Viking Coach

This Saturday, after Saturday Morning Basketball, I will be meeting with parents of 4th, 5th and 6th grade to help organize the development of teams to participate in Spring tournaments.

This is the first time that I have tried to organize the parents in this way. We need to get more parents involved in our program. A parent is such an important element to a players success. With out the support and encouragement of parents players are left on their own to really get involved in a sport.

Over the years I have noticed that the boys in our community get way more parent involvement than the girls. I think we are really short changing our girls. I would llove to see parents start to become more involved in their daughters athletic pursuits. Below I have a few suggestions that I try to do with my own kids:

Parent Suggestions:

1) Go out and shoot around with your child. . . Especially if they are the ones that ask you to go out and play!!! Helping your child achieve success is as easy as rebounding shots, playing "HORSE" or driving them to the gym when they want to go. Even if it means you drive them in at 7:00 A.M. in your pajamas!

2) Help them dream big. Talk with them about one day being a star. Pick out role models and players you see as being great. Tell them why you think these people are good players for them to use as models. Be it an athletic skill or how they handle themself be specific as that will help them uderstand what is the "right way" to be.

3) Don't worry about being a "pushy" parent. I really feel too many parents are so afraid of being too overbearing that they don't help guide their child at a very impressionable age. Competitive sports are such a valuable activity for your child to become involved that putting an importance on you wanting them to be involved is a good thing.

4) Talk with them about the importance of working hard to achieve a dream. Help them understand that practicing is such a rewarding aspect of sports. . . much more so than winning itself!

5) Be willing to invest some of your time in helping out. Sometimes you are going to really want to keep laying on the couch on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon but bying getting involved you are showing an interest in what they are doing. . . Remember the days when your child would constantly say. . . "Hey look at me daddy!" or "Watch this mommy!"??? They are still like that.

6) Find out when the gym is open and ask your child if she wants to go play. It doesn't hurt to ask!
Open Gym on Sunday's is from 1:00 to 4:00 (High School and Elementary)

7) Get them involved in local basketball activities. . . Saturday morning basketball, traveling teams, summer basketball camps.

8) Attend as many events as you can. Make it a priority to be at their games.

9) Set up an allowance system based on doing a basketball related activity for a certain amount of time. I set up a system where the boys could do a dribbling work out in the basement for 20 minutes and if they did this they could earn $1.00. One of my boys did it quite a bit and the other occassionally. I didn't demand it. . . I just offered it.

10) If you don't have a hoop outside in the driveway. . .by all means. . .put one up!!!!

11) Watch basketball games together and comment on good moves.

These are just a few of the things you can do as a parent. . . The biggest thing is to encourage action and then support it with all your resources.