I can say with some certainty that by the time most of us enter CA, we have seen far more intense parents on the sidelines of club soccer, little league and hockey teams. However, once our children start representing a school— our school— our behavior is as important as theirs. We are the face of Columbus Academy just as much as those who wear the Viking uniforms.
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| And while being present for your child at any of their extracurricular activities is about the most meaningful thing out there, it's always nice to be reminded of a few things to keep us over-eager sports parents in check. |
Remember, try not to be more competitive than your child. It is as unseemly on the field as when you are playing UNO at home.
Avoid living vicariously through your kids sporting experiences. This is a tough one, I know. But let's face it, our kids are never going to redeem our own hopes and dreams, so let's not put that pressure on them.
Find healthy ways to relieve your frustration. Yelling at the refs and coaches is likely to end in undesirable punitive measures (and I hear that CA parents don't fare so well in the pokey) so try channeling that angst into something more productive....like yoga or tai chi. Then you'll just look weird on sidelines, rather than hostile.
Good sportsmanship is always in style. Gloat only in the privacy of your own bathroom, shake hands eagerly with those whom you especially want to fail and resist the urge to move out of state when things don't go your way.
Here's to an incident-report free athletic season at CA!
Thanks so much for writing this blurb. I am witness to the ends some parents will go to when "good sportsman (or woman) ship" runs amuck. At the school where I teach, when our CA coach son took an 8th grade basketball team to the league championship several years ago, a group of parents mounted a campaign against me on Facebook, wanting me to be fired for sitting on CA's side. [Keep in mind that my 3 grandchildren attend CA, and my son and daughter-in-law teach at the school].
Thankfully, the "powers that be" at my school, the other team's coach, and a group of positive parents,took on those mean-spirited folks, citing the fact that they were simply "poor sports", as they'd had nothing to say earlier in the year, when their team beat my son's boys.
It was a painful experience for me and for my family, that didn't need to happen, if those parents had only remembered that it's their behavior that sets the tone and helps to develop character in their children. The incident, for all intents and purposes, died a slow death, but it took months and lots of support for me to heal! This was an extreme, to be sure, but stays with me to this day.
I've had the pleasure to be in attendance at numerous contests at CA and continue to be proud of what I've seen, as far as the demeanor of all fans.
Keep up the good work CA community and if you are ever tempted to jump into the fray of the "poor sportsman [or woman] ship monster", I hope you will think of my story and the impact several people's "silly season" had on my life.