Unfortunately, however, the negative impact which some parents have creates problems for organized sports programs. The latest is the 'rising tide of violence and verbal abuse by adults at youth sporting events, which reached its terrible peak this year when one hockey father killed another' (Nack, p. 87). A lack of understanding can undermine the basic goals of children's sports programs and untimely deprive children of the benefits.

There are many possible benefits of participating in children's sports. Some of these are attaining sports skills, increasing physical fitness, developing leadership skills, respecting authority, cooperation, competitiveness, fair play, self-reliance, self confidence, making friends and many others. The well-informed coach and parent realize success comes from taking into consideration what the young athlete wants to achieve. When asked in studies why they play sports, children invariably indicate having fun as their number one reason and place winning about seventh.

In order for the above benefits to be appreciated in the program, the philosophy of 'winning is everything' needs to take a back seat to striving to win and giving a maximum effort. In order to achieve these objectives, coaches should use a positive coaching style which concentrates on praise, encouragement and giving corrective instructions in a supportive way. There should be reinforcement of effort as well as good performance. In addition to teaching skills and strategies of the game, other coaching functions include organizing practices and providing for safety. Parents need to be communicated with, giving them information about the program.

The third party of the youth internal sports triangle is the parent who needs to establish a positive interpersonal relationship with the coach and child. This is done by developing and maintaining open, healthy communication. It should be remembered that effective communication is a two-way street requiring both speaking and listening skills. This should start by holding a pre-season coach/parent meeting with the objective to improve understanding of youth sport, coaches philosophy, specific sport program and the central figure in the sports triangle, the child.

It is the parent's responsibility to acquire an understanding and an appreciation of the sport. This includes knowledge of basic rules, skills and strategies. Coaches can serve as a resource by providing information, answering questions and referring them to sport related books and audio-visual materials.

Parents should not pressure their children into playing a sport. They should counsel them to consider different sports and help them select the level of competition at which the child wants to play.

Another way to overcome stress is to realize that youth sports are for the children and they are not miniature adults. Parents must be able to endorse their child's participation and support the coach and the program. Furthermore, parents must conform to acceptable standards of behavior at practices and contests. This can be started by establishing codes of conduct or guidelines of behavior for all persons involved in children's sports. One area that needs to be covered by the code is the common pleas of children to their parents 'not to yell on the sideline". The children find this to be 'distracting' and 'embarrassing'. Research also clearly indicates that children drop out of sport because of negative coaches and negative parents.

As a crucial participant in the youth sports setting, the parent needs to take the initiative to help establish a positive environment for the coach to teach and the child to learn. This can be done through developing a system of open communication by sharing, being honest and caring about the people and the process