I have played, sponsored, coached, administered at the board level, officiated and volunteered on many teams, in many different sports organizations for many decades in our community.
I believe in the youth and adults of our community.
Lives have been changed for the better over the years by the love of sport and recreation of the youth who play, the coaches who give and the volunteers that make it all happen.
We continually see friendships develop into lifelong relationships.
Youth who were taking a very bad path in life have taken the opportunity to change the road they were on and start to believe in themselves, give others another chance and eventually become mentors to other youth who were making poor life choices; just to lend a friends hand.
Some of the young athletes of our area have even dared to dream the big dream and make it reality to be in the highest levels of their sport, even the pro leagues.
I have seen players and coaches try and fail many times; pick themselves up, dust themselves off, learn from their mistakes and move on to succeed at what they had failed at so many times before.
In my opinion and personal life, the biggest success is truly at the grass roots level. It lies in the desire of our youth to challenge themselves to step away from what is easy and take the risk to become healthier, happier and possibly live even beyond their own dreams to be part of a brighter future.
This is where the rubber meets the road in my message to parents, coaches, officials and anyone else involved in youth sports.
The reason kids play sports is for their own enjoyment and growth.
I have never seen a young player join a team or individual sport just so they could be miserable, blame others and have a negative experience.
I have never seen a young athlete want to scream, swear, spit at or throw punches at other players, coaches, officials or volunteers unless they learned it from an adult first.
Please, for the sake of your own child; much less the sanctity of good sportsmanship, be a good role model for every kid who is trying to enjoy their sporting and recreational experience.
If you feel the need to blame a player, coach, official or volunteer for a bad call”or the loss of a match, game or event, stop.
I urge you to take a moment, pull yourself together and come back to reality.
I challenge you to remember that your own child learns from their own mistakes. Be brave enough for your kid’s sake to allow that to happen.
The same rule goes for coaches, officials and other volunteers. They will make and learn from their mistakes. They will make the wrong call. They will just plain screw up sometimes.
Be brave enough for your kid’s sake to allow that to happen.
If you want to be a positive influence to your kid’s experience, enjoy the game, enjoy the match or enjoy the event win, lose or draw.
If you are unable to remain civil, be a good example for your kids and just plain add to the enjoyment for others that sit near you or are coached or officiated by you and just stay home.
I include myself in this diatribe.
Can you?
Bill Tarr
Coldstream
