Parents – Your Reputation At The Gym Or In Your Sports Program
This is from Tom Burgdorf of GYMNET Sports.
He makes some great points and I couldn’t have said it better. If you can, subscribe to Tom’s newsletters and at the very least, “Friend” him on face book.
We rate the athletes all of the time regarding their performance, progress, behavior and importance to our sports programs. I wonder if the people in charge of your gym or sports organization rate the parents of their athletes too? Of course they do. Maybe we don’t show a score for each parent at the meet but in the minds of the coaches there is a “score” for the actions, behavior and importance to the program for each parent on team.
Shocked?
We all have reputations based on how we talk, behave and react. How we support or don’t support the goals and philosophy of the sports program. Your reputation can be helped or hindered by whether you are seen as a “supporter of all of the athletes on team” or selfish as in “my child and no one else.” We all create and add to our reputations daily.
And the reputation, the way people think of you, at your sports program is what at this moment? Wouldn’t it be interesting to ask 5 of your fellow team parents what your reputation is? How about asking the coaches how they feel about you?
PARENTS ARE GREAT! I feel strongly that our sports programs are filled with 98% terrific, supportive parents who have great reputations with the other parents and with the coaches. It’s the other 2% that can mess things up. In fact many terrific coaches burn out after a few years and one of the major causes is dealing with difficult parents. Not fair.
**We need positive parents.
**We need parents who believe in the program goals and the coaching staff.
**We need parents who, when faced with a concern, go to the coaches in a constructive “let’s work this out” type attitude rather than cutting down the program and coaches in the background.
**We need parents to make sure that those 1 or 2 misguided parents don’t “rule the parents area and the bleachers.”
**We need parents who understand how wonderful sports are for their children.
If you are one of the 98% of the parents who have built a great, supportive reputation at the gym or in your sports program, fantastic and we need you to continue setting a great example for everyone else.
Continue to help create an environment for the coaches to achieve the ultimate goal of all sports programs, developing a better young adult to attack life with the skills and attitudes to be successful. We need you. (Send me your comments about this important topic.) Tom Burgdorf GYMNET Sports
