Teaching Youth How To Prevent Cheating And Encourage Competition

There are a lot of unethical and illegal shortcuts available in youth sports that are used for cheating. In such circumstances, it becomes a challenge to teach youth the difference between such unethical activities and the right way of winning a competition which is simply taking advantage of opportunities. 

It is never the wrong thing to play with a competitive mind and win the game. You can use rules for your advantages as well, however, as far as youth sports are concerned, there is always confusion among the players whether to utilize these rules for their advantage or to go against them and make off. Children never understand this difference, and therefore it must be the responsibility of coaches and parents to teach them ethics and to be a good competitor. 

Teaching The Essence Of The Game:

Competing to win and winning by any means necessary are two different things. When young kids indulge in sports, they think of winning as something which will make people around them happy like their parents and coaches. It is at this point when the adults should teach kids that they need to value winning for themselves and not for the people around them. You put in efforts and achieve victory. It all means that you have invested your time and have worked hard for it. A true and professional athlete doesn’t value external things like winning to satisfy others. They are always motivated to win for themselves. Those who do the other way around, find shortcuts and unethical ways of winning. 

Teaching the true essence of sports to the young kids can be the right way to help them differentiate between winning by any means and competing to win. The true essence of the game is to develop sports-related skills, fitness, and tactics to become a high performing sportsman or a team. Exploiting the rules, using unethical ways of winning, and using shortcuts to get the result without valuing the journey is not the true essence of the game.

Following are some of the ways that can help in encouraging true sportsmanship: 

Develop Skills:

When you are young, you can focus on developing your skills and can utilize them to outplay your opponents. Why is there any need to use shortcuts when you can simply beat your opponents using your skills? When kids start to develop an interest in sports, it becomes your responsibility to teach them to develop skills to compete and win the games. 

Work On Fitness:

Having good physical fitness can give some kids an edge over others in Youth Sports. They can work on physical development and enhance their power, strength, and speed which can ultimately help them by giving them an advantage over other players in the competition. Every kid can work on improving their stamina, and fitness and can achieve a competitive edge. 

Learn to Accept Defeat And Win The Right Way:

Having a mindset that focuses on appreciating the way of playing rather than the result can benefit a lot of Youth Sports Players. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how you play. We are not saying that winning is wrong. Competing hard and trying your best to win the game is ethical and should be encouraged. However, the right way to win is to beat your opponent with your skills and utilize them for your advantage, with some luck factor involved as well. With a proper win that does not include any unethical practice, you will never need to hide anything from the referees. If you are a parent or a coach, let the kids know that wins or losses don’t matter. What matters the most is the efforts you put in and how fairly you compete.

National Sports ID is the first online platform that was built around enforcing rules and eligibility to help prevent cheating in youth sports. The platform is continuing to evolve over the years to help meet nationally recognized youth sports organizations to assure they can enforce their rules and prevent the cheating.