I needed a laugh today, let’s start with the infamous “A Soccer Moms knows Best videos from those crazy Soccer Girl Probs girls…
My kids make fun of me when we watch this video and say that I’m the “Team Spirited Overprotective Mom” and I usually am that half full kind of girl (and I do have a first aid kit in the car at all times…) but this weekend I was frustrated. Instead of focusing on that both my girls got lots of playing time and played well in their games and had fun with their friends, I was thinking about the fight I had to break up on the sideline (that’s a whole different story) the annoying parking structure I had to park in and the loss that I thought should have been a win.
It’s hard to watch your team lose when they attempt to pass and play “the beautiful game” and lose to a team who elbows your top scorer in the head and plays the long ball. (again, another post…) I talked to my hubby who is usually the more rational one, and he found a great article by Michael Clark, “Winning! How Important is it in Youth Sports?” from the site Back of the Net.
Clark discusses that differences between the youth reaction to the emphasis on winning and the adult and that we should look to Vince Lomardi’s quote, “Winning isn’t everything, but striving to win is.” Instead of focusing on questions like “Did you win?,” we as parents and coaches should ask our players, “Did you give your best effort?” and “Did you do something better than you previously could?”
It’s a great read…what do you think? Does your child’s team win all the time? What happens when they lose?