The Pressure On Children And Youth Sports
Undue or increased pressures from coaches and parents can have severe consequences, leading to stress, burnout, and frequent sports dropouts. If sports participants are not trained in fundamental and general movement and gross motor skills, they cannot transfer to another sport and become more sedentary, inactive, and overweight.
Coaches and parents must become aware of and recognize symptoms of potential stress and burnout. Münchhausen syndrome is unique because it is a psychiatric disorder in which those affected by illness or psychological trauma draw attention, sympathy, or reassurance to themselves. It is also sometimes known as hospital addiction syndrome, thick chart syndrome, or hospital hopper syndrome. Athletes may feign headaches, a sick stomach, or other illnesses to avoid training.
A Michigan, USA (2000) based study examining 20,000 children and youth athletes denotes that 67% [now between 70-73%] drop out. The most common: “It was no longer FUN!”
Children also tend to use the ‘looking glass’ approach for self-reflection:
Imagine “how they appear to others”…
Imagine “how others are evaluating them”…
Then form impressions of “who they are”…
This reflection on themselves can become the basis of their decision to remain in the sport or drop out. Interestingly, female athletes are affected more and tend to drop out sooner than males. Boys also tend to remain in programs even when frustrated or no longer happy because of fear of being labeled as ‘losers’ by teammates. However, this can create, in the end, problems for coaches since these boys are often distracting others and may cause discipline issues. Subsequently, coaches and parents need to communicate and share observations. It is always stated that children and youth need to possess high self-esteem to succeed in their athletic experience. After all, maturing young athletes need a positive self-image, which affects the factors shown below. We need to understand this is not an automatic but a process in a ‘chain’ with several stages:
Learning the skill{s}
Possessing the skill{s} and being able to perform them any time under any circumstances develops ‘Competence – Yes, I can do it’
Being competent develops self-confidence
Possessing self-confidence leads to self-esteem
Possessing self-esteem leads to self-actualization
Parents In Sports
It is not always “Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice” or Instant Success and Self-Serving Gratification. According to sports sociologist experts, parents can be identified under various labels. Under which category Do You See Yourself operating?
The “Avoider” Parent–
a) Wanting to have the child/children FUN with very little skill learning (“babysitter” approach)
The “Pusher Perfectionist” Parent–
a) Very intense
b) Personally identifies with the child’s/children’s performance.
c) Perceived as a reflection of the personal Ego, which needs a “boost.”
d) Losing is perceived as a personal “letdown,” often followed by “silence” treatment or social isolation.
The “Convincer” Parent–
a) Coaxes the child/children via promises or dominates through guilt or fear and is convinced that these techniques are highly motivational.
b) Often, athletes play injured or in pain.
c) These parents do not realize the potentially “lethal” effect.
d) In due time, the child/children resort[s] to excuses to avoid practice (fake[s] sickness or make[s] him/herself sick… tummy ache, vomiting, etc.), hides in the locker room, or wants to drop out.
The “Facilitator or Enabler” Parent–
a) The “ideal” parent because the physical, emotional, and social well-being of the child/children is the focal point.
b) This empowers athletes and facilitates their learning process.
c) For the facilitator coach, seeking instant gratification is far removed because he/she is aware of the complexity and responsibility in teaching the generation of tomorrow.
The question is: What is the ball doing to the child - rather than what the child is doing to the ball?”… Devereux, 1976
Fun versus “Overemphasis” of Winning
Keeping Winning in Proper Perspective
Building a foundation for future sports involvement rather than burn-out and/or dropout
It is not “sugar and spice and everything nice.” The educational process and leadership demands full commitment, patience, tolerance, and “relentless work.” Rewards are not always in the present. They more often happen in the future when athletes succeed at higher levels of sport or acknowledge the influences and support they received in sports in other areas of life. To be effective and exciting, youth leaders (coaches and parents) must act as ultimate role models and deal responsibly with issues or problems unique to the age group and developing elite athletes. We must remind ourselves of the Turkish proverb that “there is an uphill for every downhill and a downhill for every uphill” and that “stairs are climbed step by step.” Therefore, it is recommended that clubs host a series of educational seminars to educate parents or review expectations regarding the training and development of young elite athletes.
Winning Emphasis: Excessive involvement by coaches demanding 30-40 or more hours of training, which may lead to “warped” professionalization in sports such as swimming, gymnastics, figure skating, hockey, soccer, etc., because full-time coaches’ salaries depend on the success of the team or the individual, the “Upside Down Model is an operational model as children are treated as ‘miniature adults, training long hours and become ‘child athletic workers, become victims of ‘lost childhood, and experience the ‘lost adolescence syndrome’ (Tennis stars American Andre Agassi and German Steffie Graf personal stories).
References:
Pictures and Text
Schloder, M.E. (2021). Lecture Notes, Sociology of Sports. Module: Children and youth sports. Calgary, Alberta, Canada, www.coachingbest.com