 A Handbook for Sideline
(and out of line)
Parents
“Your Fledgling Athlete”
by Kurt Mohney  Listen to the program
now
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Originally broadcast on
WSKG Radio’s
OFF THE PAGE Feb. 8 at 1 & 7pm
Illustration by Jim Brennemen II
from “Your Fledgling Athlete”
Kurt J. Mohney is
not one of the superstars of sports, and this is what makes
his book Your
Fledgling Athlete so valuable. Mohney spent his youth
trying to make the starting lineup in junior varsity baseball
and didn’t play on a basketball team regularly until
he was senior in high school. He briefly played basketball
at Broome Community College under the legendary coach Dick
Baldwin, who cut him from the squad. But at Binghamton University
he blossomed into a Most Valuable Player and Athlete of the
Year. Later he would coach youth baseball, basketball and
soccer.
Time spent on the bench, disappointment and success, helping
young players (and raising three of his own) and counseling
parents have given Kurt Mohney an understanding of the role
sports can play in a youngster’s life. He also knows
how parents can make the game a positive or negative experience. Parental
behavior during youth sporting events has sometimes turned
into embarrassing or even violent action.
And it ruins the fun for the kids.
A brawl at
a Detroit Pistons vs. Indiana Pacers NBA game last November
demonstrated how emotions can run so high that even grown-ups
and professional athletes can lose control.
There are two principal goals of Your Fledgling Athlete:
pointers for parents on how best to support and encourage
their children, and guidance for them to understand their
own actions and emotions. Self-control may not always be
easy, for parents can invest their own desire for success
in their children’s sporting prowess. Also, coaches
may be venting their own feelings and inspiring a form of
mass hysteria. Mohney reminds us that it’s still only
a game, and in the case of young fledgling athletes they
may be looking forward to the pizza party after the game
more than to the numbers piling up on the scoreboard.
Listen to the program
now
in RealAudio© format
(requires free RealAudio© player)
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