Today, we have the collaboration of BasketballDadGuru that brings the following article:
“When the result rots everything”, by BballDadGuru
Parents, coaches, and children at play in the basketball training.
‘There is a question that lately I round more than I should have:
What we are really building a good environment for children to grow through basketball?
The answer, if we’re honest, it hurts.
Because for every sincere smile of a mini after his first basket, for every hug from your computer, every companion that sits to the side which has failed two free throws… there are too many screaming from the stands. Too many orders that do not touch. Too many coaches who are in their tenth defeat without batting an eye, while one parent makes the mental list of “what club would be best for your son.”
We’re not talking about a story. We speak of a structural phenomenon, an increasing pattern in many fields of the country: that of adults who do not know to take their place. Parents who are depressed. Trainers forget about form. Managers who look the other way. And in the midst, and children. Girls. With 10, 11, 13. Absorbing it all.
This article is a call to slow down. To really look at. To stop using the word “training” as an excuse and start to see it as a responsibility.
The problem is not new. But it has been aggravated.
There has always been demanding parents. There has always been coaches resultadistas. But something has changed: the pressure has escalated, and the childhood has narrowed.
Today many children of 9 years already compete every weekend as if it will play in your future. Some train 3, 4 or 5 days. Others change their club before you know tie the shoes. And when they do not meet the expectations of the environment, which before was a disappointment, now becomes a failure.
Does the source? It is multifactorial.
1. A culture of the result cystic
We live in a society that measures everything in terms of visible success. In the sport basis, that translates in to “win”. From federation until the father more modest. From the tournament of neighborhood to the campus modernization. How many points? How and against whom played? What Ganasteis?
It has lost the focus in the process. The improvement, effort, and patience. The child who arrives late in the development or just play for fun is discarded. Not sum. It does not fit.
2. Parents ‘ well-intentioned… but disoriented
The majority of parents do it from love. They want what’s best for their children. But that’s not enough. Because without an emotional education and sports minimum, that love becomes a pressure, in frustration, in unrealistic expectations.
And when the child does not play, does not get baskets, or lost… what you get is not support, but rather deception. Sometimes silent. Sometimes in the guise of advice. Sometimes in the form of reproach on the drive back. It all counts. Everything weighs.
3. Coaches without tools
Many coaches training are young, inexperienced, or simply have not been trained to manage children’s groups. Know of technique. Know his tactics. But they don’t always know how to talk with a child who is crying because she has lost, or with a mother who demands minutes, or with a team that just wants to have fun, but the club need results.
In addition, the club does not always accompany it. The trainer is only. Sometimes, burned. Or be tempted by the easy applause of a victory. And when he wins, even if it is crying, even if it is leaving without playing three children… no one says anything.
The consequences: the price hidden adultocentrismo
We might think that this is all part of the game. Children will adapt. They already learn. But no. What you learn —if we do not intervene— it is not basketball, it’s trauma.
1. Play with fear
To fail. To make a mistake. To be judged. Some children do not look at the ring… look to the bench. Or to the stands. Wondering if you disappoint his coach or his father.
2. Drop out of the sport
What say the studies: the majority of young people leave the sport between 12 and 15 years. Why? Because it ceases to be yours. Because they don’t enjoy. Because the environment is toxic. Because it is not worth it.
3. Damage your self-esteem
If the praise comes only when you win, if the errors are penalized with gestures of disapproval or bench, the message is clear: “vouchers only if you give up”. And that message, repeated over the years, cala.
4. Learn the values wrong
Do not greet the opponent. Discuss with the referee. They cheat if they can. Because what you have seen. Because no one corrected. Because the model was that.
Cases that demonstrate
What Sergio Balaguer was a turning point. Coach minibasket, young, committed, assaulted by a parent in a tournament for simply helping a child. It was. Resigned. Not by fear, but by boredom. By sadness. Because of impotence. Your thread on social media became viral. Gasol answered him: “don’t let who win them.”
His story became viral. Embraced through the Spanish basketball. But the question is: how many “Sergios” is that not what you have? How many are in silence?
Or the case of Zaragoza, where an arbitrator child was insulted badly with racist expressions by a parent. You will be pushed. Left him wounded. All after a party of girls. Girls. The arbitrator hurt and all ended up in the courts.
There are anecdotes. Are symptoms. Are consequences.
What are you doing? And is it enough?
Something moves. And that is the reason to celebrate it. The FEB has driven codes of conduct, protocols, child protection, training mandatory. Some federations have limited markers or eliminated ratings in small categories.
Have been dealt the decalogue for parents. Have spread videos. Have been sanctioned behaviors.
But not enough to put up posters that say “they Are kids, not professionals”.
Does lack of a profound change in culture.
Does lack consistency between what we say and what we reward.
Does lack courage institutional to stop what you can’t tolerate.
What do they do better in other countries?
The example of Norwegian is known:
- There are No national championships up to 13.
- There are published results in small categories.
- The focus is to enjoy, participate and generate a link with the sport.
Result: Norway leads the rankings of physical activity and successful olympic per capita. Not to compete before, but due to better compete.
In Canada, the model LTAD clearly separated stages: first, developing basic physical, then specific skills, later competition. And in each phase, the approach is different.
Australia has been deleted marker in sub-10 and has reinforced the pedagogical training of trainers for children.
What can we do? We continue to rankings in the benjamins. We are still recruiting children of 11 years. We continue to celebrate technical win all the matches… but they leave behind half a template.
What now?
For parents:
- Do not coach from the stands.
- Do not talk of the marker, speaks of the effort.
- Do not project your dreams. Accompanying yours.
- Don’t make every game a review.
For coaches:
- Educa. Way. Respects.
- Learn how to read to children beyond the ball.
- Set limits. Not everything is worth winning.
- Take care of your emotional health as well. You matter.
For clubs:
- Set clear rules.
- Your technicians.
- Protects the good coaches.
- Do not make a quarry in a talent agency.
For federations:
- Less tournaments, more training.
- Unless rankings, and more accompaniment.
- Less focus on results, more focus on processes.
- Assesses not only what teams win… but how to do it.
A call to all of us who believe in this
We’re not talking about a minor problem. We’re talking about the childhood.
How to be remembered in this sport for those who are living now.
Whether they will return to the pavilion with 25 years to encourage… or 35 to the physio for a broken knee and the soul off.
The basketball can be a school of life.
But it can also be a source of injury.
It depends on us.
Let’s go back to put the child in the center.
Let us talk about respect, of joy, of game.
Let’s go back to the values that have brought us to here.
And if ever in doubt, look to the eyes of the child in all of us. He will tell us what type of coach, or parent we needed.
It is not about winning. It is growing.
BasketballDadGuru
@BballDadGuru on Twitter
to Form people. Building the future. And to do so from the heart of a pitch.
