When your son or daughter is into sports, you know the drill as a dad. Make sure you get them the equipment they need so their bodies are protected. Make sure they understand that sport is about fun and learning, not just about winning. Make sure that as a dad, you cheer them on, whether they win or fail. Fathers have such a great role to play in their children’s raising when it comes to sports. Sports are healthy, they are fun and most of all they will give your children life lessons that only you could in words. Here are some challenges of raising a sporty child and how you, as a dad, can meet them.

The right equipment

As a dad, your number worry is that your child will get hurt during sports and thus, have their life changed forever. So you should do your best to buy them the right equipment. This means two things.

• Don’t always buy them the equipment they want. They might just want some shoes or a helmet because it looks cool, not that it will protect them adequately. In fact, let them know this. Let your child know you are buying equipment that will perform its job the best, not how it looks. You can always change how a helmet, shoes, or pads look at home.

• When it comes to providing your children with high-quality gear, you need to make sure that you are investing in the right items. This is particularly important if your child is involved in sports like lacrosse, which requires a significant amount of specialized equipment. With lacrosse sticks being one of the most important pieces of equipment for any player, it is essential to purchase reliable sticks for your kids.

• Make sure that the equipment you buy has been adequately reviewed. Don’t just buy the newest and ‘greatest’ equipment because it has a recognized logo. Wait for it to be reviewed online and buy based on those reviews.

Understand the scores

A dad that doesn’t understand sports scores is a little, well, a little abnormal. A dad should be able to inform his son or daughter what scores mean. We’re not talking about who won a game, we mean, what happens when one team scores x and another team scores, will they be in the same group playoffs? Has that team outscored another to boot them out of a league? For example, pay attention to the rugby results in various leagues and notice what that means for certain teams. Will a player that wants to move, having lost a game, finally make that move? If a team has finally beat a rival after losing many straight games, what will that mean for its culture? Things like this matter, scores always tell stories.

Feed their bodies

If you have a child that is active, you need to make sure they are being fed. Their bodies need to recover and heal, so they need to have a very healthy diet. Proteins, vegetables and plenty of fresh fruit is something that should never be too far out of reach. You don’t want a child that is showed sporting promise to rely on junk food when they are tired, hungry and their body aches.

Dads have a crucial role to play in their child’s sporting path. These are just some of the things you should be doing, but we’re sure you can think of many others.