(This is part three of our seven-part series on sports burnout and kids)
I recently turned to Bianca Edison, M.D., a sports medicine specialist with the Jackie and Gene Autry Orthopedic Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, for some insight on how to prevent our kids from experiencing sports burnout. In this nine-part series, we explore the pressures to excel that kids in L.A. face, how to recognize burn out, what to look for in a team and much more.
What should parents look for in sports team?
Ideally, sports teams should foster a love of sport while cultivating the whole athlete with proper physical and social-emotional development. Coaches play a key role in that. The way a coach approaches their particular sport and their role in a young athlete’s life can make all the difference when it comes to that athlete’s value system with regards to sports and their safety risk profile and ultimately, future outcomes.
Coaching is a different sort of mentorship and leadership role. Often players can spend more time with their coaches than anyone else outside of the home environment. Those coaches who recognize, respect and honor that role tend to experience healthier and more positive players on their team.
A great sports team not only fosters an environment to positively contribute to physical fitness and develop both basic and higher-level skills but also elevates a child’s capabilities to develop leadership skills, boost self-confidence, learn the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship and help them deal with both successes and failures. In addition, before your child joins a youth sports team, evaluate both their short and long-term goals as well as your own so that you can compare against the motivation and goals of that particular team.
