May
11, 2010
News For
SWIM
PARENTS
Published by The
American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite
200
Fort Lauderdale FL
33309
___________________________________________________________________
Kids And
Sport
By Ira Klein, ASCA
Level 5
Recently I read an
article from Sports Psychology magazine, written
by Dr. David A. Feigley. He works with the Rutgers
University Youth Sport Research Council. The article
was entitled "Why Kids Quit" and contained interesting and useful
information which I wish to share with all of you.
First, why do kids
play sports?
There are three basic
types of participants. Ability oriented children enjoy
competition and "want to be the best". Task oriented children
enjoy the activity itself and often focus on
self-improvement. Social approval oriented children work to
please others such as coaches, parents, and teammates. To my
surprise, the author says that the evidence suggests that those who
work for social approval persist the longest.
Children aged six
years and younger cannot distinguish between ability and
effort. They believe that when they try hard they are
automatically good at what they are doing. Praise tends to be
accepted positively by very young children regardless of whether
the task was successfully completed or not.
Children aged seven
through eleven develop the ability to differentiate between having
talent and trying hard. They compare themselves with others,
and if they feel they cannot succeed, they would rather not
try. They find it easier to attribute failure to a deliberate
lack of effort, than to admit that they lack ability.
Children from age
twelve become skilled at making social comparisons and realize that
expending effort is no longer a guarantee that they will
succeed.
What can we do to
help reduce the pressures that children feel?
1. Encourage
enjoyment of the activity and self-improvement.
2. Encourage
children to interpret comparisons with others solely as a tool for
improving. Comparisons should be constructive and never as
simple as "they are better" or "you are not as good".
3. Praise must
be an earned reward. As children mature, they begin to
value praise for successful outcomes much more than praise for
trying hard. Look for specific successes.
4. Continually
remind your children that ability often changes dramatically as
they
