When your child is a young athlete, it is only natural to want to help them as much as you can. To do all you can to help them reach their dreams. That is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it can be taken to unhealthy extremes.
As your child gets older, they need to become increasingly more responsible for their athletic career. Obviously, at 8 years old, mom and dad should handle most of the communication with the coach. At 10u, the child should be able to ask coach what they needed to do to improve. They also need to start taking ownership of their private practice time.
At 12 years old, the parent really should have limited conversations with the coach about sport related things. Only intervene if it becomes obvious that it's necessary.
At 14u, the only thing the parent should be doing for the player is driving them to and from practice and games. The player should be 100% responsible for recruiting activities and correspondence and for discussing playing time, improvement, and any other issues with the coach. If your child is a pitcher, dad or mom should no longer be calling her pitches. You won't call her pitches in college, so you need to get used to not calling them now.
If you are not raising your child to be self sufficient in their athletic endeavors, not to mention in life, then you are doing them a huge disservice. You won't always be there nor should you be. They need to learn to handle things and deal with disappointment without your interference. You are raising them to be adults, not large children.
By 16u, you should basically be seen and not heard. Unless, of course, you are cheering for the team.
As your child gets older, they need to become increasingly more responsible for their athletic career. Obviously, at 8 years old, mom and dad should handle most of the communication with the coach. At 10u, the child should be able to ask coach what they needed to do to improve. They also need to start taking ownership of their private practice time.
At 12 years old, the parent really should have limited conversations with the coach about sport related things. Only intervene if it becomes obvious that it's necessary.
At 14u, the only thing the parent should be doing for the player is driving them to and from practice and games. The player should be 100% responsible for recruiting activities and correspondence and for discussing playing time, improvement, and any other issues with the coach. If your child is a pitcher, dad or mom should no longer be calling her pitches. You won't call her pitches in college, so you need to get used to not calling them now.
If you are not raising your child to be self sufficient in their athletic endeavors, not to mention in life, then you are doing them a huge disservice. You won't always be there nor should you be. They need to learn to handle things and deal with disappointment without your interference. You are raising them to be adults, not large children.
By 16u, you should basically be seen and not heard. Unless, of course, you are cheering for the team.