Parents in Sport Week October 3rd – 9th 2016
Every so often the media features stories about the negative behaviours of parents on the sideline in youth or junior sport. This negative parental behaviour takes away from a child’s experience of sport or their desire to continue participating within sport, as they no longer see taking part in sport as fun.
To combat the negative impact a small minority of parents have on sport the CPSU have teamed up with a vast number of nationwide National Governing Bodies to promote the huge contribution parents can have on their child’s involvement in sport by celebrating the first Parents in Sport Week on the 3rd – 9th October 2016.
The aim of Parents in Sport week is to:
• encourage sports organisations and clubs to promote the positive role parents play in helping children reach their full potential
• empower parents by sharing information regarding key roles they can do as a sports parent in supporting their child’s participation, success and fun, and therefore retaining a child’s interest in sport
• assist coaches and officials to understand the crucial role parents have in a child’s participation and continued involvement in sport
Ways that sports can get involved in parents in sport week
1. Speak to high-performance and well-known athletes about how their parents supported them – either film them or write an interview piece for your club magazine
2. Hold seminars for club welfare officers – focus on how to positively engage with parents
3. Organise a family BBQ fun day with themed competitions and parents’ awards, voted for by the children
4. Run a Parents in Sport Week poster competition – encourage young people to design posters, and use the winning poster to promote the week
5. Use a variety of the Child protection in sport unit resources available on their website https://thecpsu.org.uk/news/2016/october/parents-in-sport-week/
For more information on parents in sport week visit
https://thecpsu.org.uk/news/2016/april/play-your-part-in-parents-week/
https://thecpsu.org.uk/news/2016/october/parents-in-sport-week/
https://thecpsu.org.uk/resource-library/2016/parents-in-sport-club-poster/