Your role, as parents or guardians, has a tremendous impact on your child’s experiences as he or she participates in sports. Here are some tips:

Parent Code of Conduct

• Do not force an unwilling child to participate in sports.
• Remember children are involved in organized sports for their enjoyment, not yours. Teach your child to always play by the rules.
• Teach your child that hard work and honest effort are often more important than a victory.
• Help your child work toward skill improvement and good sportsmanship in every game. Your child will then be a winner even in defeat.
• Do not ridicule or yell at your child for making a mistake or for losing a game. Set a good example. Children learn best by example.
• Applaud good plays by your team and by members of the opposing team.
• Do not publicly question the referee’s judgment and never their honesty.
• Recognize the value and importance of volunteer coaches, referees and officials and give them their due respect. Without them, there would be no AYSO soccer.
• Support all efforts to remove verbal and physical abuse from youth sporting activities.

Conversations before the games

• Tell your child you love him/her regardless of the outcome.
• Tell him or her “Go for it, give it your best shot and have fun!”

During the game

• Understand that kids are over-stimulated during games. The Coach may be giving instructions, opponents and teammates are talking, the crowd is cheering, and the Referee is blowing the whistle. To a youth sports participant, the atmosphere is much like that of a fighter pilot with enemy jets racing all around. Do not yell instructions to your child during the game because it only adds to the confusion.
• Sometimes the best thing you can do as a parent is to be quiet.
• Cheer and acknowledge good plays by both teams.

After the game

• Thank the officials for doing a difficult job.
• Thank the coaches for their efforts.
• Thank your opponents for a good game.
• Congratulate your child and his or her teammates for their efforts.
• Compliment individual players on good plays they made in the game.

During the car ride home

• Point out a good play your child made during the game.
• Avoid criticizing or correcting mistakes.
• Ask open-ended questions about how the game was played rather than how many points were scored. Here are examples of open-ended questions that might apply:
  

  – Did you have fun?
  – Did you give it your best effort?
  – What did you learn from the game?
  – What was the best play you made and how did it feel?

Remember:  Coaches Coach • Referees Ref • Parents Cheer