Want to Get Better at Sports? Better Turn on the TV

You won’t very often hear a teacher urging parents to plant their kids in front of the TV, so savor this one:  Parents, if you want to help your kids get better at a sport, consider having them watch more TV.

Everybody knows by now that American kids watch too much TV and get too little exercise, leading to increased rates of childhood obesity and of related diseases such as diabetes.  Not only are kids not playing actively enough, but to make matters worse, they’re not even watching sports.  And so we have the phenomenon of a generation of kids whose parents are signing them up for teams in sports their kids really know very little about.

How do I know this?

Well, for starters, I coach little league baseball.  I may not be the sharpest guy around, but it didn’t take too many repetitions of watching 10-year-olds told to “play 2^nd base” run out and stand on the 2^nd base bag to realize that some of these guys never watch baseball.  As a lover of the game, I was astounded and saddened by this revelation.  It was tempting to be frustrated with their parents for signing them up for a sport they don’t understand—baseball is a very complex game—there’s only so much you can teach in a dozen practices.  But then I realized, I, too, have been guilty of being one of those parents.

My son has been playing soccer for five years, and it wasn’t until about a year ago that we watched our first professional soccer game togetheron TV.  In fact, for years I bragged to friends that we are soooo not a TV family that we didn’t even have cable.  Watching my son play soccer helped to change our non-cable status.  Why?  Because while there is no substitute for practicing and playing, watching a sport played at the highest level can have a significant positive impact on a developing player at any level.

Allow me to offer myself as a humble example.  I never played soccer as a child, and most of what I know of the game has come from watching my son play and kicking the ball around in the back yard together.  I am proud to say that over the years his instruction has helped me to elevate my foot sills, my ball control, and my accuracy to a respectable level for a clumsy 40-something.  But I can also testify that being glued to coverage of the World Cup this month has helped me to take my skills to a new level.  Why?  Because I have had a chance to watch excellent players do amazing things with their bodies, and I have been inspired to try some of the moves I’ve observed and admired. 

There’s been much debate in the age of steroids and ego-mania about whether professional athletes are worthy role models for young people.  But one thing is sure:  seeing an amazing athlete do something you weren’t sure was even possible, and being inspired to turn off the TV and go try it—that’s a good thing.  What’s more, team sports are dynamic and complex, and repeated watching—especially in the company of someone who knows the game well—may be the best way to pick up the nuances of how a particular sport works.

So next time you’re tempted—as I am—to shout “Turn off that TV and go outside!” consider sitting down next to your son or daughter and flipping to ESPN for a while first. 

And then turn off the darn TV!