Janis B. Meredith's Blog: JBM Thinks Sportsparenting, page 24

6 Keys to Maintaining Good Communication with Coaches, Parents, and Players

It has been said that a team that doesn’t have good communication is like an engine that has been broken down into its separate parts. All the parts in great working order, but without the rest of the engine parts, the individual pieces just won’t work how they were supposed to. I’m afraid that we have...

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6 Truths Your Child Needs to Know After Every Youth Sports Event

In youth sports, no two events are alike. The score, the mistakes, the opponents, the weather, the officials, and how your child feels are all variables that influence the youth sports event experience and make each one unique. However, even though there’s no way for you to know what each competition will look like, coaches...

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How Much Will You Sacrifice for Your Kid’s Dreams in Sports?

What kind of financial sacrifices are you making for your kid’s sports to pursue their dreams at playing at a higher level? In the article Behind every Olympian is a financial sacrifice, the evidence is clear: Behind every athlete who makes it to the next level, is some sort of financial sacrifice. It can cost thousands of dollars...

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What Olympic Parents Want to Tell Sports Parents

Every two years, we are in awe of Olympians and inevitably, we meet some Olympic parents and hear their stories of sacrifice and support. There was a time, however, when those Olympic parents were sports parents much like you are. I doubt that most of them really grasped that someday their children would be competing...

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3 Steps to Having a Blast As Your Child Plays Youth Sports

If you watched the 2018 Winter Olympics, then you’ll probably remember Jong Jin Kim, the dad of snowboarder Chloe Kim. He held up a posterboard sign that said “Go Chloe”, with a pink heart colored in above the words. Jong Jin showed parents of athletes in youth sports the number one rule of being awesome: have...

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When Recruiting, College Coaches are Watching YOU too, Sports Parents

If your child wants to play sports in college, you are probably doing everything you can to help them in the recruiting process to reach their dreams. You may be hiring the best coaches, signing them up for the best teams, and pushing them to get good grades. These are all good things, but if...

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5 Times When Parents Need to Ask for Help

Being a great parent does not mean that you never ask for help and that you are able to do it all. It does not mean that you are super-mom or super-dad who can be at every one of your kids’ games, keep the house clean, cook amazing meals, excel at a full-time job, AND...

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8 Things Daughters Need from Their Sports Dads

Sports dads do not all do things the same way. Studies show that many of them are “softies” when it comes to their girls. But youth sports also shows us that many of them are very hard on their girls. A few weeks ago, a dad on my daughter’s varsity softball team (she’s one of...

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10 Rules of a Team Player

Coaches and parents talk about the importance of being a team player, but what really does that mean? When my oldest daughter gave up gymnastics for softball, it was because she loved being on a team. She’s a social butterfly and loved the team interaction. But it wasn’t long before she began to see the...

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When Coach Makes Quitting Seem Like Your Child’s Only Option: Has it Ever Happened in Your Family?

Has your child ever felt like quitting was their only option because they had a coach that you or they struggled to agree with? Maybe it was his demeanor, the way she ran practice, his playing time philosophy, or her game plan? One coach stands out amongst the many coaches my kids had over the...

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