Post by sader1970 on Jun 23, 2019 16:09:38 GMT -5
www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/the-rise-of-the-snowplow-sports-parents/ar-AAD7qKE?ocid=spartandhp
The overactive parent is as old a concept as sports itself, but coaches and agents across football, basketball, baseball and hockey say that over the last few years, parents have become more involved in their children’s athletic careers than ever before—and it is reshaping sports. After all, this is a burgeoning age of player empowerment. Salaries are higher, athletes can force trades and recruit teammates. Business opportunities are everywhere, from the phones in players’ hands to the shoes on their feet. But that also means there are more complex decisions to make. So parents are stepping in to ensure that not an ounce of potential is wasted.
Not surprisingly, the trend is driving many coaches nuts. “When I think about my next coaching job, I think it should be in an orphanage,” says Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey. “I use that [line] at coaching clinics, and high school coaches give me a standing ovation.”
College coaches and recruiting directors say that in recent years they’ve had to place more emphasis on re-recruiting players every year because many parents will suggest their child transfer if everything isn’t going perfectly. That impulse to constantly intervene to make sure the child is in the best possible position is not unique to sports. “The child’s life is the parent’s life,” says Julie Lythcott-Haims, former dean of freshmen at Stanford and author of How to Raise an Adult. “The parents feel like, What would I do if I wasn’t constantly involved in my kids’ activities? There is no trust in the systems—the parents do not trust that the adults around the child are doing a good job.”
That overinvolvement can seem helpful in the short term, but in the long term it can hold the child back in developing necessary life skills. “When a child is overhelped like this and led down the path of their life, obstacles cleared out of their way, it harms them psychologically,” says Lythcott-Haims. “When you have too much handled for you, the person lacks agency for their life.”
That overinvolvement can seem helpful in the short term, but in the long term it can hold the child back in developing necessary life skills. “When a child is overhelped like this and led down the path of their life, obstacles cleared out of their way, it harms them psychologically,” says Lythcott-Haims. “When you have too much handled for you, the person lacks agency for their life.”
