Summertime is Playtime!

Summertime is a great time for children because they get the opportunity to play without as much structure and rules as occur during formal autumn and winter sports. This is important and parents need to remember that helping your children to succeed in sports is not only about coaching but also having fun.

If a parent spends summers helping their child improve skills in a sport, that is valuable time for both the parent and child. The problems begin when a child starts to lose interest and the parent may become frustrated thinking the child is not applying themselves. In fact, the child may be losing interest or focus because they don’t see themselves having any fun while training over and over.

There is a fine line between being a coach who pushes their child to succeed and being a caring parent who wants to give their children every opportunity to succeed. Here are some tips on how to help your child with sports over the summer so they can enjoy themselves:

• Let your child dictate the sports activity in which they want to participate. A football player who wants to spend summers playing baseball can be improving their speed and reaction time without constantly doing football drills as an example.
• Spend more time being a parent than a coach. Certainly give tips on how to improve if warranted, but just spend time enjoying sports with your kids.
• Don’t be upset if they choose an activity with their friends rather than playing catch with you. They need that time to improve their social skills and have some fun.

Sarasota Sun Devils offers both a football program for children ages 5-14 and a cheerleading program for children and teens. For more information on our programs please see our contact page.