How do you decide if your child had a good season? Is it the number of wins? How many losses? Or do you keep track of how many times your child plays and compare it to another child and their play time? There are three things I look for and determine whether or not I feel like my child had a great season.
IMPROVEMENT
1. Did they become a better player? This is one of my favorite things to see happen over the course of six to twelve weeks(depending on the sport). Watching my child improve as an individual is key to a successful season. To see them successfully make a play, field the ball, make a bounce pass, hit the ball, make a basket, strike out swinging, go for the layup, cheer on the teammate that just struck out or give a high five to a friend that just made a free throw. These are all things I look for that will improve my child’s sports career. Seeing them improve as an individual and as a teammate are proving to me that they had a successful season. Sometimes it’s more than wins and losses. I want my child to grow as an athlete, which can be anything like trying to make a basket or throwing a no hitter. Having a successful season to me is watching them improve throughout the season, there will be ups and downs, and learning to deal with those emotions and coming out on a positive note is key.
FUN
2. Did you have fun? This is huge in my opinion. Not just having fun chatting with your friends, telling the latest knock-knock jokes on the bench kind of fun, all that and more. Meeting new kids and coaches, connecting with them on and off the field. Getting to know their teammates and coaches, and being able to communicate with them. This is one of my favorite things to witness, new friendships forming. The kids might not realize it yet, but this is one of the best part of being on a team. These individuals
are going to work together as a team, have good moments and bad. Question is did you come out of this experience as a better player? Or maybe more importantly a better person.
RESPECT
3. Is your Coach someone you can look up to? This can be tricky to answer on so many levels. I am not an expert, I can only speak from my experience and what my kids have experienced. This is a truly coming from the heart, I want my child to look to their coach as someone they have respect for and enjoy playing for. This has such an impact on them as to wether or not they will have a successful season.(And reality is it will stick with them for many years to come!) I’ve seen some incredible adults out on the court or field coaching, and I could not be happier that my child gets to have that experience. I’ve also seen it go the other way, disappointed that this is who my child is learning from and seeing it turn into a negative experience. I’m not looking for the perfect coach because we are all human. I don’t expect perfection from anyone. I just want them to love what they are doing, if the coach is having fun and can teach the kids to be a better player than that’s a win in my book any day. After all, sometimes its not about wether you win or lose, its how you play the game. Learning how to play the game and how to be a good teammate can mean you had a successful season, sometimes its just hard to see that.
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