When parents come support their children’s sports games, it encourages and motivates players to do better. When you have a supporter and know that there is someone cheering you, tend to do better and strive for the win. Parents especially can have a big impact on their child because it provides them an outlet emotionally and psychically. They could shout out encouraging words or even by attending the game, it means a lot for the player. The players receiving the outlet could perform better plays during the volleyball game since they would want to impress their parent’s. The parents who attends their children’s volleyball games shows parental involvement. Parents who watches and supports their children’s game demonstrates how they are concerned and are actively engaged.

Parents show their concern for their children by attending their games. Although, in some cases parents are too busy working. Some players would feel content knowing that they have someone on the bleachers cheering and supporting them. Parents involvement in their children’s education could also lead to involvement in future events, like sports event in school. According to the article, “Love or hate the specialized high school test, New York City students take the exam this weekend” by Christina Veiga, parents send their children to test preps and tutors, so they could have a better and higher education level. This demonstrates how parents help their children and support them financially and emotionally when it is needed. Parents support their children all the time and would not want to miss out on them playing, so they would try to put in the time and effort to go watch the volleyball games.

Parents could be the children’s motivation to improve and play better. To understand your children and their love for a certain sport could increase and better the mother and daughter/son relationship. In the article, “The Role of the Sport Parent”, it states that “Studies have shown a positive relationship between parent’s who are involved with their child’s sporting activities and the child’s enjoyment of the activity, participation in physical activities and continued participation in youth sports.” This shows that when parents give emotional support and say encouraging words, it allows the relationship to grow. It could also be a topic to converse about and a chance to interact through a topic your child could relate to. Growth in relationship between the parents and player shows a form of parent involvement because it proves that parents are concerned about their child’s daily activities and want to learn more and engage in them.

When a player gains support from their parents, it could have a big impact and could influence them during the games. There are both negative and positive outcomes to the way they show their support, it could be holding up posters, screaming out words, jumping up and down etc. The article, “The Importance of Parental Involvement” says, “Negative involvement refers to directive behavior, and pressure to win or perform up to a parents’ expectations.” Some parents are a distraction for the players because their way of showing support may be too aggressive or are over-involved. Parents who get mad at their child or the game play has a negative influence on their child because they expect the win and it puts the players mood down. The mood of the players could affect the way they play in a negative way, they could make silly mistakes, and mess up on easy serves or hits etc. In contrast to parents having a negative impact on their child, parents are encouraging and supportive when it comes to their child’s games or physical activities because they know it takes a lot of effort and teamwork to win. In my observations, I did not see any of the parents bringing their child’s mood down. They are people the players look over to when they are struggling in the game. I saw some parent’s screaming motivational words, like, “You can do this, I believe in you!” The encouraging words had an impact on how the player played, I noticed that after gaining and hearing the words you want to hear increased their chances of winning because the player was not messing up as much. Parents involvement could change the outcome of the games because it could either cause enjoyment for the player or distract them and pressure them.

The amount of support the child gain from their parents could come in many different forms. For instance, pushing the players enough to help them succeed, pay the fees, provide transportation when needed, equipment, encouragement etc. All the support influences the child to continue playing the sport and makes it that much more enjoyable. According to the research conducted by Christina Mazer (2012) it states that, “Children show more satisfaction with a sport and have more confidence in their athleticism when parents are encouraging and provide positive reinforcement and praise.” This means that when a player or child receives encouragement from parents, it makes the game more fun and exciting. It makes the player want to play more of the sport to better themselves. Parents involvement is crucial because it could influence the way their child thinks and perceive things. It also provides a positive experience for the child.

All athletes need different things, and parents play a big role. Parents feel responsible and believe that it is one of their tasks to attend the games. They would not want to miss out on their child’s game because it is a chance to watch how they have grown and is participating in sports activities. In the interview (Kari Stefansen 2015) researchers describe the supporting role of parents as, “growing ‘responsibilisation’…related to children’s development and life chances.” This shows the involvement of sports to how parent’s view the importance of this matter and the child’s success. Attending games and giving support shows your morals as a parent and gives the child an idea of how much the parent is concerned.

Parents understanding of their child could increase through a connection of sports. There are many lessons that comes from playing a sport, one example is when one accepts defeat and can cope with it. Parents support could help teach their child discipline and allows them to grow as a person. It is also helpful when parents show warmth, and compassion towards their child during the game and even before or after the game. In the article, “Pros and Cons of Parental Involvement in Youth Sports” it says that, “Even following a painful loss, you can always find something constructive to say to your child. Complimenting a sustained effort…” This means that parents are their child’s positive outlet and someone they look up to when they are failing or have failed. This allows parents to understand how their child feels and what goes through their heads.

A player or child’s game play could be easily influenced by the kind of support they get from parents. Parents attendance at the sports games shows how much they are concerned about their child and how they are getting involved. Parents involvement includes encouragements, praises, hugs, paying for gear, transportation etc. There are many ways a parent could be involved when their child is an athlete.

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