Talent and joy for the game. How to choose the best sport for a child?

When selecting sports or physical activities for a child, there are many factors which are to be considered. These factors are intertwined. There are interests of the child, their dispositions for the activity, interests or ambitions of their parents or the quality of their coach and their “imprint”, and finally, the health state of the child.

Interest in the activity, and/or motivation to do the activity (and how intensively or steadily) has its origin in upbringing in the family and in the patterns of behavior that children have for any actions as a result of their upbringing in the family. Dispositions or certain motor skills to exercise the given physical activities are based in genetic predisposition. The shape of the child’s parents’ ambitions is also an integral part of the whole machine. This either supports the child’s motivation, or may even be its origin for a certain period of time. Everything is also is related to the environment which not only surrounds us and the children but also shapes us as far as the quality of relationships between people and to children goes.

Parents often ask (that is unless they decide that regardless of the child), what is the best sport for their children. Not many parents are able to consider the choice from the point of view of the child and often they make the choice regardless of the child’s dispositions, prerequisites or interest. For many parents the most important thing is that the child is not “naughty” or they make the selection based on what is possibly the most “lucrative” way or they choose the activity they used to do when they were young.

What is the correct way to choose a sport? If parents support their child in all the things it wants to do and in what the child itself wants in particular; hand in hand with their interest and objective motivation evaluation, and provide their child with a choice then there is no doubt that the child will sooner or later start clinging to a certain activity and will do it with gusto. This is an optimal solution. In reality, there are many cases where the most important motivation factor is to turn the children to cash or carry out the parent’s unfulfilled dreams through the child. Parents often project these dreams on their children with no respect to their individuality and needs. On the one hand, they often blame their parental failure on schools, teachers, coaches or the children themselves and on the other hand what they want is that the children would grow to be self-confident, making decisions on their own, happy people…

Author: Rostislav Helštýn, methodology and head coach of the youth team FC Baník Ostrava