Rec League Prep

Mission: Get your kid ready to develop socially during their rec season.

Intro:

All right, so your kid is playing in the local sports league. As a homeschool family, you understand getting our kids into local organizations is one of the best ways to allow our kids to start building social skills. I believe local sports leagues are the best extracurricular activity for a homeschooling family because they develop kids in 3 of our 4 pillars of homeschooling success:

• Health
• Sports are one of the best places you’ll find to help build a healthier individual. 
• They develop kids' motor skills, coordination, athletic abilities, and most of all confidence. 
• Socially 
• Even in today’s digital marketplace, being able to work with a team is one of the highest-paying skills around. I can not think of a better area to help teach this than playing sports. 
• Sports also teach kids how to take constructive criticism, how to enter into a new environment and build relationships, and most of all they are an avenue for your family to meet local families in your area. 
• Academically 
• Here at Nxt Era, we believe that Learning doesn’t have to be confined to a classroom. If you look at some of the highest-paid individuals outside of the players in sports organizations it is the data analytic guys and girls.
• It doesn’t matter what it is learning new skills and about new things develops new synapses inside of our brains. 

While sports touch on three Of our 4 pillars this resource is designed to get your family ready to capitalize on the opportunity presenting itself in the Communication pillar. 

Before we begin I want to highlight something very important. 

Before any season begins. Some families may find that one or more of their kids may be nervous beforehand. Being nervous is completely normal and honestly, it’s a great indicator of where we are at as individuals. It is not something that we should shy away from, it shows us in our life, what we should dive deeper into. Everything your child wants in life lies on the other side of nervousness. {Highlight yellow as such}

Getting them to understand early that this feeling is a good thing will go a long way later in life when they have to make big decisions or have to capitalize on a big opportunity. One of the best ways to ease their nerves is to have a set game plan. This will allow them to focus on the mission at hand rather than being engulfed by the nerves and emotions that kids tend to feel in new situations. 

Implementing: 

Before we get into our Social Tips and Tricks you need to decide on your “Biggie in the Communication Pillar” {Your One Big Goal Within Specific Areas Of Life}  for your child during this rec season. 

Here are a couple of things to consider to help you narrow down on your “Biggie”:

1. What areas can your child improve when it comes to building and maintaining relationships with kids his age?
2. How can you use this year's season to get better in that area?
3. Has he or she played this sport before? If yes. Are they good enough to step into a leadership role this year? 
4. How passionate about this exact sport is my child? 

First Day

**Day One Mission: Introduce yourself to each coach. Ask each teammate for their name and tell each teammate your name.** 

The first day is nerve-racking for everyone no matter who you are. Here are some tips to remember when going through it. 

1. Greet The Coaches First
   
   • As soon as you arrive. Look each coach directly in the eye and say. “Good (Afternoon, Morning, Or evening), My name is _____. I look forward to helping us win as a team wherever your coaches see fit.” (If you do not know the coach's name now is the time to ask for it) 
   • Remember you represent your last name. So wear it with pride from the very beginning. 
   • No matter what… Your parents do not introduce him or her. Allowing them to do this on their own will build the framework for a confident adult. 
   • After he or she has introduced themselves you then can walk up and introduce yourself. 

    

2. Greet Teammates SecondlyThe majority of the time on day one the players will be huddled together waiting to begin. Beforehand instruct your child to use this time to start talking and partaking in conversations with the kids around him or her.
   
    

• If they are more introverted you can just encourage them to be friendly and respectful with whoever talks to them.
• By the end of the first day They should have asked every teammate their name as well as told all of them his or hers.  
• Communication is about listening more than anything else. Go over beforehand different things they can ask the kids. Things like:
   
• • What’s your name? 
  • What grade are you in? 
  • Have you played _____  yet? 
  • Comment on clothing or shoes. 
  • Comment on things going on in the environment. E tcc. 
  • Try your hardest. Winners are hard workers.

Nxt Era tips - “Here are a few things to remember. In life, Winners respect people who try hard. Losers respect people who don’t.” So your attitude with how you attack this season is going to attract individuals into your life that match your energy. You are a winner. Attract other winners!!

During 

This period covers day two until the last day. This is the time in which relationships will be built. Here are a few things to make it easier on your child.  

• Every time she arrives they should greet every single coach with a handshake and a hello sir or ma’am. 
• After they greet the coaches they should then dap up and or say “what's up” to every kid on the team. 
• One of the biggest traits that you can teach your kid is greeting everyone when they enter the room. This is a perfect place to build this habit.
• Almost as important as saying hello is saying goodbye 
• Once practice is done have him or her say thank you to the coaches and teammates. (Make sure He or she asks if they need any help carrying stuff to the car) 
• If they come across individuals on the team they like, have them get together with them outside of practice and games as well. 
• Or have them practice together separately. Building and becoming better around a common goal with other individuals builds very strong relationships.
• If they don't like the other kids. That's fine. The lesson now becomes ”to not let that affect their attitude or leadership qualities. Explain that in life you won't always enjoy all the members of your team but your ability to put that aside and still win together will be a deciding factor wiinow far you go in life. 

• This is the time when you implement your success plan for your “Biggie” Goal. 
• Make sure they try their hardest every single practice and every single game. 
• Always do more than you are asked by your coaches.

Ending Season

As a former Homeschooler majority of my friends growing up all came off of teams I played on growing up. So it's super important that in the weeks leading up to the end, start to figure out who your child would like to keep hanging out with or practicing with. As long as you are fine with the kids and families they choose, we suggest that you try and keep them in contact as much as possible after the season ends.  

Closing point:

Having or not having a lot of friends is not important. But what is important is your child's ability to connect and build and maintain relationships with individuals throughout their life. As a homeschooling parent, it is your responsibility to make sure they understand how to do this and the best way for them to acquire this skill is going to be numerous amounts of reps and time practicing.  This is the time to start to cultivate that trait inside of your kid. Even if it means more work on your end right now the payoff of your child being able to walk into any room and start building connections will be worth it.