YOUTHFIRST:

A Parent Orientation Program for Youth Sports

By R.R. Apache

Every year across the country millions of youngsters participate in organized sports. There are many weekends when parents sit in the bleachers or stand on the sidelines, cheering loudly for their children. Perhaps a better description might be that parents are often heard yelling instructions or making unsolicited remarks to their children as they participate in the games. The rise in inappropriate behavior and violence at youth games is documented on the news and in magazines, as with the extreme example of when an angry father killed a little league hockey coach.

This trend in negative behavior has increased the dropout rate amongst children involved in sports (Petlichkoff, 1996). According to recent published reports, 75% of young athletes will drop out of sports by the age of 13 years (National Alliance for Youth Sports, 2003). Youth sports are an avenue for many benefits, but also the cause of much unhappiness (Leppke, A. & Tenoschok, M., 2003). With so many children dropping out some attention must be given to parents and how they may be a positive or negative influence. This article describes a parent orientation program designed to inform parents about the behavior that is expected of them when their children participate in youth sports.

YouthFirst is a parent orientation program designed to:

• Give parents an overview of the role they play in their children's sport experience;
• Allow parents an opportunity to fully understand the role of the youth sport coach;
• Demonstrate to parents the appropriate verbal communication strategies required for a positive environment; and,
• Educate parents about the developmental process involved in youth sports, and how to support their children's efforts and interest in sports in a positive manner.

Development of YouthFirst

Students enrolled in a coaching certification course at an urban university were instrumental in developing the YouthFirst program. They took theoretical concepts presented in their course and transformed them into practical strategies. They grouped the strategies into three categories: role of parents in youth sports, role of coaches (many times a volunteer parent) in youth sports, and finally, how the behavior of parents and/or coaches contributes to why young athletes quit sports. Though the three categories grouped by the students who developed the program are inter-related, the focus of YouthFirst is primarily on parental behavior. The idea was to develop communication strategies that support parents and coaches in creating a fun, positive environment for young athletes. For instance, there are benefits to using more positive words (Great hustle! Way to go Red Hawks!) and fewer instructional words (Move back! Watch No. 7! Pass it to John!).

A series of newsletters for parents and coaches were created outlining communication strategies and how they might apply in a given situation. (An entire series of age-appropriate newsletters were also developed for athletes.) Table 1 lists the topics covered in the newsletters and then discussed during parent orientation sessions. While coaches and parents have different supporting roles, students felt it was important that each groups understand and respect the role of the other. Newsletters for coaches were designed with the idea that many coaches are volunteers who may have limited or no technical coaching skills. Newsletters for parents emphasized tips on how parents can help their children improve in the sport, learn more about the sport, and stay interested in the sport.

Implementation of YouthFirst
A regional Parks & Recreation Department adopted the YouthFirst program (2002) for their youth sports leagues. There was an orientation session that all sport parents were required to attend. A video presentation that augmented the briefing to parents was included. . At the orientation parents registered; provided data on their children; were briefed; watched a video; took a quiz (Table 2); and, required to sign a Code of Conduct (Table 3). Parents then received a certification card good for two years. At the end of the two years parents would be required to return for re-certification.

Assessing YouthFirst
It is clear from viewing the works of earlier researchers (Smith, Smoll & Hunt, 1984) that monitoring the attitudes and behaviors of parents during sporting events is the logical sequence in effecting positive change. This author developed a nine-category parental behavior assessment tool (Table 4) to gauge the impact of the YouthFirst program, and then taught coaching students how to conduct observations and score. The assessment tool was used during the baseball, softball, soccer and basketball seasons. Data collected and the analysis (summary) of it was shared with both parents and coaches in order to ensure and maintain a positive environment for the young athletes. Later the data was used to adjust and improve the content of subsequent training material.

One of the positive changes resulting from the YouthFirst program came during the second week of basketball season, when the league referees started to make closer calls on traveling, and double dribbling on players in the 10-11 year old teams. This upset many parents and resulted in their voicing a great deal of frustration. When this was passed on to the officials, they explained to the parents that they would be making closer calls slowly over the next weeks in order to help students understand the rules and improve their skills. Parents accepted this reasoning and were no longer frustrated. This example illustrates how communication, in a timely and respectful manner, can lead to successful understanding.

As noted above, YouthFirst was developed to give parents a way to communicate using positive strategies. Young athletes have more fun and participate longer in sport when they are not caught between conflicts between parent and coach. YouthFirst is more than a parent orientation program. The program support parents, coaches and athletes year round by sending quarterly newsletters that appeals specifically to each group. Sport interest, age, and coaching and/or parental status are all taken into account. Families with three or more children may well receive up to nine newsletters per quarter. Creating a fun and positive environment in youth sports is the key to ensuring youth retention. Educating parents and coaches on what is appropriate behavior is a good first step.

Resources
www.YouthFirst.info

References
Leppke, A., Tenoschok, M. (2003). Social factors affecting intramural and sports participation in middle schools. Teaching Elementary Physical Education, 14(5), 29-30.

National Alliance for Youth Sports (2003). International Youth Sports Congress. West Pal Beach, FL.

Petlichkoff, L. M. (1996). The dropout dilemma in youth sports. In O. Bar-Or (Ed.), The child and adolescent athlete (pp. 418-430). Osney Mead, Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., & Hunt, E. B. (1977). Training manual for the coaching behavior assessment system. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 7(2).

Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., & Hunt, E. B. (1984). A system for the behavioral assessment of athletic coaches. The Research Quarterly, 480, 401-407.

Weiss, M. R. (1993). Psychological effects of intensive sport participation on children and youth: Self-esteem and motivation. In B. R. Cahill & A. J. Pearl (Eds.), Intensive participation in children's sports, 39-69.

R.R. Goyakla Apache (rrapache@nevada.unlv.edu) is an Assistant Professor for the Sports Education and Leadership Program, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV.

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