No Fear Mongering Please

Sports are great for our kids. They give them a great sense of being part of a team, working together towards one goal, building everlasting relationships, social groups, and friends. They learn what's it's about to make a commitment, to be dedicated, responsible and to give their best effort.

All stuff that will help them go on and be good community members.

They learn how to work within a system. They learn about respect and how to receive constructive criticism from their coach. Again, all things associated with life. Certainly sports have been a great tool that shaped a lot of our lives.

But what are the pitfalls of sports?

Well, we know that it can be expensive for sure. But, probably the worst thing about sports is that a player can become injured or worse suffer a serious life long injury or even in some cases death.

Does that mean we should keep our kids sport free, lock them in the house and only let them out during very close supervised activities with no running, jumping, or contact of any kind.

Of course not!

We cannot as responsible parents protect our kids from everything life throws at them. Sure they can get hurt seriously playing sports. But they can get hurt crossing the sidewalk or hurt pretty well anywhere or anytime, on their bike, or even in school. Does that mean we have to shut them down to protect them? No!

I kind of got a pet-peeve going about fear mongering in sports. Basically, anybody that writes about the serious consequences of being involved in sports. Sure, people have the right to know, but to take it to the extreme is nothing more than fear mongering. If we wrote articles on "the what if" and "what can" happen whenever you leave the house, nobody would leave!

Yea, sports like everything else we do has downfalls, but really there are certainly a lot more upside to sports, more positive than negative. We take a chance every time we leave our homes but we don't read about it, or are reminded daily of it. Hell, we'd be so stressed out we'd never go out!

All we can do is manage the controllable! Like, look both ways before you cross the street or as parents make sure that helmet and gear fits properly or as coaches make sure they have good technique before they begin contact drills or as parents meet with the coach and indicate what your concerns are. Perhaps you don't feel your kid is ready to play or needs more work or doesn't have the confidence yet. A good coach will respond to your concerns and never put your kid's health and safety on the line.


Cheers!