Parents Involvement In Youth Sports

There has been controversy about parents and their involvement in youth sports. The aggressive behaviors by parents during games can lead to them verbally or even physically abusing officials, coaches and other parents. Parent that show violence towards anyone, can result in a greater matter of legality. Also, when parents watch, comments are made towards their child that make them feel pressured while playing. When the competition arises from the game, “loss of human qualities” are portrayed from the parents because they are only worried about the way their own child performs rather than watching the whole team effort. Many people question how feasible, legitimate, and legal violence between parents and youth sports occurs and what can …show more content…
When parents are present during a sporting event, the competitiveness gets the parents rallied up and they begin to verbally and physically abuse fellow parents, coaches, officials and players. This abuse is shown in today’s society when Thomas Junta beat Michael Costin to the point where he died two days later. The cause of this tragic event was during a hockey game, in which both their son’s were playing, when it became too rough an argument arose from both men. Mr. Junta was asked to leave, however he came back and attacked Mr. Costin (Sachs). A parent 's main purpose to be at a game is to be a positive supporter for their child while playing, but in reality many parents are known for their comments towards their child. During a baseball game, a boy had gotten a big hit in crucial situation and while the other players were congratulating him, his father had yelled from the stands on what he could’ve been improved and he told him to show him how he works from the stretch (Profile). Many children react differently to the way their parents talk to them. Children often feel pressured to succeed in order to impress their parents. When parents ask, “Did you win today?” or “How did you do?” indicates that winning is a very important factor, and their individual performance is key (Sachs). As a result, by the age of 12, more than 75% of all kids who participated in sports have dropped out because the kids become apathetic to the sport due to the actions that the coach and/or parents display during the sporting event. Also, many kids choose not to play sports because when they get older, sports exclude many players while only a chosen few get to participate. With the parental pressure of parents constantly watching the scoreboard and put unnecessary pressure on their children. With this parental pressure, the children’s confidence, ability, and joy in playing would naturally