How Parents/Caregivers Can Incorporate Empathy Within the Sports Experience

One of the best ways that parents/caregivers can support a positive sports culture is by incorporating empathy into their interactions with their athletes, the coach, and the team community. By showing empathy, sports parents/caregivers can help all involved in the sport program feel heard, valued, and supported no matter the challenges they face on and off the field. The following tips can help a positive sports parent/caregiver lead their interactions with empathy. 

With Their Athlete

• Model empathy – the best way we can teach our athletes empathy is by modeling it.
• Help athletes identify and name their emotions.
• Actively listen to understand – maintain eye contact, face each other, ask open ended questions, and repeat back what you heard, i.e. “What I hear you saying is…”.
• Demonstrate care to support struggling athletes or to celebrate their successes
• View empathy as a way of leading interactions at all times – not just a tool to use in certain situations.
• Be available to connect with your athlete – but let them lead the conversation. If they don’t want to talk about practice or a game, give them space until they indicate they are ready.
• Be mindful of your body language and tone of voice when having conversations. 
• Share real life examples of empathy in sports and in the news. 
• Remove judgement when hearing your athlete’s perspective.
• Recognize any bias you may have that could affect how you respond to your athlete.
• When needed, take a breath so you can thoughtfully respond, instead of letting your emotions get the best of you. 
• Don’t make assumptions about how your athlete is feeling – confirm with them. 
• Thank your athlete when they share their feelings.
• Resist the urge to fix situations for your athlete – give them the space to figure out what they need and support them however you can. 

With Their Athlete’s Coach

• Give the coach the benefit of the doubt and try to understand and support the coach’s tactical decisions
• Avoid putting your athlete between you and the coach
• Support your athlete to self-advocate 
• Remember that the coach has their own life away from the sport which can impact how they show up

With the Team Community

• Advocate for or use a communication platform to keep the team parents/caregivers connected and able to support each other where necessary.
• Connect with and get to know the other parents/caregivers on the team. 
• Recognize that everyone comes to games with their own lived experiences that may affect how they show up.
• Maintain silence when disagreeing with an official’s call – everyone has a different perspective on what happens during certain plays.
• Support other parents/caregivers without judgement.