What advice would I give to parents?
I think parents should allow their young children to choose the athletic activities that they participate in. Parents do need to provide some guidance, however they also need to listen to what their children want. I strongly believe that children should be exposed to many different athletic activities rather than to be focused on specialization in one sport. It is very difficult to determine where the individual’s athletic strengths and weaknesses will be while the child is still very young. There is so much benefit for a child to participate in different sports and be a member of several different teams as they become teenagers. Young people who like competing and playing sports will eventually—perhaps in high school, or perhaps after high school---gravitate toward a specific sport; they should not be discouraged from playing other (secondary?) sports in order to achieve success in their primary sport.
Parents also should be supportive of their children’s coaches and teammates. Youth athletes develop a much healthier attitude toward their coaches and teammates if their parents help the youths understand the roles of the coaches as mentors, teachers, authority figures, etc. An athlete who develops a healthy and unselfish team attitude will enjoy participating and competing as a team member much more than one who puts his/her own needs ahead of those of the team.
I believe that it is very important that parents understand that hard work does not guarantee that their young athlete will become a professional athlete, earn a college athletic scholarship, or even compete in college sports. God-given athletic ability plays a significant role in determining the ultimate development of an athlete. Even a high school athlete who devotes his/her efforts into one sport throughout the entire year is not guaranteed a starting position ahead of those who play multiple sports or are less dedicated in the off-season.
Parents should love their children unconditionally. Their children should not feel as though they have to succeed or excel in athletics in order to get approval from their parents. A very small percentage of young athletes get the opportunity to continue competing after high school, and even fewer become professionals.