How to help out with your kid’s sports team?
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Every parent wants to be involved in their child’s life. If your child is an athlete, it is natural for you to want to find a way to volunteer with their team. There are a number of different ways that parents can volunteer their time to make their child’s sports experience a better one. Here are five ideas on ways that you can help with your child’s sports team this season.
Coach the team
The most obvious way to help your child’s team is to volunteer to be the coach. Depending on the age of your child and the level of competitiveness, you may not need to be an expert in the sport. Specifically for the younger ages, the most important thing is to be able to relate to kids and know how to motivate them.
Coaching is an activity that is extremely rewarding to many parents. This is particularly true if you have played the sport in the past and feel passionate about it. What better way to connect with your child and their peers than to help to discover a love for the game that you also enjoy so much?
Raise money
Depending on the level of competition of your team, you also may need money for various other expenses throughout the season. Perhaps it is additional gear, training classes, or money to direct toward travel for out-of-area competitions?
Having a parent on board who is willing to spearhead the fundraising efforts can be a big help for the team. There are a number of different ideas to help with your fundraising goals. While the families will be required to put in the work on their own, every team will need a facilitator to keep everyone on track and work with the fundraising organization. This is a great way to give back to the team in a meaningful way that will benefit everyone.
Organize end of year recognition party
Every fun season should end with a great recognition party to cap it all off. Volunteering to plan this event is an easy and fun way to get involved. In addition to picking a venue and date, you will also need to plan any food and drink that will be served.
This is generally when coaches recognize the individual players for their efforts. It will be up to the party planner to make sure that the trophies are ordered and ready to go. While you want to consult with the coach on the specifics of how they want to reward and recognize the players, you can take a lot off of their plate as the season is wrapping up if you order any type of trophy and have them ready for the party.
Volunteer to keep stats or be a videographer
Another great way to volunteer your time is to step up to keep the stats for the team. Depending on the coach’s style, you can do this the old-fashioned way with a score sheet and a pencil or you can go high-tech with one of the many apps that make keeping stats easier than ever. The coaches will be able to use this information to more effectively guide the team and use kids for their individual strengths.
If you are handy with a camera, you may want to consider volunteering to be the team videographer. This is another behind-the-scenes role that the coaches lean on to be able to make practice plans and game adjustments.
Order uniforms and gear
Every successful youth sports team has a parent behind the scenes making sure that they look as good as they play. In addition to the standard game uniforms, you may also want to order practice jerseys. These types of reversible jerseys make scrimmages much easier to facilitate.
Many teams also choose to order supplemental gear. Good ideas include backpacks or duffels to haul all of their gear, socks, sweatbands, and other gear that helps the kids to elevate their game. Any coach will appreciate a parent’s willingness to take charge of this part of the team effort.
Conclusion
These five ideas are all great ways to get involved in something that means a lot to your child while giving back to your community.