Part 1: Okay, maybe I am a little too affable to be a football coach, but hey, we always have fun. Last year I found myself being chased by a gaggle of giggling six-year-old kids at almost every flag football practice. They would always gang-up on me. I wonder if they got the joke when I screamed, “run Toto, run!”

We always had a blast playing football, baseball, and soccer. I’ve been coaching youth sports for 13 years in three different sports, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed every single team. Some of my teams won championships; others didn’t win a single game. It didn’t change the way we did things. We just enjoyed being on the team, and all the kids had fun.

I also have an appreciation of how youth sports can be beneficial, but also harmful.  What makes the difference is parental involvement and having good-hearted coaches. By raising the awareness of benefits and exposing the hazards of youth sports, more people will feel comfortable participating.

In our family, participation in youth sports was always a must. Even if my kids are not gifted athletes, they benefit immensely from participation in recreational sports.  Youth sports promote many good life lessons that are not promoted elsewhere. Through youth sports, my children were given the opportunity to interact constructively with people their age. It helped my children develop good social behaviors as they learned to work cooperatively with their teammates.

For the most part, we live our adult lives as members of a variety of “teams” -- at work, in our family units, in our community. Being a member of modern society is an exercise is teaming and cooperation. With that in mind, we should probably do more to teach our children a little team ethic.

Certainly, sports promote personal health and fitness. But youth sports are fun and encourage friendships. In a sense, youth sports serves as convenient grouping of families with similarly aged children. Youth sports can almost be like a play date, but with helmets! Youth sports gave my kids the opportunity to face real challenges and to know both success and failure in real life, but without serious consequences. Through youth sports, my kids reference their own experiences gained by real life interaction with their peers.

Recreational sports have wonderful things to offer your children. Get to know the sports programs in your area, and be a part of your child’s youth sports experiences. Be there to look out for your kids and also to share in the fun times that youth sports have to offer. Most importantly, don’t let your child miss the opportunity to play sports as a youngster.

[Editors Note: Part II of this article about youth sports will appear in September's issue of Homeschool Frederick.]