April 04, 2022 | Tagged Parenting
5 Dos and Don’ts if you want Your Child to Play for The Coach
Parents can help or hinder their children's basketball future. Here are some proven principles from years of seeing the heartbreak of parents who sabotaged dreams and the joy of those who helped assist their kids be their best.
DO- teach your child the skills necessary to meet with the coach face to face. Your son or daughter should navigate their playing needs with the coach.
DON'T -write, telephone, or talk to the coach about your child's playing time. It won't help and it will hurt your child overall.
DO-cheer and encourage other players on the team, not just your child.
DON'T coach from the bleachers. Yelling "shoot the ball" is harmful to your child's reputation with teammates and is often detrimental to their own performance. Don't coach other kids and parents.
DO- find good things about the game and wait for the opportune time to discuss ways to improve with your son or daughter if he or she is receptive to your counsel.
DON'T -immediately analyze and critique the game. Allow space for your son or daughter to process the game. Your analysis is an interruption to this important task. They need the skill to analyze and assess their own play. Don't love the game more than your child. If you have more passion for better play than they do, they cannot advance. You take away passion through criticism.
DO-encourage your child to express frustration and pain when he or she is going through a tough basketball season. Be a good listener and provide healthy ways to deal with the pain.
DON'T- add your pain to your child's pain. Parents need to be mentally tough. It hurts to see your child in pain. Don't lash out at your child because you are in pain and don't make them have to carry your disappointments and frustrations. Many parents have painful sports memories and watching your child in pain is a trigger of those painful memories. This is called residual pain. Most kids can deal with their hurt, but they can't deal with managing and navigating the parent's pain as well.
DO- encourage your child to see sports as a tool to develop important lifelong skills and intrinsic qualities such as mental toughness, tenacity, leadership, goal setting, and skill mastery.
DON'T- force your children to see sports as a lottery ticket, they must win to feel successful. Don't pressure the college scholarship. Don't make basketball a tool to improve your bragging rights or self-esteem.
About NBC Basketball
NBC Camps were founded in 1971 with the mission of transforming lives on and off the court. NBC stands for Nothing Beats Commit and the NBC mission is for every athlete to walk out of camp a stronger player and a better person. NBC believes in the importance of building great life habits that create success on the court and off the court. NBC Basketball believes great parenting is a choice and comes about because of intentional purposefulness, self-discipline, mentoring, and insight. Find out more about N BC Basketball at www.nbccamps.com/basketball.