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Fair Play
Give the Game Back to the Kids
By Scott Lancaster
On October 25, FAIR PLAY DAY, parents are being asked to forget the scoreboard and consider several non-traditional, yet tested and successful, new approaches to youth sports. Imagine for a moment a season of no games, yet plenty of healthy competition where every child plays and improves his or her skills. Discover an entirely new format for practicing that enhances every child's ability and advances everyone to the next skill level.
Take these suggested approaches and adapt them to your child's league, discuss them with other parents or apply them to your own recreation time with your children.
Rather than stand on the sidelines watching, become engaged as a teacher of the game. Approach your child's league with other parents and ask to be assigned different teaching responsibilities at each practice. Gather the correct tools to teach one or two skills within an organized structure for an entire season. You will become a useful resource for your kids and help create a better and more interactive learning environment for everyone.
Forget tradition. Rather than conducting single team practices, approach your child's league about setting aside one day or evening each week in which the entire league gets together and conducts a skill-oriented practice session or clinic. As a parent volunteer, you can attend and participate with other parents and be given assigned responsibilities to teach specific fundamentals.
