The KSC/KMS Development Programs Director and the KSC/KMS Development Programs Oversight Board understand that we must proactively work with our parents  to understand the basics of the sport, the rules of etiquette, appropriate behavior at practices and competitions, their specific role on the parent-coach-athlete team, our philosophy about competition, winning and team functioning, our "mission" for the season, our expectations of their children and the consequences for not following the rules. We believe that by actively communicating to  our parents and utilizing the "proactive" model via regular written communication and with face to face parent-administrator meetings throughout the season, we will dramatically increase our chances of creating a successful and mutually satisfying partnership for all involved.

Parents' Bill of Rights

• The KSC/KMS Development Programs believe that parents have rights and that their questions regarding the program are reasonable and important.

• Parents have the right to know that their children will be safe with the staff both physically and emotionally.

• Parents have the right to know that the staff is experienced in the sport of alpine, freestyle, freeskiing or snowboarding and is trained in proper safety procedures on and off the mountain.

• Parents have the right to know that all children will be treated fairly and that each child will be treated as an individual.

• Parents have the right to know that any negative or cruel behavior amongst the students or between the students and the staff will not be tolerated.

• Parents have the right to know that the staff will conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times.

• Parents have the right to know that they can approach the staff after hours with an appropriate concern and that the staff will listen carefully to their concerns and will do everything possible to address the issue.

• Parents have the right to know that their children will learn, improve, and have fun with the sports of alpine, freestyle and snowboarding.

How to Be a Winning Parent
Parents and Children in Sports (Paraphrased and copied with thanks to "A Parents Guide for Winning in the Youth Sports Game" by Dr. Goldberg)

Your child can benefit greatly by participation in sports. But those benefits are not guaranteed. They are made up of a cooperative effort among program administrators, coaches and parents.

Through sports your child can:

• Acquire an appreciation for an active lifestyle.

• Learn how to work as part of a team.

• Develop social skills with other children and adults.

• Learn about managing success and disappointment.

• Learn about fair play and being a good sport.

• Learn respect for others.

These benefits come more readily when adults put the interests of the children first. Children learn behavior from many different people, but the people they learn the most from are their parents. Here are some tips to handling situations that involve competition:

It is especially important to model good sportsmanship for your child.

• Encourage all the participants.

• Congratulate the opponents when they win.

• Show support, interest and enthusiasm for your child at all times.

As well as helping your child, you can help your child's coach by:

• Resisting the desire to advise the coach on how to do their job

• Not coaching your child during training, a race or a competition

• Providing your child with proper equipment and encouraging its correct use

• Thanking coaches, the race officials, meet organizers and other volunteers when the event is over

• Your child should never be taught to view his or her opponent as the "Bad Guy".

• Encourage your child to compete against himself/herself. The ultimate goal of the sport is to challenge oneself and continually improve. Winning in sports is about doing the best that you can, regardless of the outcome or the play of your opponent.

• Do not define success and failure in terms of winning and losing. If a child plays his/her very best and loses, you need to help them feel like a winner.

• Be supportive. Do not coach. Coaching interferes with your role as a parent and supporter of the team. Be your child's best fan - provide support, encouragement, empathy, transportation & money - but leave the coaching and instruction to the coach.

• Remember the importance of high self-esteem in all your interactions with your child-athlete. Athletes of all levels and ages perform in direct relationship to how they feel about themselves. Make your child feel good about himself/herself and you've given him/her a gift that lasts a lifetime.

• Give your child the gift of failure. The most successful people both in and out of sports do two things differently. First, they are willing to take risks and therefore fail more frequently. Second they use their failures in a positive way as a source of motivation and feedback to improve. Failure is a perfect stepping-stone to success.

• Stress the process - skill acquisition, mastery and fun - not the outcome. In any peak performance, the athlete is totally oblivious to the outcome and is absorbed in the here and now of their actual performance. An outcome focus will almost always distract and tighten up the athlete insuring bad performance. If you truly want your child to win, help get his/her focus away from how important the contest is and have them focus on the task at hand. Supportive parents de-emphasize winning and instead stress learning the skills and playing the game.

• Avoid comparisons and respect developmental differences. Comparisons are inaccurate and destructive since every child matures and develops differently.

• Teach your child to have perspective on the sports experience. The sports media would like you to believe that sport and winning and losing is larger than life. This lack of perspective frequently trickles down to the youth sport level and young athletes often come away from competition with a distorted view of themselves and how they performed. Parents need to help their child develop realistic expectations of themselves, their abilities and how they played without robbing the child of his/her dreams.

Most importantly, remember: The more fun an athlete is having the more he/she will learn and the better they will perform. If your child is not having fun - investigate! What is keeping them from having fun? Is it the coaching & instructors, is it pressure or is it you?

Whose goal is it? Is your child playing because they don't want to disappoint you, because they know how important the sport is to you and are these goals and aspirations theirs or yours? It is quite normal and healthy to want your child to excel and be as successful as possible, but you cannot make this happen by pressuring them with your expectations or by using guilt or bribery to keep them involved. If they have their own goals and reasons for participating, they will be far more motivated to excel and therefore far more successful.

Parent's Code of Conduct
The essential elements of character building and ethics in sports are embodied in the concept of sportsmanship and six core principles: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship. The highest potential of sports is achieved when competition reflects these "six pillars of character." I therefore agree:

• I will enjoy my child's opportunity to experience the benefits of sport.

• I will trust in my child's ability to have fun as well as to perform and achieve excellence on his/her own.

• I will help my child to learn the right lessons from winning and losing and from individual accomplishments and mistakes.

• I will respect my child's teammates and fellow parents as well as the players, parents and coaches from opposing teams.

• I will give only encouragement and applaud only positive accomplishments whether for my child, his/her teammates, their opponents or the officials.

• I will respect my child's instructor/coach and support his/her efforts.

• I will not instruct from the sidelines unless asked to by the instructor/coach.

• I will insure that my child will attend all events and training sessions possible and, when not possible, I agree to inform the coach in advance.

• I will respect the officials and their authority during events.

• I will never demonstrate threatening or abusive behavior or use foul language.

• I will be responsible to report to the KSC-KMS Development Program Director of any perceived misconduct by coach/instructor, participant, parent or official so it can be dealt with in the appropriate manner.