What to do when your kid is always on a losing sports team
Constantly being placed on losing teams can take a heavy psychological toll, causing kids to constantly vent about it and eventually get soured on participating in team sports altogether. Parents often feel terrible and struggle to know how to help or support their child through these demoralizing experiences.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Switching to individual sports like tennis, track, or cross country where outcomes are self-controlledDid this help you?
- 2Focusing on personal development, effort, and having fun rather than the scoreDid this help you?
- 3Transitioning to playing pickup games with friends or recreational sports instead of organized leaguesDid this help you?
- 4Finding a different team if the child is serious about the sportDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My 12-year-old son is always on a losing team whether it be baseball, flag football, and now tackle football. I feel so bad for him and I don’t know what to do.”source ↗
“I wonder about his psyche as a young man who knows and vents about it constantly.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 8How to help a child who refuses to play sports from anxiety
- 2Youth sports coach texted the parent group chat insulting the kids
- 3What to do when your toddler refuses sports practice
- 2Why do youth sports leagues make kids vote for each other?
- 13Why does my child shut down when they make a mistake?
- 11Should I let my child quit their activity?