Why Your Participation Is Vital In Your Child’s Sporting Interest

As part of my 12 week internship at Pulse Social, part of my job was to write and produce blog posts surrounding different topics within sports.

This particular blog post focuses on how parents can get more involved with their children's sporting interests!

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Why you need to get involved today!

As parents, you probably already know just how important and impactful of a role you play in your child’s life, from their small habits and behaviours, to their favourite sayings and jokes, to even the way they perceive and understand the world and the people around them. Your role as a parent is essential in the foundations of your child’s life.

That’s why it is just as vital for you to get involved in your child’s sporting interests.

In sport organisation’s Believe Perform article by Mary Quinton, ‘The Influence of Parents in Youth Sports’, they cite a 2008 study by McCarthy, Jones and Clark-Carter that found that positive parental involvement was one of the most frequently reported results by young males and females.

Quinton wrote: “This implies that when children in sport perceive parental involvement as positive, they are more likely to enjoy their sporting experience.”

Essentially, this is just like seeing someone you love show a positive reaction and engagement in something like sports, it can help you to perceive it in a positive light and even want to give it a try yourself.

Likewise, Neuro-Linguistic Programming Coach and Trainer and parent of two girls, Rebecca Lockwood, also highlights how sports is a fantastic way to connect more with your child and also help your child form good connections with the other children around them.

“When doing activities with your children, it can create a bond between you and your child,” Lockwood said. “It can help to encourage and support your child to do things even if they may be a bit apprehensive or scared.”

“A parent being by their side can encourage and uplift them. It also builds strong connections and exciting things to talk about which strengths your relationships all round.”

So, now that you know this, how exactly can you get involved?

1. Show up

One obvious way to get involved is by actually making the effort to show up to their training and their matches to cheer them on and show your support. By doing this, it allows your child to strengthen their mindset, which in turn can further develop their self-esteem, courage and motivation.

Of course, this is also a great way for your relationship with your child to strengthen and grow, as Lockwood spoke about.

2. Get to know the coach

Secondly, it is always helpful for both you and your child when you talk to their Coach to find out about any training, upcoming games or to even enquire into pursuing sports as a career.

Not only does this allow you to build a rapport with the coach and gain a bit more information and knowledge on what is going on, it also may give you the opportunity to gain some insight into the coach’s training methods and mindset.

Quinton similarly touched on this by encouraging parents to: “Put trust in the coaches’ methods. If the same messages are being portrayed by both the parent and the coach then there is a lower chance of the child becoming confused, which means they will be able to focus more on working towards set goals.

3. Participate in sports yourself!

Don’t panic, this does not mean you have to play the same sports as your own child! However, it can be very impactful to see your parent(s) regularly being active and taking time out for themselves to workout or play sports.

So why not take out some time in your day, it does not even have to be more than fifteen minutes, and do an at-home workout (for those of you who are busy) or maybe try out a sport at your local club or gym.

Whatever you do, your child is always paying attention in their own way and it can be very encouraging when they see you enjoying something.

4. Make sure to check in with your child

What are they enjoying the most? What are they finding more difficult?

By asking questions like these, it helps you to understand more about your child and their current mindset on where they feel their strengths and weaknesses lies. This then gives you the chance to help encourage them and possibly aid them in building goals for themselves to face these challenges and learn from them.

However, as Quinton also writes: “DON’T: Become over-involved. “Although this may be your way of showing you care, be wary that there is a fine line between supporting your child and over involvement.

5. Listen to our upcoming podcast!

To find out more ways you can get involved, it might be worth giving a listen to our upcoming podcast with father and son duo, Abdulla and Mohammed Selim!

In this podcast, I spoke to Mohammed about his experience of becoming a pro-footballer after playing football from the young age of seven and his father, Abdulla, about how he got involved and helped his son pursue his dream career.

By Abby K Lake

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Read blog post at Pulse: https://pulsesocial.co.uk/blogs/f/why-your-participation-is-vital-in-your-child’s-sporting-interest