Losing Seasons: Coping with Canceled Youth Sports & Activities
How will we continue to keep our youth active and healthy during the pandemic? Many sports have had to take a time-out due to COVID-19. Indoor activities have been canceled, and, pandemic or not, the weather doesn't always permit us to enjoy being physically active outdoors. The cancellation or delay of sports seasons has also had long-term impacts on the futures and identities of youth and young adults.
So, as parents and caregivers, how do we keep our children active, healthy, and strong, while helping them (and us) mourn the loss of the activities that help them thrive?
Guest experts Dr. Daheia Barr-Anderson, Christine Pinalto from Sidelined USA, and Megan Bartlett from We Coach joined us to discuss how to help our children cope physically and mentally so that everyone "wins."
Table of Contents
Key Moments
Listen back to specific questions posed by our moderator Dr. Brooke Starkoff.
(1:06) Why did we want to have this conversation?
(5:45) Introduction to our panelists: Megan Bartlett - Founder of We Coach, Dr. Daheia Barr-Anderson, Christine Pinalto - Executive Director & Co-Founder of Sidelined USA
(7:45) Megan, you have looked extensively at the power of sport in helping youth who have experienced trauma or crisis in their lives. How do you see this playing out when it comes to COVID-19 and the loss of sport for many youth in the midst of this ongoing global crisis?
(11:00) Christine, how has your work or your thinking about sports and activities shifted since the pandemic began?
(16:00) Daheia, tell us about your research and how things have changed in the past year for you.
(19:10) How much physical activity do our kids need? How much do adults need?
(22:12) For many youth, participation in sports and athletic activities is about connection to the community. What are some of the ramifications of these decreased connections and how can we help our kids stay connected with their teams, coaches, and communities during this pandemic?
(27:50) What examples have you seen of coaches and teams staying connected?
(40:40) How can we - as coaches - help to redefine success in 2021? Sport is typically pretty binary with wins and losses. How can we step outside of that and find success outside the result?
(44:00) How can student athletes stay connected to this part of their identity during this time?
(47:18) What strategies would you suggest for the angry teen kids who lack motivation for self-improvement in their sport and would never entertain the idea of family-style fitness? Or for the kids who loved their sport but have lost motivation through COVID-19?
(50:30) What is one piece of advice you want to give right now to 1) youth, 2) parents, and 3) coaches about navigating these challenges or lost seasons?
Reflection Questions
Webinars and resources are all well and good, but having a ton of information is only as helpful as you can do something with it. Take a few moments with yourself, your partner, or others in your circle of support to reflect on the following questions and process the insights and tips that stood out most to you.
Dr. Barr-Anderson mentioned that experts recommend that kids engage in 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Was that more or less than you expected?
How can your athlete(s) stay connected to this part of their identity during the pandemic?
One of the best ways to engage our kids to move their bodies is to make it fun. What are some creative ways that you can make physical activity fun for your family?
Moving forward, do you think youth sports will change as a result of the pandemic? How might you as a parent or a coach work to reduce disparities in kids' access to sports?
How can you encourage safe connection between your children and their teammates/coaches during the pandemic?
For coaches: how can you redefine success and connect with your team under these circumstances?
Additional Related Resources
Youth Sports During the Pandemic
COVID-19 Resources (Play Like a Champion Today)
Parent Workshop: Support & Resources for Parents During COVID-19 (Play Like a Champion Today)
‘Everything Is Closed Down.’ The Lack of Youth Sports Is a Crisis. By Kurt Streeter (The New York Times)
State of Play 2020 | Pandemic Trends (The Aspen Institute Project Play)
In the era of COVID-19, access to youth sports hangs in the balance by Lonnae O'Neal (The Undefeated)
10 Questions to Consider Before Your Child Returns to Sports (NYU Langone Health)
General Mental Health & Sports Resources
Why Trauma Informed Sport is Vital (We Coach)
Brain Trust: A Conversation on Stress and Sport with Dr. Bruce Perry featuring Megan Bartlett (We Coach)
#TEAMSIDELINED Podcast (Sidelined USA)
Mental Health Support Resources List (Sidelined USA)
For Coaches & Athletic Programs
COVID Wellness Initiative: Mental Wellness Support Resources for Your Student-Athletes (Sidelined USA)
"You Are Needed Now More Than Ever." How Leaders Can Draw on Mental Health Learnings From Medically Disqualified Athletes (Leading Edge)
COVID19 & Beyond: Coaching Sidelined Athletes Interview with Jackie Mercer (Sidelined USA)
Stay Home Season Coach Resources (Soccer Without Borders)
Trauma Sensitive and Responsive Coaching Resources (Play Like a Champion Today)
For High School and College Athletes
Unfinished Business: 5 Insights When Your Athletic Season is Sidelined by a Pandemic by Christine Pinalto (Sidelined USA)
Becoming Sidelined: Managing Negative Self-Talk (Sidelined USA)
Creating a Healthy Identity Beyond the Game (Sidelined USA)
Beyond the Game: Harnessing Your Competitive Edge for Life (Sidelined USA)
When the Pandemic Ends Your Athletic Career: Perspective From Four Athletes Who Get It (#TEAMSIDELINED podcast)
Keeping Kids Active At Home
Keeping Kids Active at Home (Play Like a Champion Today)
How to keep kids active during winter covid-19 lockdowns by Joanna Pearlstein (The Washington Post)
Fun Ways to Keep Kids Active through the Winter (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)
Creativity, fun are keys to keeping kids fit this winter — in a pandemic:Inside Children's Blog by Lyndsey Frey (Akron Children’s Hospital)
23 Indoor Activities for Heart-Healthy Kids (Connecticut Childrens)
How to Keep Kids Active in a Winter without Organized Sports (TrueSport)
Movement in a Box - developed by a physical literacy expert and former strength and conditioning coach for the US Women's Hockey team
Key Moments From This Webinar
Modeling Self-Care for your Children
An Expert’s Reminder for Parents during COVID-19
What issues do student athletes face without sports during COVID-19?
How much exercise do children and adults need?
Our Guests & Moderator
Daheia Barr-Anderson, PhD, MSPH
Daheia Barr-Anderson, PhD, MSPH, is an Associate Professor focusing on the behavioral aspects of physical activity at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests focus on physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and obesity prevention in children and adolescents. She is particularly interested in home- and community-based, environmental interventions that incorporate both physical activity and nutrition to achieve healthy outcomes and to decrease racial/ethnic health inequalities. Her current projects: 1) explore the factors within the home activity and food environments that interplay with individual and interpersonal factors to contribute to overweight and obesity in African-American girls age 4-8 years, and 2) examine the use of yoga to address cardiovascular risk factors in sedentary African-American women.
In January 2020, Dr. Barr-Anderson started her year-long sabbatical in which she had proposed a project to explore how systemic racism and micro- and macroaggressions affect the health of Black women. Instead of delivering lectures at several academic institutions, traveling to Kenya for a month, and using her hard-earned sabbatical to enhance her current research, she found herself navigating through COVID, distance learning, and social distancing with her husband of 19 years and two very active daughters: a 10-year competitive gymnast and swimmer and 9-year old competitive dancer and swimmer. Needless to say, “Parenting during a Pandemic” became her full-time focus.
Christine Pinalto
Christine Pinalto is the executive director and co-founder of Sidelined USA, a national nonprofit organization that serves and resources student-athletes forced to discontinue competition due to career-ending injuries, health conditions, or repeat concussions. Christine is leading efforts to raise awareness about the psychological impact of medically forced exits from sport and educates the sports medicine community on improved patient care for medically disqualified (MDQ) athletes. Additionally, she advocates for improved after-care for MDQ student-athletes on a national scale. Her passion for advocating for sidelined athletes spawned from her personal journey supporting her son in his experience as an MDQ athlete in his young teen years. Recognizing the significant lack of resources available to support sidelined athletes in their transitions forward, Christine and her son together founded their organization in 2016. Their mission is to reunite permanently-sidelined athletes with their passions and inspire them to find a meaningful way forward through resources, connection, and new pursuits. In response to the pandemic, Christine is spearheading the COVID Wellness Initiative, Sidelined USA's program providing free specialized resources to support the mental wellness of student-athletes through this season of pandemic-related disruption on life and sport.
Megan Bartlett
Megan Bartlett has spent the last 15 years creating innovative coaching initiatives with Nike, building capacity for community-based organizations, and has partnered with the Child Trauma Academy to make coaches more brain-aware. Prior to starting We Coach, she worked for 10 years at Up2Us Sports, where she created the first national coach training program to integrate trauma-informed practices into a sports context. Megan is the co-author of the book Re-Designing Youth Sports: Change the Game.
Brooke E. Starkoff, Ph.D.
Our moderator, Brooke Starkoff, is an assistant professor of exercise science at Valparaiso University. Her research focus is on obesity, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in children. Her current projects include examining the impact of standing desks on cardiovascular health and functional movement in children. In addition to teaching at VU, she is also currently interning in the school nutrition program with Valparaiso Community Schools, part of the requirements to become a registered dietitian nutritionist. Since joining VU in 2018, Brooke has established the FitLab at Valparaiso University, a fitness assessment facility, to measure and promote health and physical activity to both the VU campus and surrounding community. In addition to exercise science and nutrition, she loves participating in triathlons, playing outside with her wife and their 5-year-old, and promoting kale as the cure to all ailments!
Pandemic Parenting is a collaboration between two psychologists, scholars, and moms committed to sharing their expertise and research in ways that are immediately accessible and useful to families. Learn more about Dr. Amanda Zelechoski and Dr. Lindsay Malloy.