Moms’ Perspectives on Supporting Children Who Play High School Sports

Indiana moms have spoken. Researchers from Butler University reached out to mothers of high school athletes in Indiana to ask, “If you feel that having a student-athlete benefits your life, what are those benefits (please list them)?” Overwhelmingly, moms felt as if having a student-athlete benefitted not only the student, but mom too.

The benefits of high school sports participation for student- athletes are well-documented. Those benefits include but are likely not limited to better educational outcomes, enhanced school engagement and sense of belonging, positive youth development/ life skills, healthier behaviors, post-high school positive results, developing better citizens, and school and community benefits. These benefits are further elaborated in The Case for High School Activities.

In April 2021, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) published updated Competencies for a Career- Ready Workforce: Career & Self-Development, Communication, Critical Thinking, Equity & Inclusion, Leadership, Professionalism, Teamwork and Technology. Approximately 61.8 percent of high school students go on to college (as of fall 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), so students who participate in outside classroom activities offered by their high school may have the opportunity to gain competencies needed to go straight into the workforce.

Our research is unique in that, as researchers, we come from multiple backgrounds and perspectives. One researcher comes from a communications background, was not a high school athlete, and has grown children of her own. Another researcher comes from a sociology background, was a high school athlete, and has children who are just now old enough to begin thinking about pursuing high school sports. Other researchers have been students from various majors including psychology, media studies, sociology, communications and social work. We think it’s so important to include multiple perspectives in our research in order to get a well-rounded view of our data.

We wanted to know if moms of these high school athletes also found benefits in their child’s participation...for themselves. After all, moms are frequently the decision-makers in their children’s lives, the financial providers for their sports, the person driving their children to practices and games, and the person who is always there for their child to celebrate athletic success or commiserate with a loss. From our initial data collection, 85 percent of moms said that they did receive benefits from their child’s sports participation. 85%! The overwhelming response to the question, “If you feel that having a student-athlete benefits your life, what are those benefits?” was “happiness.”

Mothers said that their children’s participation “gives me something to look forward to,” “brings a smile to my face,” “provides pride in knowing that my children are doing their best,” “makes my job as a mom easier,” and “enhances our life.” One mother said that through her child’s participation “I have learned to love it as well. As a mother, joy to your life is when your child is happiest doing what they love.”

Figure 1 below demonstrates just how integrated moms often become in the lives of their high school athletes. As the diagram indicates, moms of high school athletes are not just engaged with their children, but they are often engaged with teachers (and their children’s academics, making sure they are eligible to play their sport), coaches and athletic directors. Moms can become very integrated into their child’s high school athletic careers.

Figure 1. MOMs Social World:
Social worlds, subworlds, organizations, and negotiations (Strauss, A. L., 1987, 1982)

One of the relationships that we believe is just as significant for mothers of high school athletes is the relationships that they make with other mothers. Often, these relationships begin when their children are young (think pee wee football leagues or little league baseball). As their children grow into high school athletes playing these sports, many of the moms may have now known each other for years. And just as the players on the team become like family, often the sports moms become like family too. It is a relationship that is understudied, and we want to do something about that.

We believe that moms are often overlooked in research of student- athletes and students who engage in other non-sport activities in high school. Within recent decades, the workforce composition has changed. It is not uncommon for households to be dual-income households, where both the mother and father are expected to take on multiple roles such as caregiving and household responsibilities, along with outside work responsibilities. And while there is evidence to suggest that the workforce is becoming less divided by gender, there is also evidence that mom is still responsible for a majority of the household and child-care responsibilities. This means moms are taking on more.

We know how important moms are. These moms are often their children’s cheerleaders, chefs, chauffer, nurse, therapist – just to name a few of their roles. And, our research of Indiana moms also told us that moms are often the primary financial decision- makers for their high school students. Moms have an opportunity to influence their child. In fact, children have been seen to rate parents as the most significant source of influence, especially where participation in athletics are concerned. Moms really are doing it all. And while some moms feel the pressure and strain of all these roles, many moms also recognize the benefits, as noted previously.

We currently have several research projects in progress or under review at academic journals based on our Indiana data alone. Our research team is dedicated to expanding our project to include not just Indiana moms, but moms from across the country.

We want to reach moms in every single state in the United States. Moms in Indiana have spoken, and we’ve loved hearing their stories, but they can’t speak for everyone in the country. Using NFHS/Butler University external grant funding, our next steps are to distribute our survey nationwide, so that all moms have a chance to speak. (Scan the QR code in the graphic below and take the short survey and receive a chance to win a $25 gift card.)

Additionally, we are planning a MOMs Perspective Leadership Conference where we will convene focus groups to get moms’ perspectives about the benefits of sports and non-sport activities for their high school students. This conference will be structured into focus groups that will delve deeper into the topics of benefits that have been noted above. The voices of moms are so important to us! We believe these focus groups will provide us with even deeper, more meaningful conversations with moms.

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