I read an article today that addressed the issues surrounding young athletes and their participation in organised sports. If you are involved in any way in youth sport this is a must read.
What makes it even more interesting is that it comes from a New Zealand perspective. Any rugby supporter will tell you that being competitive and New Zealand rugby are synonyms. So reading this article was very refreshing.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/5329866/Playing-to-win
A couple of points I would like to comment on are:
- Smith commented on the children’s habit of forgetting about the lose quickly. I listened to a talk by a child psychologist a while back where he made a comment about young athletes and their responses to match results. He stated that in a young athlete the most important thing is to please his/her parent. So if the parent are unhappy about the result of the match the child will also be unhappy. The difference will be that the adult is unhappy about the result of the game but the child is unhappy because the parent is unhappy. Most people however will interpret that as the child is unhappy because of the result of the game.
- Smith also told the story about the team that was beaten comprehensively in their first game of the season. I can fully subscribe to his advice and the road the team took from their. Debbie Hamman, a South African Netball captain, once said that you must worry about the things you can control. When the players focus on correcting the aspects they can control and improve those abilities the results will take care of itself.
Happy reading and feel free to leave a comment.