Three Things to Never Take for Granted as a Sports Parent

The lessons, friendships, memories and moments created from youth sports will be carried throughout your child’s entire life.

Throughout all the ups and downs of the life of an athlete, there is no greater role than that of a sports parent.

While coaches, teammates and instructors help influence and shape young athletes, it’s sports parents who truly guides their children through the highs and lows of sports.

Sports’ seasons can feel never-ending at times. There are long road trips, endless practices and lessons, family vacations scheduled around tournaments and inevitable setbacks and losses along the way. Yet, the seasons, and years, go by quick.

The lessons, friendships, memories and moments created from youth sports will be carried throughout your child’s entire life.

As summer comes to a close and we enter a new season, kids and parents around the country are gearing up for a new year of competition.

Here are three things to never take for granted as a sports parent:

1. The early mornings and long trips

Between wake-ups before the sunrise, endless drives to and from practices and games and the overnight stays and hotel breakfasts you sacrifice a lot as a sports parent.

But while these moments may seem never ending, they create some of the fondest memories and offer a great opportunity for family bonding.

From my entire youth hockey career, one memory stands out above all of the rest. My family and I drove 8 hours to a holiday tournament on Christmas Day.

The tournament was to begin on December 26th. A blizzard made its way through our destination, sending the entire room-service hotel staff home and closing down every local restaurant. Except one.

My family and I spent Christmas dinner at the Waffle House across the street. At the time it seemed crazy, but we look back on it now and laugh at the memory. I have no recollection of the results of that tournament - not how our team did, how I played or who won - but I’ll never forget the time spent with my family.

Moments like these will not be around forever. Before you know it, your kid(s) will be driving themselves to practices, games and training sessions.

Be present and enjoy the moments while you can.

2. Capture every moment: you’ll want to relive them again and again 

Sports memories are so precious to everyone in the family. Whether it’s your child’s first goal or championship-winning play, these are moments you want to not only be present for but to relive again and again.

Watching these videos brings back the many of the same emotions as watching it live - the pride of seeing your child accomplish a big milestone, overcome a setback, or helping out a teammate in need.

With the evolution of smartphones and other technology, gone are the days of camcorders and waiting until the end of the weekend to wait for the clips.

Try capturing highlights right on your smartphone with a camera app such as Rapid Replay, capture only the memories, and instantly share these clips via text, email and social media for all the family and friends not able to make the game.

Don’t take these moments for granted. Capture them and cherish them. They go by fast.

3. Enjoy the losses, not just the wins

By definition, sports have victories and losses, winners and losers, first place and last place. No matter your children’s ability level, they’ll experience the highs of victory and the lows of defeat.

As a parent, its easy to get wrapped up in the results, but it’s important to take advantage of the losses as teaching moments and offer perspective.

Losses are never the end of the world. In fact, they teach valuable lessons in so many ways.

Losing offers a teaching opportunity to instill a growth-mindset in your children and shows them the value of working at their skills over time to improve. Just because kids lose or plays poorly once doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Rather, it shows that they have areas to improve. Turn losses into challenges to become better.

Losses also offer the opportunity to instill humility and self-confidence in your athlete. While confidence can from wins, the moments of defeat allow young athletes to realize you can bounce back from a loss even stronger.

Don’t take the losses for granted. They may come with frustration or tears, at times, but with your help, they’ll teach your children more than the wins do. They’ll force your children to grow as people on and off the field.