Towards the end of the NRL season there was an incredible encounter on the TV between the Canberra Raiders and the Brisbane Broncos, which had everything and was totally captivating.
However, at a key point in the game despite watching avidly one of my children started scrolling on their phone and it led to an interesting conversation with very different viewpoints expressed by both me and my child and it got me reflecting……
When they do watch game or competition, is it the full version… or just a flurry of TikTok and YouTube highlights?
The way young people consume sport today looks very different from how many of us grew up. Back then, if you loved sport, you’d sit through whatever came on TV—whether it was Sunday afternoon football, Ski Sunday, Rugby Special or even the Diamond League on a Friday evening. Fewer choices meant more time watching whatever was available.
Today, attention is fragmented. Young athletes often skip the long game and focus on short clips. But are they missing out on deeper lessons?
There is a lot to be gained from watching sport in detail: understanding tactics, reading momentum shifts, and observing how athletes handle pressure whilst we still must as coaches, educators and parents acknowledge and potentially adapt to working with shortened attention spans.
So, what does this mean for us as sports parents?
Let’s look at some of the advantages of encouraging our children to watch their sport but also with an angle of how it may help them to be better athletes as well as better people.
Role Models and Sportsmanship
Watching sport has always provided children with heroes to look up to. But interestingly, research and experience suggest young athletes often gain more from role models they see regularly—like an older teammate in their club—than from distant superstars. They notice habits, work ethic, and mindset, then apply those lessons to their own routines.
Still, icons on TV or social media can inspire in powerful ways.
- Michael Jordan wasn’t just the most competitive player on the court—he showed humility in both victory and defeat. His Hall of Fame speech reminded young athletes that talent alone doesn’t cut it: “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall… figure out how to climb it.”
- Serena Williams has faced injuries, losses, and criticism, but her resilience and grace under pressure made her a global symbol of perseverance. She consistently gives credit to her opponents and uses her platform to promote equality.
- The New Zealand All Blacks rugby team embody humility through their tradition of “sweeping the sheds.” No matter how big the win, players clean their own locker room—a ritual that teaches respect and accountability.
These examples show that sportsmanship isn’t just about shaking hands at the end of a game.
It’s about respect, humility, and living by values that go beyond the scoreboard.
Help your children find relevant role models of their own, either from the world of sport or even closer to home.
Developing Critical Thinking
Watching sport isn’t just entertainment—it can sharpen the mind.
When your child watches a football or rugby game and questions a referee’s call, they’re practicing analysis. Was the foul intentional? Did the angle change the perception? That’s problem-solving in action.
Professional broadcasts also provide opportunities. Listen to Gary Neville breaking down defensive lines in Premier League coverage or Sue Barker dissecting strategy during Wimbledon. By engaging with commentary, kids can learn to question assumptions and explore alternative strategies.
Debating sport can also sharpen critical thinking. Whether it’s a family argument over VAR in football or friends debating whether Steph Curry is the best shooter in NBA history, these conversations teach kids to defend opinions and respect other viewpoints.
These are transferable skills: being able to evaluate, question, and problem-solve matters far beyond the playing field.
Enhancing Well-Being
Watching sport can boost both physical and mental well-being.
Physically, athletes often inspire kids to move. Usain Bolt’s record-breaking runs didn’t just electrify stadiums—they sent kids across the world sprinting in playgrounds, pretending to be the fastest human alive.
Mentally, sport provides a safe outlet for emotion. Fans ride waves of joy, frustration, and excitement, all while feeling part of a community. The England Women’s run to win the Rugby World Cup, the Lionesses bringing home Euro glory for the second time this last Summer and the Europeans coming home from the US with victory in the Ryder Cup.
Those experiences build connection and resilience.
Team sports also model collaboration.
Watching the NBA, the Golden State Warriors’ ball movement shows how selfless play creates success.
Seeing David Raya of Arsenal organise his defence teaches the value of communication under pressure. These lessons can stick.
Learning Emotional Regulation
Big games often come with big emotions—joy, frustration, anger, disappointment. Watching how athletes handle those moments can help teach our kid’s emotional control. Discussing these moments with them can act as a powerful conversation starter.
- Novak Djokovic has had highly public emotional outbursts, but he’s also spoken about channelling pressure into focus.
- In the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo went viral for calling losing “steps to success” after the Milwaukee Bucks’ playoff exit—an example of reframing disappointment in a healthy way.
We need to help our children to understand that it’s okay to feel emotions, but it’s also important to manage them constructively.
Appreciating Strategy and Planning
Sport isn’t just about athleticism—it’s also about tactics. Watching can teach kids the value of preparation and strategy.
- In the NFL, watching how coaches use timeouts or design plays in the final two minutes is a lesson in decision-making under pressure.
- In Formula 1, pit stop strategies can determine the race outcome, showing how teamwork and planning matter as much as individual talent.
This kind of observation can translate into academic problem-solving or even managing challenges in everyday life.
Can we provide opportunities to help our children gain a deeper understanding of the sports that they play?
Shortened clips are certainly helping with this and it is enjoyable talking with young athletes when they are analysing their performances and what they have seen.
Remember one of the traits of high performers is their ability to evaluate performance effectively, we can only help our young people do this if they are given space to talk and the tools to help them understand what they are seeing.
The Takeaway for Parents
Watching sport may look different today, but its lessons remain timeless.
Our children can still learn resilience from Serena, humility from the All Blacks, or decision-making from a Champions League final. But they’ll also learn from role models closer to home—a teammate who trains hard, or a coach who models respect.
So, encourage your child not only to play sport but to watch with purpose. Ask questions, discuss decisions, celebrate resilience, and highlight values you deem as important.
Because in the end, sport isn’t just about entertainment. It’s a classroom without walls—teaching values, sharpening minds, inspiring future high performers and setting up many for healthier, happier lives.
Whatever her motivation was it got me thinking about the value of our children watching sport. Not just for the role models on show but also the opportunities it provides us as sports parents to spend some quality time with them, a shared passion perhaps and the foundation it can provide for us to have powerful conversations with our children.
I have no data to back up this statement but my gut feeling is we have far less of this generation watching sport on the TV, admittedly they may be seeing plenty in bite sized chunks via social media channels but certainly in my latter years in education and coaching when I asked youngsters if they had watched certain games or competitions at the weekend, the positive responses seemed less than 15-20 years ago.
When Liz McColgan joined us on the Parents in Sport Podcast we talked about the halcyon days of the Diamond League on a Friday evening where parents and children could recognise many of the world’s best athletes as that was standard family fare, however now I often find myself having to look up people to identify them and some youngsters struggle to put names to faces.
Sport on the TV and in the media has changed exponentially in recent times making the variety and choice huge compared to our generation growing up that had to settle for the odd sporting program on the TV each week and if you wanted your sporting fix then you were glued to it, knowing full well it would be a while before the next opportunity.
This probably included tuning into sports that you were not even particularly interested in. That is not the case today with the huge number of sports on offer to watch across different platforms, which gives us a brilliant opportunity as sports parents.
There is no doubting that there can be a real value in encouraging our young people to watch sport, or even better to watch sport with them, either at home on the TV or if possible, get to a local venue for some live action.
Why can it be so valuable?
- Role-Models – ‘If you can see it, you can be it’.
Watching sport can help provide our children with a huge variety of role models and teach our children about sportsmanship. (DISCLAIMER: We appreciate at times that this is not always the case and can do the opposite, but these are few and far between in comparison to how much sport is being played).
Role models often embody qualities such as determination, perseverance, and teamwork that can inspire us and our children in our own lives.
Take for example the legendary basketball player Michael Jordan. His competitiveness on the court was unmatched, but what truly set him apart was his ability to remain humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Through his actions, he taught us the importance of respecting our opponents and being a good sport no matter the outcome.
Another shining example of a role model is tennis superstar Serena Williams. Throughout her career, she has faced numerous challenges and obstacles, but her resilience and grace under pressure have been truly inspiring. Whether it is giving credit to her opponents after a tough match or using her platform to advocate for important issues like gender equality, Serena shows us that being a good sport goes beyond the game itself. She demonstrates that sportsmanship is about treating others with kindness and respect both on and off the court.
In addition to individual athletes, team sports also provide remarkable role models who teach us invaluable lessons about teamwork and camaraderie. The New Zealand national rugby team, known as the All Blacks, is a prime example of this. They are renowned not only for their exceptional skills on the field but also for their strong sense of unity as a team. The players are driven by leaving the jersey in a better place than which they found it and always putting the team first above any individual achievements.
We must use the powerful narratives that our children may watch and see as a great opportunity to talk to them about why certain athletes are good role models and how being a good role model is so much more than simply being the best player.
These conversations with our children about identifying what makes these top performers good at their craft as well as what is good about their character can be doubly impactful.
- Help our children to develop critical-thinking, problem-solving and analysis skills
Analysing strategies employed by teams, coaches and athletes during a game can help our children to fosters a deeper understanding of decision-making processes under pressure. This analytical approach allows them to appreciate the intricacies of various sports.
Who can remember the days of watching TV and then going outside to copy what we had just seen and bring it to life with friends in our communities. I cannot recall how many times I was John Barnes, Ian Botham or a member of ‘The A Team’ growing up.
I remember vividly watching live the first ball that Shane Warne ever bowled to Mike Gatting and spending the rest of the day trying to duplicate it, admittedly with not quite as much success.
Watching games and individuals can help our children to paint pictures in their own minds. The more they see these pictures the greater chance of them taking them into their own sporting performances.
We have more analysis and insights into sport than ever before. By actively listening to commentary and observations, our children can develop their own critical thinking abilities. They learn how to question assumptions made during gameplay and evaluate alternative approaches that could have been taken. We may need to help them understand a bit around context as not everything will simply ‘copy and paste.’
- Enhance their Physical and Mental Well-being
Watching sport can greatly contribute to enhancing physical and mental well-being.
We know that engaging in physical activities is essential for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and the watching of sport allows our children to vicariously experience the thrill of competition and athleticism.
As our children watch athletes push themselves to their limits, their own motivation and desire for physical activity may become more ignited. We must try and be ready to jump on these moments and try to facilitate these moments of enthusiasm where we can. Anything that encourages our children away from technology and towards physical activity can only be a positive.
Moreover, watching sport can also have a positive impact on their mental well-being. When they immerse themselves in a sporting event, they experience a range of emotions: excitement, joy, frustration, and even disappointment. These emotional roller coasters stimulate their brains and release endorphins that uplift their mood. The sheer unpredictability of sport keeps them on the edge of our seats, creating an adrenaline rush that can boost their mental alertness.
Encouraging our children to watch sport can be a valuable and enjoyable way for them to learn and grow for a wide variety of reasons. We have covered several in this blog but are sure that you will have several of your own.
My daughter did manage a goal in her game, I am relieved to say the shirt did not come off and she did attempt to hit a shot as hard as Chloe Kelly but on this occasion, it did not find the target. Oh well, I wonder who she will be next week!
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