So your child joined a sports team, now what? Well first let me say welcome to insanity! Just kidding, but no really, welcome to a world that will delight your heart and challenge you every step of the way. You are now officially a sports parent. Be prepared to have balls endlessly rolling around your vehicle or finding them in your shower. And don’t get me started on the awkward places you will find your child’s sports equipment.

Whether you or your child initiated joining a sports team, nothing is more certain than the fact that daily life is about to change drastically. Although there are certainly lots of varying levels of sports leagues, reasons to join and levels of intensity, skills or passion, nothing can truly prepare a sports parent for the journey they are about to embark on.

The best thing you can ever do for your child is to research the sport and the league they will be playing on. Carefully study the league policies and never ever make any decisions without first checking back with the league policies. I cannot stress that enough. You become your child’s personal PR consultant and manager when they step into the world of sports. That’s because no one will know your child better than you do. Eventually, you will have to advocate for them from time to time.

Research is everything

I came from a vastly different world of sports than what my own sons have walked into. The very first thing you should research is exactly what level and or league will work best? Which one works best for the family schedule? You may be thinking, “Well, sports is sports” and why does it matter if it’s a church league, city league, state league, or even national league? The answer will depend on your child’s reasoning for joining and the entire family’s level of commitment. Yes, you read that right, the WHOLE family’s level of commitment.

Does your child simply want to have fun and make some new friends in your local area? If so, then a church league may be the perfect fit. But what if they want to compete and have a better understanding of the game and skills? Well, then you may want to consider a city league, a state or national league. The point is research, research, research. Ultimately, if you choose a level that isn’t exactly where your child can thrive, the experience for everyone is going to be miserable.

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Find the best Fit for your Child

Not all children want to compete and some children get upset playing on rec teams where other children seem uninterested in the game or playing their best.

Let me give you an example. My oldest son loves all things baseball, he loves watching it, collecting baseball cards, playing the game cheerleader, and working on his skills. He loves to compete but also wants to have a good time. We found that travel ball was too intense for him, right now. But we also found rec ball upset him when other kids on his team didn’t put forth their best efforts. The happy medium came from the two national league teams. He plays for both so he can play year-round and he is thriving!

Our middle son, however, although he loves all things soccer and has more raw athletic talent than his older brother, just doesn’t care about competing or even if his teammates are fully participating. For him it’s social. So rec league is a perfect place for him. Then there’s our youngest, still clueless, couldn’t tell you much about baseball or soccer other than watching his brothers play. He is also only 5-years-old and loves to play, sometimes, so the city rec center is where he is thriving.

Sports Parents: Learn the Sport

Now that you’ve identified which level to sign your child up for, you may be thinking it’s a done deal. Not exactly true. Nothing is more frustrating to child or parent when a coach, ref, or another participant makes a call that neither you nor your child fully understands. I thought I had enough knowledge under my belt the first time my son hit a low, non-grounder ball into center field and the outfielder caught it, prompting the coaches called it an out.

Wait? What? That wasn’t a pop fly by any means! It was about chest level, how is that considered an out? A bunch of debate, research, and careful reading of the league's policies after the game and I quickly found out why it was called out. Not that I agree with the call, even to this day, but I can now explain to him why it was considered an out.

Sports parents, your job isn’t over once you sign your child up to play. It’s only getting started. There are so many regulations today to keep children safe. Heads-up football versus tackle pop warner football is among the hottest debated sports currently. Of course, there are similar debates in soccer, baseball, wrestling, competitive dance, cheer, or karate. The point is it will be YOUR job as a sports parent to keep up to date on league and division policy changes.

Be advised that divisional policies change as kids progress to upper divisions. For example, most tee-ball leagues do not play “outs”, but kids are in for a rude awakening in coach pitch when outs are introduced. Other sports have similar policy changes.

But wait, there is more

There’s a lot that goes into being a sports parent. It's much more than selecting the league type, learning the policies, and the sport. Most parents sort of fumble their way through and learn as they go. Here are some other things to research, consider, and get an early start on so they don’t catch you off guard.

The frequency and intensity of practices or games will depend greatly on the age of your athlete, the division, and the league they are in. Usually rec sports practice once a week and have a weekend game, this is especially true for younger divisions like pop warner or tee-ball. However, as your child progresses up divisions and into other leagues, practices can be upwards of four to five times, with two or more games a week. Your life becomes a rush home from work, stuff food in faces, change into uniforms, and rush out the door until late evening, then come home to bathe and go to bed.

Oh, and you HAVE to get homework done at some point. Don’t worry – we will have another blog post for that down the road to help you balance.

Then, there are mid-season and post-season tournaments. It’s an HONOR to be selected as a team or individual to participate in any sort of tournament. But it eats up your weekends and PTO time. It’s a sacrifice with a high payout for your athlete. A typical four or five-week-long summer vacation soon trickles down to a two-week vacation, if you are lucky.

But that’s not all. I know exactly what you are thinking. Need a nap? Yeah me too, but don’t worry you will have help from coaches and other sports parents in the Sportlo community with the last few topics to plan for. They know exactly what you are going through and will be able to help you.

Becoming part of the Sports Parent Community

Initially, entry sports aren’t too terribly expensive. However, as your child progresses you will soon find out, you can’t possibly make it to one child’s 5 p.m. Tuesday practice on one field while simultaneously needing to be at another field across town for your other child’s 5:15 p.m. game. And guess what, daddy isn’t off work yet to help play “taxi-mom”.

The greatest thing about youth sports is the creation of a new family. Your child’s team's parents start to become your family away from home. You may cringe at the thought that you have to miss one child’s practice to be at another’s game, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Start setting up your carpools NOW!

I always suggest starting a conversation with one or two children’s parents your child is taking a liking to on the field. At the start of every season, I always look for familiar faces from previous seasons. I also watch my sons to see who they naturally connect with so I can introduce myself to those sports parents. We start to form bonds and thus the creation of the ever life-saving carpools and sports families ignite.

But lastly, there is fundraising. There will come a point in your athletes' youth sports career where it starts to get expensive constantly paying for new equipment and expenses rack up for tournaments. How will you fundraise? It can get very expensive and complicated. We will discuss this topic in more detail in a future Sportlo blog post as well, but right now just be aware that it will eventually become an all-consuming topic in your home.

What is “Daddy Ball”?

“Daddy ball” is certainly a hot topic in sports today. There are huge implications and consequences. We won’t necessarily go into that in this post. Right now, just be conscious of this concept. That some coaches will play favoritism and only coach for the sake of coaching their child, which leaves your child and the rest of the team dumbfounded. Trust me, you will know exactly what I’m talking about when you see it. We will address this in far more detail in the future.

But for now, be thinking about a “back-up plan” in case you have the unfortunate experience of enduring “daddy ball.” For example, is there another similar league in your area you can switch your child to? Can you simply switch teams in the same league? Is your child comfortable moving to a different level of the sport? For example moving from league sports to rec sports? These are all questions you want to be honest with yourself and your athlete. Know that, sadly, this mentality exists and you may have to make some hard decisions.

Don't worry, you can do it

And sports parents, injuries happen. I cannot TELL you how many times one of my boys thought it was more fun to catch a baseball with their face instead of their gloves. Parents, be prepared to explain random black eyes to your child’s teachers, family, or church friends. You have to learn to roll with it and have a sense of humor. You can’t let your child go walking around in bubble wrap for the rest of their lives. Or can we? No, no we can’t. Know where the closest urgent care centers, emergency rooms, or first aid stations are located at all times. If you do, you will be just fine.

Most of all, as a brand new sports parent – try to have some fun! Yeah, I get it. After briefly diving into some heavy topics, you may now be thinking this is an impossible task. It’s not. Your child wants to do sports to HAVE FUN. So make it fun! Laugh, make jokes, give encouragement, and tell them how excited you are for them and how much you love to watch them play. The very few precious years of youth sports are designed to cultivate a love for sports. There is plenty of time later for competitions, tournaments, fundraising, and conflict resolution later. For now, just enjoy being their biggest cheerleader.

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April Morganroth is a Multimedia, Print, Broadcast & Digital Journalist. She is also an Anchor & MMJ Reporter at iHeart Media as well as a Baseball Mother, Coach, and Sportlo contributor.