chicken and egg argument. You know, "which came first, the chicken, or the egg?" Two days ago, my 12 year old son had finally wrapped his mind around that and was able to do the abstract mental gymnastics to figure out the possible loop-holes and off-beat arguments for going either way on that classic question. But after last night's parent-teacher conferences at the middle-school, there's another conundrum we had to talk about: "Which comes first, being a student, or, being an athlete?"To our dismay, we found out that in the past few weeks, academics have been slipping and certain classroom behaviors have been on the rise.

Baby Dills, Basketballs and Whackers

Submitted by The Coach Pickles on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 23:35. | comments

Introduction
There is no limit to what we, as adults, can learn from children. How often is the case we are quick to correct young children who mistakenly call something by the wrong name. But, how often does it happen that we, and our sophisticated adult minds, forget what something is called and resort to describing it by what it does until we can later remember or relearn its proper name.

Mistaken Identity

The Draft

Submitted by Craig Morton on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 18:31. | comments

Last weekend we woke to a cold crisp Saturday morning. Fortunately there was no wind. But at 25 degrees, it was plenty cold. This was the day for Meridian Youth Baseball Assessments. The thought of going through a baseball combine at that temperature didn't seem to phase the kids, they had adrenalin to keep them warm. We parents on the other hand, we were a bit chilly. And of course, nothing runs according to plan, so we waited in the cold for about an hour longer than we were prepared for. But it was only adults, like me, whining about the weather.

Basics