Kids in Sports | Character Building | JBM Thinks

If your child has played for a team that suffered through youth sports coaching drama, then you know just how frustrating it can be. Any of these sound familiar? The coaches don’t get along with each other The head coach fires assistants who know more about the sport than he does The coaches have no [...]

    What do you say to a 10-year-old in youth sports if that 10-year-old is you? The makers of this video challenged people to write a letter to their 10-year-old self. Their remarks enforce the fact that hindsight is very 20/20.   If you had to write a letter to your 10-year-old self, the [...]

Blaming others for what goes wrong is a common practice in youth sports–as it is in society.  When a run scores, when a touchdown pass is dropped, when a goal is scored, it always has to be someone’s fault, right? When young athletes get sucked into the blame game, is there ever really a winner? When your [...]

There’s a load of crap circulating around the youth sports world, lies that parents believe which have made the culture of kids’ athletics rather distasteful at times. Don’t fall for it. If any of these unspoken or spoken lies steers your behavior as a sports parent, call them out for what they are: enemies that [...]

Being a softball mom is a tough job. My daughter played for 15 years–through middle school, high school and college. Has softball invaded your life too?  I truly hope if you are just beginning your softball journey, or are well into it, that you will experience as much joy from seeing your daughter play as I [...]

Sometimes I just have to sit back and let other blogs do the talking. Enjoy these youth sports posts. Attend child’s game as a fan, not a coach. This is really hard for some parents to do. How about you? Today, Enjoy the little things in youth sports: a reminder of what’s really important. I’m always looking [...]

Youth sports coaches have an opportunity to be positive life-influencers. But what happens if your child’s coach does not do that?Today’s guest post by David Grey addresses this problem. Participating in team sports can be one of the most fun and developmental experiences a young person can have. Team work and sportsmanship encourage psychological growth. [...]

There are many ways for your child to learn to play sports: camps, leagues, and thanks to organizations like The Youth Sports Club, there are online options as well.   The Youth Sports Club is more than just a site where you can order dvds. It is a family owned and operated business that cares [...]

Finding the right youth sports league and camp for your child to begin his or her sports experience should not be a casual decision. As parents, we are choosy about our kids’ food, our kids’ schools, our kids’ doctors, our kids’ medicines–all things that have big impacts on our children. But when it comes to [...]

If you would have asked me that question a couple of years ago, I would have said NO. “Merediths don’t quit,” we preached to our kids. “You finish the season and then if you don’t want to play next season, you don’t have to.” But there is one thing I’ve learned after 25 years of [...]