What not to ask your kids on the way home from a game

Radio interviews and shareable content from Overplayed: A Parent’s Guide to Sanity in the World of Youth Sports.

In 2012 I interviewed Dave King, athletics director at Eastern Mennonite University for a radio program I helped produce at the time, Shaping Families. I had read/heard about Dave’s thoughts on:

  • Challenging the status quo regarding sports travel teams for very young kids
  • The dangers of playing one sport year round
  • The dilemma travel teams pose for families as many kids are pulled out of Sunday morning worship and Sunday school.

Dave had so much to say we made two 15-minute radio programs out of his interview and he was just getting started (you can hear or read transcripts below).
Sports and Your Child.
Sports, Families & Faith.

King_Dave_RGBAfter the interview I encouraged him to work on a book. He confessed that yes, he would love to, but his “day job” kept him pretty busy. And while he loves to talk to groups and churches on the topic of “youth sports and families”—he has done so much research and reading and hearing from parents— it was kind of overwhelming to think in terms of how do you put all that into a book? Ok, so athletics directors don’t sit down and write books every day, at least not until they retire.

Eventually our editorial director Amy Gingerich and managing editor Valerie Weaver-Zercher proposed Dave work with a co-writer, Margot Starbuck, who herself is parentingStarbuck_Margot_RGB kids through this phase and has an awesome track record in writing, editing and even ghostwriting. She finally helped make it happen!

The two have produced what we hope is a home run—touch down—winning basket, pick your metaphor: Overplayed: A Parent’s Guide to Sanity in the World of Youth Sports.

Overplayed_RGB

Along with lots of facts, research, stories, and personal examples in the book, the authors provide some quick “lists” that you are free to copy and share anywhere you want to let people know about the book! Share these with your friends on Facebook or elsewhere (and include the credit line with link to the book).

5 Worst Questions to Discuss on the Way Home From the Game

  1. Who won? Why didn’t you win?
  2. Did you score? Why didn’t you score?
  3. Why were your teammates so bad?
  4. Why didn’t the coach play you more?
  5. What was wrong with the ref?

Dave King & Margot Starbucks in Overplayed: A Parent’s Guide to Sanity in the World of Youth Sports,  free chapter download here

8 Best Questions to Discuss on the Way Home From the Game

  1. How did the game go?
  2. Did you have a good time today?
  3. Did you learn anything new today?
  4. What was the best part of the experience for you?
  5. What do you think will happen in practice this week?
  6. Did anything happen that made you feel bad?
  7. What do you think the team needs to do to improve?
  8. What did you notice a friend doing that helped the team?

Dave King & Margot Starbucks in Overplayed: A Parent’s Guide to Sanity in the World of Youth Sports,  free chapter download here

What Does Your Family Value?

In the hustle and bustle of family life, we aren’t always purposeful about articulating what we value. Here are a few questions to help your family identify your “family values.” (Discuss these first before applying them to sports.)

  1. What do we want to be doing with our money?
  2. What do we want to be doing with our time?
  3. What relationships are most important for us to honor?
  4. What are three to five values we want to name as being important to us?

Tip: Identifying your family’s values in advance gives you tools for decision making about athletic commitments and other types of activities.

Dave King & Margot Starbucks in Overplayed: A Parent’s Guide to Sanity in the World of Youth Sports,  free chapter download here

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Other important info on this book to check out:

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What has your experience been with children, sports, other parents involved with sports, coaches? 

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Have your kids participated in travel teams? We’d love to hear your comments and stories here on Dave and Margot’s blog.

_MG_5205_Burton_Melodie_RecordingMelodie Davis
News, managing editor & former radio producer/co-host