6 Ways to Raise a Good Sport
At Camp Kupugani, our Midwest overnight summer camp (near Madison and Chicago) that offers girls-only, boys-only, and blended (intentionally coed) sessions, we don’t have a lot of competitive aspects to camp; when we do, we’re all about promoting good sportsmanship. During our well-loved mid-session staff vs. camper soccer game, the campers appreciate the focus not so much on the score but on the aspects of sportsmanship, respect, effort, and positive attitude. (With camp director Kevin being the dad of a competitive athlete, he also appreciates those aspects in his own child…)
A recent article from Doing Good Together emphasizes some good tips for how to raise a good sport. Read below for our brief summary, with the full article here.
Raising a Good Sport
- Sports are great for children (when done right).
- Improved social skills
- Learning how to cope with failure
- Foster cooperation with others
- Learn about fairness
- Start early.
- Play games ASAP!!!
- Talk about / follow the rules of the game.
- Practice what you preach!
- Be a good sport yourself.
- Treat coaches and referees with respect.
- Avoid comparing your athlete to others on their team.
- Teach commitment to the sport/activity.
- Lift up positive sport role models.
- Point out acts of kindness.
- Get involved in the charity they support.
- Help your kids keep their cool.
- Teach your children how to handle frustration.
- Come up with a plan when they are upset.
- Rethink what success looks like.
- Talk less about win-loss records and more about commitment to the game.
- Encourage the joy of the sport.
Source article: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1100856977747&ca=0d38fec6-90d8-4067-b14c-ea58ab684a60