Running Head: PARENTAL INTRUSION IN YOUTH SPORTS

PARENTAL INTRUSTION IN YOUTH SPORTS
STEVEN J MAYNOR
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

PARENTAL INTRUSION Parental intrusion in youth sports is nothing new. There will always be adults who act inappropriately or disrupt the league. A lot of the problems lie with adults who use youth sports to gratify their own egos, adults who can’t deal with the emotional ups and downs of youth sports and there are even those who see the time and money spent on their child as an investment. There are a lot of reasons for out of control parents when it comes to youth sports. My purpose for this paper is to come up with a plan for a youth sports league that is seeing a lot of parental
The first step is to develop and implement a parent’s code of conduct. The second step is to hold a coach-parent meeting prior to the start of the season. Last, but not least the final step is to get parents involved in the league itself.

Developing a parent’s code of conduct can be a time consuming task because a lot thought can and should go into making it. However, the code of conduct can be tailored to the specific sport, it can be a reflection of past incidents that may have happened, and it can be as lengthy or as short as a coach may need it to be. The code of conduct should cover at least, the basic topic that parents agree to be respectful and provide positive support and encouragement to their child, the team, the coach, and other the parents. It should touch on the fact that youth sports are for development not winning, as well as any disciplinary action that could occur as a result of breaking the stated rules in the code of conduct, up to and including parent suspension or expulsion from games and practices.

The next step is to hold a coach-parent meeting. This should be before the first game. However, it may be better to hold after the first or second practice so the coach gets a chance to meet and get to know the players and parents. This meeting should serve as a chance to introduce yourself to the parents as a coach, and give some background. Also, let the parents introduce themselves and who their kid is. Go over, philosophy, playing