Positive Sport Parent/Caregiver Self-Assessment

PCA believes there are two primary goals in youth sports: striving to win and, more importantly, teaching life lessons that help kids develop into the best people they can be. As important as winning may seem, a Second-Goal Parent lets coaches and athletes worry about the first goal of scoreboard results. A Second-Goal Parent has a more important role to play: ensuring that children take away lessons that will help them succeed in life.

A Second-Goal Parent recognizes that there is a Little Picture and a Big Picture in youth sports. The Little Picture concerns such matters as whether children are playing their preferred positions, whether the team is winning, etc. The Big Picture, too often obscured by the Little Pictures, is about what the child is learning from youth sports.

This form helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses in adhering to PCA’s model of the Second-Goal Parent®, focused less on the goal of winning and more on the goal of ensuring your children take all the life lessons and character-education they can from their youth sports experience.

Portions of the form address the PCA principles of the ELM Tree of Mastery, Filling Emotional Tanks and Honoring the Game, with specific actions beneath each for you to check if you are taking those actions. A little time with this form can help you refocus on the Big Picture of how your children can use their youth sports experience to positively impact the rest of their lives.