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How much is too much when it comes to youth sport?

How much is too much when it comes to youth sport?

Creating a positive parent culture

Creating a positive parent culture

Running good trials and selections

Running good trials and selections

Balanced Female Health

Balanced Female Health

The Home of Youth Sport
in New Zealand

Balance is Better is about creating quality experiences for all young people to keep them active and in the game.

Featured

Letters to rangatahi: What I wish sport knew?

In this open letter, we hear from the Halberg Foundation’s Kiran Dixon. Kiran’s letter sheds light on some of the challenges young people with disabilities face growing up in New Zealand when it comes to sport, and draws some powerful lessons...
Coaches

How including youth voice creates inclusive opportunities

Let young people have their say on their own physical activity experiences. As coaches and supporters of young people, we want to make sure everyone who participates – regardless of their ability – enjoys a positive sport experience...
Coaches

Relative Age Effect

This article is shared by Player Development Project Steve Lawrence is a consultant to Cruyff Football and Ajax in the Netherlands. With a Masters in International Sports Management, Steve founded the Football Analytics Lab and is at the forefront...

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Coaches

Golden Rules for Youth Sport Coaches

In this video by BeSportive we hear from Dan Carter, Melodie Robinson, Phil Tataurangi, Anna Stanley, Ross Taylor, Dillon Boucher, Maia Jackman, Anna Lawrence, Eroni Clark, Warren Gatland and Monty Beetham about how sport coaches can create the...
Coaches

Coaching Your Own Child – 5 Tips for the Parent-Coach

Being a parent-coach presents a unique set of challenges. Coaching is all about relationships, but sometimes the relationship between a parent and child poses different demands to that of an athlete and their coach. Balancing both can be...
Coaches

What Is a Coaching Philosophy?

Our coaching philosophy is essentially the framework around which we build our coaching approach. It’s the product of our beliefs and values, and has a huge impact on our coaching methodologies and the way we work with others....
Coaches

Let’s celebrate our everyday heroes

Every day, sports coaches across Aotearoa give their time to make a difference to the lives of young New Zealanders. Sport is fuelled by more than 300,000 coaches in New Zealand. Most of this workforce are volunteers who...
Coaches

Research: The real value of coaches

The value of a coach goes beyond the field The impact of a coach is felt far beyond the sport skills they demonstrate – they also help to improve the health and wellbeing of young people. A study that...
Balance is Better in Action

The path to inclusion – World Champ para swimmer, Rebecca Dubber

Paralympic swimmer Rebecca Dubber spent most of her childhood being excluded from sport.  She “tried” to play a range of sports – her parents took her along to wheelchair basketball where the coach failed to turn up to training, she...
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Parents

Webinar replay: Mastering the art of sports parenting

In this webinar, we talked with international sport parenting expert Professor Camilla Knight. Camilla outlined the various strategies that parents can employ to:  Increase the chances that their child reaches their sporting potential Enhance their child’s likelihood of having positive sport experience and developing...
Parents

5 Golden Rules For Sideline Supporters

In this video by BeSportive we hear from various past and present New Zealand athletes, coaches and sport personalities about how sideline supporters can create the best experiences for young Kiwis. The 5 Golden Rules for Sideline Supporters...
Parents

What makes an expert sports parent?

In 2015, Chris Harwood and Camilla Knight, published an academic paper titled, Parenting in youth sport — a positioning paper on sport parents and parenting expertise. In this paper, Harwood and Knight proposed that there are six key core competencies that expert sport parents demonstrate in...
Parents

The “Unknown Damage” caused from the touchline

This article was originally published by www.parentsinsport.co.uk. It is republished with permission from iCoachKids. Every weekend all over the world millions of parents, children and coaches set off for their weekly sporting ritual ‘Match Day’. Many will follow...
Coaches

Parenting & Coaching: The Perfectionist Athlete

This article is shared by Player Development Project How can parents and coaches help young players overcome a perfectionist mindset? Reed Maltbie shares a fantastic article around some of the modern challenges parents and coaches face with perfectionism on...

Balance is Better in Action

Q&A with Balance is Better Champion, Samuel Tanner

Tell us a bit about you and where you grew up. I’m the eldest of five children with two amazing parents, Paul and Krissy. I am a Māori athlete and Ngāpuhi is my iwi. Pāpāmoa Beach has been...
Parents

What is a good youth sport experience?

In this article, Sport Waikato shares insights into how adults can create a great sporting experience for our young people. So you get it. Youth sport is about fun. Competition is great, but when we creep into a...
Coaches

Are we only supporting the kids in the top team?

In this series of Balance is Better articles, Sport NZ explores the myths surrounding youth sport and the shift in thinking needed to halt declining participation levels in kiwi teens. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the first...

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