It's Our Game, Not Yours

The Community Games strives to be the lead sports organisation when it comes to child protection and welfare. One of the biggest challenges facing young people and children when they participate in sport is the pressure that they experience from parents, coaches and other adults. Often children at sporting events are subjected to abusive language and threatening behaviour, neither of which fall in line with the ethos and policies of Community Games.

Parents play an essential part in encouraging and supporting their child's participation in their chosen sport. However, many sports organisations and clubs have struggled to address the problem of poor parental/spectator behaviour in junior sport.

This year the Community Games is asking each of you to support the campaign ‘It’s our game not yours’ which was launched by the Child Protection in Sport Unit in the UK.

It's important that everyone involved in sport for young people is committed to ensuring that children are supported to participate. Often complaints and concerns arise about the negative behaviour of some parents and the impact this can have on their own and other children, coaches, officials and the club itself.

As a member of Community Games, be that as a parent, coach, leader, administrator, etc., you the adult have a responsibility to ensure that children have the most positive experience whilst participating in sporting and cultural activities.

For more information on this campaign please click this link.

To accompany this campaign a video called ‘My Magic Sports Kit’ was also developed. Please take a look and mindful of the pressure and expectations that we place on our children and young people: PLAY VIDEO 

How can parents positively support their children?

 

• Support your child enthusiastically
• Encourage your child without expecting perfection
• Be a good role model – to children and other parents 
• Promote fair play
• Acknowledge the efforts of all the children
• Encourage your child to play by the rules
• Support the coaches and officials (particularly young officials)
• Share challenges or criticisms (of officials, coaches or players) in a constructive way
• Encourage other spectators to be positive
• Challenge or report poor side-line behaviour
• Allow the coaches to coach
• Support and respect your child’s ambitions in sport
• Remember that this is your child’s sporting experience – not yours
• Celebrate and support your child as a whole person who needs a range of experiences both inside and outside sport

* Taken from CPSU website