Helping your child’s youth sports team is important for you, your child, and your child’s team.

We tell our kids over and over that in order to win, they must work together as a team. A great way for you to show them how this works is by working with other parents on the team to get things done.

The team parent or manager should oversee and delegate to other parents on the team, but should never be stuck doing all the work. Neither should two or three very involved parents. I have seen this happen way too often: One or two parents do all the work while other parents do nothing.

RELATED CONTENT: Sports parenting reality check: It’s OK if your child doesn’t go pro

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.

Every parent should help; no matter how busy you are, there is some way that you can get involved. When parents don’t help out, it’s easy for them to find things to get critical about.

The coach doesn’t communicate enough.

The snack bar is unorganized. 

The timekeeper keeps messing up.

The official continually makes bad calls.

RELATED CONTENT: 5 common conflicts with your spouse that youth sports can cause, and 7 tips to remember

The longer you sit on the bench as a sports parent, without serving or volunteering, the more likely it is that you will become critical of others who are doing the work. It’s so easy to sit in the stands and watch how everyone else is making mistakes. But I guarantee that if you dive in and find a way to help, you will find it much harder to criticize others who are serving, too.

If the coach has poor communication skills, offer to help contact parents via email or text, or help set up an online organizational tool.

If the snack bar is chaotic, step in to help and look for ways to make it run smoothly. 

RELATED CONTENT: How parents can enjoy youth sports a whole lot more

If the timekeeper keeps messing up, offer to learn how to do the job yourself.

If the official keeps making poor calls, try taking the training and becoming an official yourself. I guarantee you will be less likely to yell at an official ever again!

Volunteering to do even a small job can curb your critical spirit. Get off the bench and start helping. If you sit long without serving, you become a critic.

In this list of jobs to be done for a youth sports team, find one that fits your schedule and help out. 

1. Set up the team roster
2. Order the team banner
3. Schedule picture day
4. Oversee & set up fundraisers
5. Set up an email distribution list or texting group or Facebook page for communication
6. Send a welcome email
7. Keep registration information
8. Wash uniforms
9. Set up snack schedule
10. Before each practice or game, send out reminder emails
11. Order trophies
12. Schedule and plan parties, midseason or end-of-year gatherings
13. Organize snack-bar duty
14. Call to remind snack bar workers
15. Order coaches’ gifts
16. Keep stat books
17. Control scoreboard
18. Drive for away games or tournaments
19. Organize and/or cook for team meals

Find something you can do to help the team, no matter how minor you think it is. If enough parents do this, things will get done without overloading one parent.

Janis B. Meredith is a life coach for parents. She provides resources to help parents raise champions. Learn more about how she can help parents Raise Champions.