Top five OTHER reasons kids quit competitive sports and why adults may quit their jobs.
Top reasons why kids between the ages of 10 and 16 or so may quit playing for a local sports team are very similar many times, to why adults may quit where they work. We are all aware of the traditional answers to this decision by kids and adults to quit. Over active parents/bosses, feeling of never doing enough to please the coach/manager, and developing other interests.
The list below contains 5 additional reasons you may have not thought of and should as to why Kids will leave team sports and adults will quit a job with little or no warning.
TOP FIVE REASONS KIDS QUIT COMPETATIVE SPORTS
- Repetition without a constant explanation of significance: Drive past any soccer or football fiend, hockey rink or baseball diamond during the week at around 6:30 PM and you will see kids standing in line, doing the same drills over and over. We are aware that in theory practice makes perfect. But in fact, practice without a constant reminder as to why the drill is being done, the tangible benefits of it, and the constant reminder to run the drill at a certain pace leads to boredom and disinterest. Chat between the teammates develop and off we go into the world of distraction or worse. I have used the example of kids at a sports practice, but the same can be said regarding the obligatory weekly meetings you have with the employees who work for you.
- You as the coach or leader look disinterested in the meeting or practice as well: If you, as the leader, look disinterested or look like you are giving your employees or sports team busy work, they will soon pick up on this and respond in kind. Do not waste time with busy work. Your players or employees, if not stimulated will go else where. If the drills are put in place to start your practice and your team sees you as the leader chatting it up with some soccer mom or dad, they will respond in kind. The same can be said for the trainer at your corporate place of business. Ask an employee to do a task, but be seen playing with your Facebook account or “talking” to your boss, you send a direct signal to the employees about how much you value what you are asking them to do.
- Inconsistent Consistency: This goes far beyond practice what you preach as a leader. This goes to a steady stream of giving playing time to the player who is always late, while you bench other players for the same ‘crime’. Is this any different than the leader who continues to allow an employee to constantly miss meetings while other employees are “written up” for the same offense? Hard working players or employees who are really good at what they do, will see this and take measure to the credibility they now put in you as a leader or coach. Be aware of this practice It can be a green light to your players or employees leaving.
- Hubris by you: We all think we know best, we also most of us anyway, know we need to learn more. The problem is many times we forget that we should always be learning and looking for new ways to do things. This does not mean we deviate from what has made us successful, but rather we use those attributes as our foundation but build upon it. The I know better approach can to an employee or child on a sports team, quickly become a statement that sounds less like a resume of success and more like Al Bundy telling stories of high school fame. Quickly the young player or your employee may think to themselves, “Who cares.” They no longer find you interesting and look to other points of interest.
- Forgetting the middle: In my over 20 years in the corporate world, and my years as a division one softball and division three football coach in College, I have seen this regrettable mistake over and over. The coach or Manager, who devises a plan to maximize their top performer rather than developing an approach where learning and results from all can be fostered. Or the leader or coach who wants to show the world, how she or he can get results out of a certain player or employee that no one else could for what ever reason, that they ignore most of the needs of the team as a whole. The players and employees who show up on time, play with sprained ankles or come in to work every day even when they are less than 100% are the ones who silently work hard for you , and they some times are ignored or taken for granted. Remember, they do not quit a team as the title of this essay would lead you to believe. The truth is, when they see you have no benefit to them, THEY QUIT YOU!
Written By: Darren Redmond
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