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Think your team wouldn't love having their own custom football gloves? Of course you're not thinking that! Get us going now and we'll have them to you before the first kickoff!

By Brian Gotta, President of Upstart Sports
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An article written in the USA Today entitled, Fixing Kids’ Sports: Why The Fun is Gone & The Players Are Quitting….What You Can Do, brought to light some very interesting pieces of information. Summarized by Richard Brunette, Recreation Supervisor for the City of Costa Mesa Recreation Division, they are:
· The drop out rate from children in youth sports is 70%
· Stress injuries among kids are at an all-time high
· That children are starting in sports way too early, even when experts say this has no correlation to kids becoming “stars” down the road. (In fact, it may have the opposite effect).
· That children are specializing in one sport much too early
· That 20-30% are playing on “elite” teams, even though only 2-5% actually have the skills to do so
· That children may be forced to play the same sport year-round, by the age of 10, for them to have any chance to play high school sports
· That practicing sports to this extent, and playing more of it, will not necessarily equate to a successful athlete or “winning”
· That those kids who participate in a variety of sports – and specialize only after puberty – tend to be better players, have less injuries, and play the sport they choose to specialize in longer
· That many kids are pushed so hard when young, they tire of the sport by high school and quit
· That 44% of parents say their children dropped out of a sport because it made them unhappy
· That 56% of parents said if they could change one thing, they would want their coach to be less focused on winning
Many of us remember fondly playing three or more sports as kids growing up and believe that would be best for our kids too. But when other kids, who are competing with ours, are playing only one sport year-round, how can we not feel that maybe our children are falling behind if they switch from sport to sport? It is a very complicated issue and tough situation for parents of a young athletes. There is no easy answer except that, perhaps, when the parent is more invested and involved than the child, it may be time to take a step back and reassess.

By Brian Gotta, President of Upstart Sports

​My first job out of college was with a large sales organization and I was fortunate enough to be working in the same division as a truly remarkable, venerable icon of the company who became a mentor and lifelong friend to me. When he would visit our branch and run sales meetings, he always concluded them by asking various attendees, “What helped you the most?” While to some, this may seem like a tactic to ask for pats on the back, when I moved into management and was running meetings of my own, I realized that this was a fantastic way to reinforce the most important items we’d just covered. The feedback given served as a recap of what we’d gone over and allowed me to reiterate the points I’d made while they were still fresh in everyone’s mind, but do so in a way that was participatory. In other words, the audience was engaged and more attentive than they would have been had I simply subjected them to a verbal summation of everything I’d said.
When I began coaching kids in sports I learned that this technique had the same beneficial effect as it did with adults in the business world. When we’d conclude practice and have all of the kids take a knee, I’d ask a few of them, “What did you learn today?” Usually I’d get responses that would allow me to further extend what we’d just taught, while also ensuring that everyone “got it.”  If you try this out you might find it to be a very useful tool to help the kids help you coach them.

This checklist is modified from one we found on the Morgan Hill Pony website. Some or all may apply to your league.
Prepare Player Roster
Names/phone numbers of players  and parents
Email distribution list of all parents
Assist in Assigning Volunteers
Scorekeeper
Snack Shack shifts
Snack Schedule
Prepare snack schedule for your team
Promote use of the Snack Shack for snacks.
Opening Day Support
Assemble your team for parade
Volunteer hours available
Support League Activities
Hand out fundraiser packets (if applicable)
Phone call/email reminders for your team’s picture day
Communicate
Keep current on league activities and keep parents updated
Take your team’s views to appropriate board members
Encourage parent attendance at open board meetings
Coordinate Team Activities
End of season team party  (if desired)
Order trophies (as needed)
Manager / Coach’s gifts (if desired)
Inform your Parents of Potential Costs (if desired)
Banner
Lettering for shirts and hats
Uniform accessories  (i.e. belts, ¾ sleeve undershirt, socks)
Trophies
End of season party and Manager / Coach appreciation gifts

We just received an email from the President of a Little League who informed us that her league had been dissolved because of lack of volunteers. What a shame for those kids in the community.
Those of you who currently volunteer or have in the past should be proud of yourselves for being the backbone of your youth sports organizations. As you can see, without you, the kids you serve would not have a place to play. If you ever wonder if its worth it, or if your participation is really necessary, think what it would be like if no one was willing to help. Even if you sometimes feel that the parents who don’t spend their time as you do should be more appreciative, you can get all the gratitude you need every time a game is played in your league.

A follow-up to our earlier post on the correlation to playing sports and success in life, this by our regular contributor, Dean Herbert.

Sports psychology has some interesting findings about athletes and the effect of participation in sports.

Much of the research supports what is called “gravitational” hypotheses. That is, that a certain personality type will gravitate towards athletic involvement. What exactly have they found? In various studies they have found that athletes are more confident, competitive, objective and outgoing; as well as less anxious than their sedentary counterparts.

What does this mean to parents and coaches? It means that many athletes already possess characteristics that will make them successful in life outside of sports.

However there are other studies that have indicated that involvement in sports in the developmental years prior to maturity can foster some positive developmental effects upon personality (extroversion, stability).

What does this mean to the coach and parent?
Whether a youth athlete currently possesses these “success” characteristics or they can be developed; the advice is the same. All athletic programs for youth should place a premium on the development of self-worth, confidence building and foster independence. Winning should be relegated to secondary importance.

This is of course a tough message for most of us to hear. But there is a critical message and differentiation that has to be made. The primary purpose of youth sports is to foster development of desirable physical and psychosocial characteristics. Youth sports is a microcosm of society in general not of professional sports. The design is to assist youth in learning to cope with realities of life through sport. To that end, if we (parents and coaches) do not create that environment we have failed to serve the best interest of our children.

Some messages that must come through win or lose
·    The boys and girls are loved, accepted and valued regardless of their performance. They are more than the sum of their athletic performances.
·    Coaches and parents should never berate a child for a poor performance. Use these instances for learning opportunities on how to do it better next time.
·    Coaches and parents need to use both winning and losing as opportunities to learn. Life includes winning and losing. Everyone must learn how to cope and be gracious.
·    Teach qualities of persistence, good sportsmanship, emotional self-control, the ability to handle adversity and rebound.
·    Role model the very behaviors you want to see in your athlete. If you are over emotional, over critical, over protective or overly focused on just winning then that is what you will foster in your athlete. If you role model patience, incremental improvement, tolerance of a variety of skill levels, graciousness in all game and practice situations and learning from adversity – that is what your athletes will learn. That is what these youth will bring with them into adulthood. These are lessons that they will carry with them for life.

Dean Hebert M.Ed. MGCP is a certified mental games coach specializing in youth athletes and youth coaches. He has authored several books and hundreds of articles. He works with individuals, teams and coaches in all sports as well as performs guest speaking engagements on mental toughness. His website is www.mindsetforperformance.com.

We hope you enjoy the holiday weekend celebrating our nation's birthday!

While this is not new, it is a wonderful sentiment and ties in well with some recent posts on children who play sports and life.
This is your first game, my child. I hope you win.
I hope you win for your sake, not mine.
Because winning’s nice.
It’s a good feeling.
Like the whole world is yours.
But, it passes, this feeling.
And what lasts is what you’ve learned.
And what you learn about is life.
That’s what sports is all about. Life.
The whole thing is played out in an afternoon.
The happiness of life.
The miseries.
The joys.
The heartbreaks.
There’s no telling what’ll turn up.
There’s no telling whether they’ll toss you out in the
first five minutes or whether you’ll stay for the long haul.
There’s no telling how you’ll do.
You might be a hero or you might be absolutely nothing.
There’s no telling.
Too munch depends on chance.
On how the ball bounces.
I’m not talking about the game, my child.
I’m talking about life.
But, it’s life that the game is all about.
Just as I said.
Because every game is life.
And life is a game.
A serious game.
Dead serious.
But, that’s what you do with serious things.
You do your best.
You take what comes.
You take what comes
And you run with it.
Winning is fun.
Sure.
But winning is not the point.
Wanting to win is the point.
Not giving up is the point.
Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.
Never letting up is the point.
Never letting anyone down is the point.
Play to win.
Sure.
But lose like a champion.
Because it’s not winning that counts.
What counts is trying.