The story of the underdog has been told thousands of times, and yet it never gets old.
Two opposing teams playing in a championship game. One team, usually the hometown heroes, are the favourites to win. The other team, the underdogs, defied all odds and reached the finals. Both teams playing for gold, but only one team can win.
This exact scenario plays regularly out throughout towns and cities across North America in every sport, and it was this exact situation that played out this past month at my daughter’s U9 soccer tournament.
Her team was the underdogs. A group of eight-and-nine-year-old competitive girls, who entered into the U10/11 division for the tournament. On paper they shouldn’t have won. Their opponents were taller, physically intimidating, and at least one if not two years older than most of the girls on her U9 team. Despite the obvious challenge, her four female coaches, gave the girls one key message:
Every player has a role.
The girls stepped out onto the pitch, came together at just the right time, reaching new heights individually and as a team. It was pure magic, and in the end, they won the gold.
I would like to leave the story here and say it was perfect. But this is neither true in sport or life in general. Behind the scenes I witnessed parents berating other parents, coaches belittling other coaches, parents angry at coaches, coaches yelling at referees, etc., that brought me back to the reason why I wanted to support this youth sport community to begin with. There are some serious foundational cracks in the system.
In 2019 I launched Behind Every Athlete with a mission to educate, support, and empower youth athletes, as well as parents and the community that supports them. However, when COVID shut the world down, it also limited my ability to continue this journey to support this community of youth athletes I am so passionate about.
Until now.
This past spring fuelled my dedication to build this community not just for youth athletes, but equally as important to build it for parents of youth athletes. Over the last few months I watched two young male soccer players collide accidentally on the pitch during a game. It was an accident, yet both coaches came onto the field and surrounded by their young, impressionable players, and shouted at each other. I watched a young teenage referee get yelled at throughout the game, causing her to burst into tears when everything was over. I witnessed a parent, livid with a referee, come over after the game and tear a strip off him.
It gives me chills to write about it, as I relive these ugly moments. Are we the parents, the ones who should know better? Are we not the ones who should be giving our children an example of character, leadership, and responsibility as they learn through sport key lessons in life? I may not have every answer, but I know this community needs a beacon of light, to help us all find our way together.
I do not promise to have the answers, but I do commit to do my best in surrounding these athletes with the tools that can help both youth athletes and their parents to make their way through the world of youth sports, regardless of the level, skill, or long-term goal of the athlete.
Our youth athletes need sports in their lives, I want to make sure they all get that opportunity and that as parents, we aren’t the ones who destroy the experience for them.
Just like my daughter’s coaches preached every player has a role, as a sports journalist with two young children in sport, I believe that Behind Every Athlete can and will play a role in building up the community of parents as well as inspiring the next generation of youth athletes.
I hope where ever you are along your journey as a parent or youth athlete, that you will grow with us.
Yours in Sport,
Katherine