IN an unfortunate few days for junior sport, a spate of incidents - including one where the coach of a Central Coast team has been charged with assaulting a 12-year-old player from the opposing team - have again put the behaviour of over-zealous spectators under a spotlight.
Alleged assaults and other obvious transgressions aside, some will say there is nothing wrong with colourful barracking for one side, and some selective sledging of the other.
Unfortunately for that view, there is a welter of evidence to indicate that such "harmless" behaviour can have deeply negative impacts on young minds.
An article published last year by the well-established Australian Sports Camps organisation summarises the problem, and how to counter it.
The organisation says the main concerns are bad language and threats, sideline coaching, and "put downs" of a child's abilities, either in private or in front of others.
It says children of poorly behaved parents are more likely to drop out of team sports, and that a "winning is everything" attitude removes the enjoyment and ratchets up stress.
When parents blame a referee for the outcome of a game, children learn to make excuses for things.
A child who sees their parent abuse a referee feels that they, too, can act disrespectfully towards those in authority; behaviour that carries over into school, family and later life.
Some young athletes can block out the yelling while they're on the field, but it can be impossible to escape the criticism afterwards, trapped in the car on the drive home.
Thankfully, most clubs nowadays have codes of behaviour for spectator conduct.
Parents are encouraged to remind their children that they're proud of them, regardless of how they play. T
o let the coach do the coaching, while they do the watching.
Honour the umpires or referees in charge, and respect their decisions. Remember that sport is about enjoyment, as well as effort.
And perhaps most importantly of all, don't let the heat of the moment get to you.
Ask yourself what you would think of someone else doing what you've just done, or just stopped yourself from doing.
We could blame this spate of incidents on the pressures of COVID, except that bad sideline behaviour at junior sport is no new thing.
Better to take a tip from the children in our photograph, from the NSW government's Shoosh For Kids campaign.
Hey! You! Shoosh on the sideline.
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