As a child, I was never pressured into doing sports by my parents. And thank God for that, but of course that didn't mean that they never wanted me in a sport ever.

I did ballet for a year when I was about 8 years old, and at the end of that year I had two recitals; the second of which I was unaware of until the first one was over. I was so upset that I had a second recital. I remember my mom telling me that I didn't have to ever do ballet again after the second recital. I don't remember why I hated ballet so much, but I'm glad that my mom never pushed me to continue if I didn't enjoy it.

I feel like we need more parents who will do that for their child. To be willing to try new things even if it's not their forté. I've been a part of so many different sports during my life and only when I was in my sophomore year of high school did I find the sport that I really loved. There was never pressure from my parents to have to participate in one sport all through my life.

I know that some enjoy being a part of a team long-term. They grow up and grow with their teammates. They get to celebrate the victories and build from the defeats. I love that aspect of being able to be free to continue to choose a sport over and over because that person loves it. It is such a better reason than being in the sport because the parents are urging them to be a part of it so they can live vicariously through them.

It can be dangerous for parents to do this because they tend to get more upset at the losses and far more excited for the victories. It gives their son(s) or daughter(s) some kind of pedestal, like they feel the need to succeed or they won't get the approval of their own parent. And if there is no success, there is only failure and sadly, sometimes that is what they get labeled as. They get labeled as a winner or a loser based on their performances. It should never be that way.

Parents should be supportive of their athletes, win or lose. I don't care if they gave the winning goal to the other team on accident, the support from a parent is far, far more important than the competition. Parents throwing themselves on the ground in a tantrum at a middle school basketball game is so inappropriate and it should stop.

Other students don't want their parents to behave like that. Parents are to be the examples. They know what it's like to win and they know what it's like to lose, maybe not at a certain sporting event, but their experiences should reflect the way they react to such things.

Parents should be the supporters and motivators. Period. They aren't the stars of this show. Not this time.