As the weather warms up and we shake off the winter doldrums, kids want to be outside more. Their thoughts naturally shift to spring sports. Sports such as soccer, lacrosse and baseball are very popular, and many teams hold tryouts to determine who will make the team. How can we as parents help our kids be adequately prepared for the rigors of Spring Tryouts?
- First off, don't panic.
Your child may have natural talent and ability to field a ball, but they are trying out for a team. Encourage your child to make their best impression possible by being friendly, outgoing and exuding maximum effort. Often, players who show 100% effort are chosen for a team over a player who has talent but doesn't use it. - Help your child to be at top physical condition. Encourage adequate sleep, proper nutrition and maximum hydration. it's tough to be at your best physically when your body is fighting itself.
- It's all about agility and balance. In sports such as soccer and lacrosse, good balance and agility are key. Help your child work on basic skills such as stopping and starting quickly. A great exercise to foster this speed and agility is short sprint runs, more commonly called shuttle block runs.
- Get back to basics. Everyone, in every sport, needs core strength. Every night, practice push ups and sit ups. Even just 25 of each a night will go a long way towards strength.
- Make sure that this is the team for you. It's not an embarrassment to feel out the coach for expectations before your child joins a team. A little bit of homework could show that your child is trying out for a team that won't be a good fit for your family.
- Teach your child to focus on himself and not others. Often, kids get wrapped up in other athlete's performances and allow themselves to be intimidated. Encourage your child to do his best. Don't make comparisons and don't allow your child to do so - no one ever wins.
- Be Flexible. Allow your child to play different positions, with different teams and different coaches. Often the plan that you have made may not be the best one, and it takes being open to input from others to see that.
What sports are your children interested in this spring? What are some things that you have done to help your child succeed at spring tryouts?
My kids don't have tryouts quite yet, they are still young. They get on a team no matter what.
Quoting CrazedMomof2:My kids don't have tryouts quite yet, they are still young. They get on a team no matter what.
My son is at the age where he's starting to cross over into tryout that only choose a few kids instead of all that apply. Until recently, his tryout consisted of the coaches trying to group the kids together that have similar playing ability--and then they should also be competing against kids of the same ability too.
BUT this last December my son had his first tryouts for a team where not all the kids were accepted. My son made the AAA hockey team, but as a developmental player instead of a tournament player. My son had his first practice last night, and I guess he didn't even realize until last night that not all the kids that tried out made the team (even though I DID explain this to him before). He felt very proud that he was chosen to play for the team last night once he made that realization.
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on Mar. 8, 2011 at 12:00 AM