Get them into sports, but wait…read up first

By NIMROD NL QUIÑONES

When kids are on vacation from school, it is best to let them do things that will help build their character and eventually become a foundation for life.

Get them to try a sport, but wait…do not force them.

I have long passed the stage of being the sports dad during the school breaks having spent hundreds of days waiting by the sidelines or under some shade while my son was in football training.

My son spent several school breaks joining football trainings organized by the school or the club.

Having played sports when I was younger, it was the logical thing to do, get my children to do sports, but one thing I always bore in mind was not to force him what sport to pick-up.

Getting your kids into sports should not be a fulfillment of your own dream, but it should be about them. Get them playing so they can learn to interact with others and more importantly develop discipline that can be very useful in making our world a better place.

Sports teaches kids to play by the rules. It teaches them to push themselves beyond their limits and strive to win.

While the involvement of parents is very important, there has to be limits as parental interference often lead to disaster.

Some justify their interference saying that the coach is doing it wrong. While in some cases this could be true, parental interference is in almost all cases due to the reason that you want your child to be prioritized or develop fast as an athlete.

Not all kids are prodigies. There are quick learners and those who may not seem to have a future today, but in a few years could turn out to be the athlete you wanted him or her to be.

My daughter with her classmates in the class of Shihan Oscar Obsioma of JKA.

Some kids immediately find the sport that they will love and play for a long time and hopefully professionally if they are really gifted or had worked very hard to reach a certain skill level.

I once held free judo classes for kids of all ages at the Cebu City Sports Institute in Barangay San Nicolas.

When you get your child into sports allow them to learn the rules and do not make it a point to bend them just so your child will win.

Losing is part of sports. In fact, there will be more failures than success along the way and it is not the other way around. Understand that reality and keep it in mind.
While we want them to develop that attitude to strive to win, we must also help them cope with failure. Coping with failure is not blaming others or coming up with a reason to file a protest or worse seek remedy elsewhere because you are feeding your ego and not really that of your child.

Parents have to learn to respect coaches and other kids participating in sports and that includes those in the opposing team. Be a good example to your children and do not embarrass them by fighting with other parents or cursing coaches and players of other teams.

Parents must know when to step back and just allow their children to continue playing and have fun. If as a parent your idea of fun is always winning, you got it all wrong.

Support your children by being present. Here, I watched at the sidelines during the JKA belt promotion exam of my daughter several years ago.

Kids must know how to pick themselves up after a failure or a loss. Do not berate them for a misstep or a wrong decision while playing. Do not scold or fire the coach because your child was benched or wasn’t given ample playing time.

It may cost you a lot of time and money to get your child into sports, but remember you do not own the sport and you can never say your child is the next star of the national team or the best professional in the future.

Children have to enjoy participating in sports, not only to become a better athlete, but more importantly a better person.

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