Basics

The increasing popularity of at-home sport genetic testing is raising accuracy and ethical concerns among sports medicine professionals.

Whether you are a parent, youth baseball coach, piano teacher or faculty advisor for the chess club, your mantra should be the same:  to create a fertile environment where kids can learn, compete, and have fun, says youth baseball coach and author, Dan Clemens.

The competition for rosters spots on fall sports teams seems to be more ferocious than ever. Tryouts pose a particular challenge to young athletes still playing summer sports. Here are some tips for parents on how they can help their child perform at their best during tryouts from MomsTeam's Brooke de Lench.

The New Kensington (Pennsylvania) Valley High School softball team and umpire Bill Dithrich have been selected the 2011 national recipients of the "National High School Spirit of Sport Award" by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS): Dithrich for having the courage and intergrity to make a call that ended the softball team's undefeated season and the team for inviting him to be the keynote speaker at its post-season awards banquet to talk about a teachable moment about sports, ethics and life.

Two-time Olympic track cyclist Erin Mirabella advises parents that if their athletic daughter has body image issues, they should drive home the message that she is beautiful just the way she is, and as far as beauty goes, what really matters is on the inside.

Parents want to have close relationships with their children, but many wonder if that's even possible as their child enters adolescence. Suddenly, your son is more interested in peers than spending time with the family, your daughter may be showing more rebellious behavior, and now, instead of being the one they turn to for advice, you don't know a thing! While scary for parents, says parenting expert, Amy McCready, the normal individualization process during the tween and teen years doesn't have to involve power struggles and hard feelings if parents avoid three common parenting mistakes.

A 2010 Reuters News/Ipsos poll caused a stir by concluding that parents in the United States are the world's worst behaved parents at children's sports contests. Sixty percent of adults who attend kids' games have seen parents verbally or physically abuse coaches or officials, a higher percentage than in any of the 21 other nations polled.  Nationally-recognized youth sports expert and longtime coach, Douglas E. Abrams, believes the poll seriously distorts the state of youth sports in America.

Athletic training videos for babies.  Soccer and T-ball classes for toddlers.  Do they give kids an edge in the increasingly cut-throat world of youth sports or are they just the latest signs of the commercialization of youth sports and that we have become a nation of "helicopter" parents trying to enrich every second of their lives - even as infants - with activities instead of just letting them be kids? MomsTeam.com founder Brooke de Lench weighs in on sports programs for the pre-school set.

A father and author describes how he couldn't wait to introduce his son to a wide variety of them.  But although his son was a natural athlete, there was one problem: he had absolutely no interest in any sport until, miraculously, fencing came along. It challenged and excited him in a way those other sports could not.  He recommends finding a local fencing club and giving this amazing, addictive sport a try; a sport by the way that appeals to girls every bit as much as boys. A sport that can appeal to kids who have never found a passion for any other sport. For some, it will change their lives forever. But even for those who never become addicted, he promises that trying it even a single time will be a fun, unique, and unforgettable experience.