• Let Kids Be Kids - The Icons

    2m 27s

    Sporting stars talk about their personal experience of poor sideline behaviour when they were kids with the simple message 'let kids be kids'. 

When I was a kid,
I played for Beecroft Juniors.

I initially played for Renwick.

The Kennington Possums in Bendigo.

The Mandurang Junior Football Club.

I played for St Joseph's Primary School at Wangi Netball Club.

Plumpton/Oakhurst Eagles.

Beecroft Wombats in soccer, and I played for Oakhill College Cricket Club as a junior.

Townsville Brothers, from the age of 12 to 17.

Played for South Melbourne Hellas Soccer Club my whole junior career. It was a dream come true for me.

A sunny Saturday morning, and turning up at our local grounds with all my friends, and just playing a match.

I just loved playing with my mates.

Oranges at quarter-time, half-time, and three-quarter time, then running around with my friends after the game.

Being with your friends on the weekend.

And I just wanted to do what they were doing.

Getting home after a tough game, and having soup next to the fire watching the footy.

There must have been 10 or 11, and the parents started arguing and fighting amongst each other.

Trying to encourage but in, probably, a little bit of a degrading way.

One of the parents of one of the girls on my team used to yell, just in a nasty way, towards her daughter.

When parents were overreacting to the way that we were playing really confused me.

Both teams just huddled together in a center circle, each of us frightened for ourselves, and, I guess, for our parents.

I'm Pakistani, so I think 'curry muncher' was right up there. It might not seem like a lot but, when I was young, it used to really irk me, used to hurt.

To be able to deal with that and continue to play and focus on the game, it's really hard to be able to do.

It felt like, at times, everyone against me.

It's only going to affect them in a negative way, being lack of confidence or putting them down, and what's the point at the end of the day?

Letting the kids enjoy the moment.

Support and encourage your kid.

It's just a game.

Let kids be kids!

It's about letting the kids have fun, and enjoy the game with their friends.

Just let them do what they do. But don't put overly too much pressure on them.

It is about the kids, and it is about letting kids be kids.

Just let kids be kids.

Let kids be kids.

Let kids be kids.

Let them have fun while playing sport, which is why they're there in the first place.

Let kids be kids.