It finally happened to me after more than 20 years as a youth sports parent.

My son’s team played eight games and won exactly zero of them. In fact, only one game was even close.

Here is how I decided to handle it.

1. Don’t place blame

I didn’t place the blame on anyone involved in the games, from the refs to the head coach to the worst player on the team, and I didn’t allow my son to, either. Sure, he could have pointed the finger at a couple of players, even a few referees, and I probably would have agreed with him. But doing so wasn’t going to change anything, and it also would make my son think it’s OK to find and make excuses when things don’t go your way. I don’t think it’s a good idea to teach that at any age, whether it has to do with sports or anything else.

RELATED CONTENT: Here's another reason to consider flag football

2. Focus on the positives

I spent a lot of the car ride home from that last game talking about all the positives that came out of the season. I reinforced to my son that he improved in all areas of the game. I also reminded him that it was great how he followed all of the basic rules during the games, even though the refs didn’t enforce them, and he probably could have scored more points if he had chosen to break the rules like a lot of the other kids did. I told him how proud I was of him that he chose the path he did, even though, as he often said after the games, we might have won a game or two if he didn’t.

3. Ask your child to find positives

Without me even asking, following my part of the conversation on the car ride home, my son’s first comment was about how great it was that in the last game, a friend of his scored for the first time all season. He also thought it was great that “the coach made us feel like we were champions all season long.”

RELATED CONTENT: 5 things to evaluate when choosing a summer football camp

4. Move on

We hear athletes at all levels talk about learning from losses and then forgetting about them and moving on. The same holds true at the age of 9, and it’s important to remind our kids about this. As soon as we walked in the door after that last game, I turned the conversation to the next sport he’d be playing, and he immediately got excited about youth sports again.

Kids and parents never want to have a losing season, let alone one with no wins. But it’s probably inevitable. Just like the kids, we parents can learn lessons from a no-win season as well. In my family, as hard as it was to go through it, we did learn from it.

RELATED CONTENT: When is it OK for kids to quit their youth sports team?

Jon Buzby has been involved in and writing about youth sports for the past 30 years, originally as a coach and board member with his now-adult son and most recently "just as a dad" with his 8- and 10-year-old sons. Jon is an award-winning writer and his latest book, “Coaching Kids Made Easier,” is available on Amazon. Send comments or future blog topics you'd like to see to JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow him @YouthSportsBuzz on Twitter.

Are you the parent of a youth, middle school or high school football player who’s looking for more tips or resources? Check out our Parent Guide, Parents 101 course, nutritious recipes and more.