Parents watching their kids play sports need to step back and listen to their opinion – researchers

One sports sociologist says viewers of children’s sports need to “hold back” to stay in the game longer.

The comments came after the Herald published an opinion piece by a netball dad about the worst things he’d seen courtside.

Over the past decade, the author said he’s seen enough to be sure that school-level play “met all the criteria to be considered toxic, devoid of core values, dominated by adults with big egos and distorted ethics, and elite gamers.” hard-to-understand sense of entitlement”.

AUT Associate Professor Simon Walters told Newstalk ZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave that it only takes one person on the sidelines to “spoil it all”.

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“If we’re constantly instructing them from the sidelines, telling them what to do, and praising them when they do well and berating them when they don’t, then it’s in the nature of the way how we make comments from the outside, they will not go to get better.

“It’s their game, not yours, and let them enjoy it.”

READ MORE: Confessions of a netball dad: Worst things I’ve seen courtside in New Zealand

Many children stop playing sport by the age of 15, although the national Active NZ 2017 survey shows that participation was highest between the ages of 12 and 14.

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Walters emphasized that there is nothing wrong with competing or winning, but overcompetition is a problem.

Ten years ago, Walters worked on a study that captured the comments made by parents and coaches on the sidelines of rugby, football, netball and touch games. 22 percent of the comments were perceived as negative.

Researchers monitored behavior and were also asked about gut feelings. The study found that 40 percent of the more than 200 games viewed were perceived as a negative environment for gamers.

“It’s enough for a parent to constantly approach the referee or some of the players or one of the players to create such a negative environment for everyone involved.”

“So most people behave positively, but it only takes one person on the sidelines to spoil it for everyone.”

Walters, a researcher focused on improving the quality of youth sports experience, said there is “absolute” evidence that part-time behavior deters children.

Research around the world has shown that there are a number of factors that lead to children dropping out of sport, but the perception of not feeling good about something was a major factor.

“It’s because you’re constantly being criticized from the sidelines for making mistakes,” Walters said.

“Other parts of this are the social pressures that come from competitive structures, like overuse injuries, and when there’s too much pressure from the environment.”

Luke Kirkness is Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously worked as Assistant News Director at Bay of Plenty and before that at the NZ Herald, mainly covering consumer affairs. He was named Student Journalist of the Year at the 2019 Voyager Media Awards.

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