Role of Parents

Participation in youth sports can improve physical and psychological skills, fitness, build character, develop social skills, unite families, and provide enjoyable experiences for young people. However, the quality of these sporting experiences is dependent on the quality of adult leadership (including parents) in sport. Appropriate parental encouragement, support, and praise relate to higher levels of enjoyment and participation. However, unrealistically high parent expectations, pressure, and criticism have been correlated with increased stress, less intrinsic motivation, lower enjoyment, reduced belief in competence, increased dropout, low self-esteem and subsequent attrition.

The NRL have teamed up with the University of Queensland to conduct exploratory research that will provide insights into some of determinants of parental involvement in children’s sport and help identify the predictors of violent spectator behaviour, potential issues around key relationships within the various sporting codes, and will explore possible initiatives to help reduce these types of parental behaviours as well as increasing the profile of the sport in a positive way, leading to stronger ties within the community.