It’s sports — err — get-out-your-wallet season

By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register

It’s soccer season now, which means it’s time for the coach or designated party to hold a gun to your head and say,”Give me all your money.”

I just went to my kid’s mandatory parent meeting last night for this year’s soccer team, the Silly Kangaroos, and the team mom read off a list of all the stuff I have to pay for in addition to the fees I already paid for my kid to join the team.

I have to buy two discount cards at $10 each. But I can find some friends (maybe in Australia) who don’t have any kids and aren’t dead broke or laid off and try to make them buy them from me.

I also have to pay $10 for the team banner and another $10 because there isn’t...

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ER visits for concussions soar among kid athletes

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — Emergency room visits for school-age athletes with concussions has skyrocketed in recent years, suggesting the intensity of kids’ sports has increased along with awareness of head injuries.

The findings in a study of national data don’t necessarily mean that concussions are on the rise. However, many children aren’t taken for medical treatment, so the numbers are likely only a snapshot of a much bigger problem, doctors say.

“It definitely is a disturbing trend,” said lead author Dr. Lisa Bakhos, an ER physician in Neptune, N.J.

The study examined concussions in organized youth sports involving ages 8 to 19. ER visits for 14- to 19-year-olds more than tripled, from about 7,000 in 1997 to...

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How to help a child who doesn’t make the team

By Julia Edwards, Chicago Tribune

Every fall, the hopeful warriors of tryout season stampede gyms and fields across the country. Whether they’re upperclassmen hoping to make the leap to varsity or seventh-graders facing the selection process for the first time, each student faces the possibility of rejection.

“My coaches say that’s the hardest thing they do, having to cut kids,” said Terry Cooper, athletic director of Mountain Brook Schools in Birmingham, Ala.

Unlike grades that can be raised over the year, team cuts are quick, blunt and final. In today’s parenting climate of positive reinforcement, not making the team may be the first time a child is told he is not good enough. What to say, then, to the sullen, sweaty child...

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Ten coaching lessons to help athletes reach their potential

By Jack Perconte, McClatchy-Tribune

One of the most frequent requests I hear from my students’ parents is, “Can you make him a major leaguer?”

I always respond with a laugh and “Only he can do that.” My point is that parents and coaches can help players immensely, but ultimately it will be up to the players themselves to reach their potential.

Many factors, including God-given talent, love of game, dedication and luck, are just a few of the necessary ingredients to make it to the top. Parents and coaches can help athletes develop, but there comes a point when athletes have to take control of those factors and it will be up to them to reach their potential.

However, at a young age parents and coaches will be the player’s early and most...

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Is your kids’ coach a teacher or a tyrant?

By Nara Schoenberg, Chicago Tribune

When former U.S. Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu said her coach Martha Karolyi once slammed her face into a phone and that Martha’s husband, Bela, twice berated her for her weight in front of teammates, the sports world was shocked.

Kind of.

Other gymnasts downplayed the complaints of Moceanu, who was only 14 when she competed on the 1996 gold-medal team, and praised the Karolyis’ results.

“The thing is, the kids understand the Karolyis,” said Moceanu’s teammate Dominique Dawes. “No. 1, we had a choice. No. 2, we understood the political benefits to being a Karolyi athlete. The Karolyis have clout both at the national and international level.”

And therein lies the...

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Part 1: ABC’s of positive sports parenting

By Jack Perconte, McClatchy-Tribune

This week, former major leaguer Jack Perconte gives the first of two columns running through his ABC’s of positive sports parenting. It’s a distillation of everything he’s learned from over 20 years of training young baseball players. Check back next week to get the rest of the tips, from O to Z.

Attention — Getting the attention of youth athletes can be difficult, and keeping their attention can be even more trying for youth coaches. The attention span of youth is often short and when they are around teammates and friends, it tends to be even shorter. A couple of techniques I use to help this situation is to allow players time to warm up and socialize with their teammates before giving a talk on...

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A soccer mom’s flirtation with the World Cup

By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ll take football over futbol any day.

Soccer is not a sport I grew up playing or watching, even though, as a parent, I’ve watched my share of herd ball — a large group of small children running in a crowded circle around a soccer ball.

Just one round out of the FIFA World Cup group stage seemed too early for me to get excited about the games, even though I was surrounded by soccer hysteria. If the American team wins their first knockout match, then I’ll get onboard, I said.

“We won’t want you by then,” my soccer-obsessed lunch mate replied. I was issued an ultimatum: “It’s now or never.”

Somewhat reluctantly, I...

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The trauma of childhood sports

By Kristen Howerton, Orange County Moms Blog

We had a little crisis this week. My 5-year-old son Jafta has been begging to attend a basketball camp for the past three months, and I signed him up for one through our city for preschool-aged kids. All summer, he’s been asking about it and counting down to when it would start. It was supposed to start Monday. On Saturday, I got a call telling me it had been canceled.

I found myself with two options:

1) Completely crush my son and have him mope about it endlessly until the next camp starts IN OCTOBER.

2) Omit information about his age and enroll him in a camp running this week for kids age 6-8.

Which one do you think I did?

Growing up in a family that didn’t really do sports, I...

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Positive parenting in sports the power of waiting

By Jack Perconte, McClatchy-Tribune

Many troubling issues involving youth sports have been around forever, and it is understandable that they will never completely disappear. I wonder if anything is being done to help these situations, though.

By their very nature, there are many “highs” and “lows” associated with playing and watching youth sports. Because of that, there are many emotions that are created for athletes and parents alike. Tension develops in parents who work with and watch their kids play sports. Often, greater stress is built up in parents than the tension young athletes feel when playing. Parents love their children so much, want to help them and want them to succeed. Those are generally natural and universal feelings for...

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A mom shows her daughter’s team how to put the ‘play’ back in ‘play ball’!

By Marlene F. Byrne, Disney FamilyFun magazine

“Run!” An excited group of girls, including my 9-year-old daughter, Maggie, shout encouragement to their softball teammate Ashley as she sprints to third base and sits on a balloon, laughing the entire way.

“Wow, what a contrast from the last game,” remarks a fellow mom, Maureen, whose daughter, Ellie, is currently bounding toward second base wearing oversize clown shoes.

I nod in agreement, marveling at the team’s enthusiasm.

Maureen is right. As their coach for the past two months, I’ve seen the girls have fun together, but this game is unlike any other.

The truth is, it hadn’t been as fun a season as I had hoped. After losing all but two games and...

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