Away Games Are For The Kids

Games away from the home field or court should be for the kids and coaches only. Here is why.

In every school sports season, there are home games and away games. Here is my call to parents everywhere: Let away games be for the kids.

In my youth as a soccer player, our home games were filled with parents cheering, friends clapping, and even grandparents smiling broadly (and yes, sometimes screaming madly). Our away games meant that we met at school and boarded the yellow bus. We rode sometimes for hours to a remote school, carried our gym bags (and our parent-packed snacks), and played our game in front of the home team crowd. Whether victorious or in defeat, we re-boarded the bus, sang songs in the back, told sometimes-true stories, ragged on our perceived enemies, and planned our next adventures. We almost always stopped at the A&W Root Beer outpost and arrived back at school behind on our homework. 

It was glorious. We made friends and grew up as kids. And our parents had the day off.

Today’s parents are driving to every game. It seems almost required. Hours in the car, now with kids in the back on some digital app. The fun of it is gone for everyone. A simple soccer team may have 10 cars driving three hours each way. Even if they are electric cars (or soon, autonomous), what a waste. The opportunity lost for kids to be kids with kids is incalculable. And as a parent, you really don’t need to see every kick, every run, every missed shot of your children’s youth. Hearing them describe their adventure is often much more rewarding. 

My advice: Start a “bus to away games” pool. You may be surprised at how many parents sign up and chip in, how many coaches are relieved, and the smile on your kids’ faces. Just keep their cell phones off the bus.