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Prospect Communication's Youth Sports Blog - "Taking You Beyond the Game!", features our own articles and commentaries that deal specifically with youth sports. Browse the site to read any articles that may be of interest to your sports organization. The articles are copyrighted to the authors (Michael Langlois & Mary-Louise Langlois) and they may not be reproduced without permission. To inquire about licensing the right to reproduce any of the site's content please contact us at inquiries@prospectcommunications.com

Prospect has a unique and specialized approach to communications skills and issues management geared towards those involved with youth and minor sports. Michael and Mary-Louise's work in this area is ideal for parents and coaches who want to make the most of children's involvement in sports.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

“Bad parents” movie reflects reality


Someone sent me a clip recently of a trailer for the movie Bad Parents”, found on the Active for Life Magazine website.  The movie tell the stories of a group of soccer parents, and well, you can imagine the storylines that ensue.

As funny as the movie appears to be, it may also provide some insight into the filmmaker’s experience as a sports parent - or at least someone who has observed the often impossible-to-defend behavior of parents on the sidelines and in the stands.

The parent attitudes reflected in the story are, not surprisingly, rather poor.

If most of us are honest, we have all (well, most of us) said or done things at a youth sporting event that, upon reflection, we acknowledge we should have handled differently.  The emotion of the moment, especially when one’s own children are involved, often seems to turn otherwise thoughtful individuals into something, well, less than that.

Adults yell at referees (in fact, we just came across a story whereby a youth hockey coach was suspended for ten years for punching a 16 year-old hockey player), they scream at the kids on the field, usually creating much more anxiety than positive emotional support as a result of screaming things like, “get rid of the ball…get it out…GET IT OUT….”.  And those kind of shrieks are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to negative parent behavior—behavior that can drive their own children completely away from youth sports.

Sadly, youngsters may be embarrassed by their parents’ actions or worse, may copy and adopt the troubling adult behavior themselves.

It just leads to a carousel of negativity, hurt feelings and the result can be that youth sports, instead of being an enriching and healthy experience, becomes toxic and draining for all concerned.

A quick look at the movie trailer may be a timely reminder for all of us to set a much better example.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Acknowledgement for Taking You Beyond the Game


We were pleased to receive a note recently that listed us as an award-winning youth sports blog site.

This is the correspondence that we received:

I am pleased to inform you that Taking You Beyond the Game! has been recognised for excellence due to the contribution its top quality editorial offers the kids sports world.
KwikMed are a leading health (care) provider and and are regularly covered in the mainstream national press for their professional, modern approach to healthcare. They are one of just two fully licensed online pharmacies in the USA. This year, our specialist panel of judges have reviewed hundreds of different sites from across the internet before hand-picking the very best for each category. Taking You Beyond the Game! is among the elite selection of awardees that our judges felt made a real contribution to the kids sports category and you can see your site in lights here:

There are many outstanding sites among the award-winners, and it is a pleasure to be included in that company.

We appreciated receiving this acknowledgement, because we are serious about the work we do in trying to help instil certain values in the youth sports community through our seminars, books and the Taking You Beyond the Game site.