9 Signs of a Sports Mom (or Dad)

Your car is big enough to carpool half a team, is always full of sporting equipment, and has at least one bumper sticker or magnet displaying your child's team name or chosen sport. Your sports parent vehicle is also stocked with chairs or blankets (to make spectating more comfortable), backup snacks, water bottles, phone charging cords, and reading material so you'll always have something to do while your child is practicing—or dawdling in the locker room.

...At least when it comes to the location of every soccer field, swimming pool, ice rink, or archery range within a 50-mile radius. Not only do you know where they are and the quickest way to get there, you also know when they're open, which ones have (sort of) clean bathrooms, and what grocery stores and restaurants are nearby.

When you're filling up that sports mom mobile, I bet you're using a gas card you purchased through your sports league's Scrip program. Many youth sports programs (along with churches, schools, and other nonprofits), run this kind of fundraiser year-round. You pay face value for the card, but a small percentage of the cost is returned to your sports program to help you meet your fundraising commitments and save money on your payments. You can get gift cards for gas stations, grocery and drug stores, department stores, coffee shops and restaurants.

Especially if your kid plays for a travel team, you plan all your school and family vacations, not to mention time off from work, around your athlete's schedule of practices, games, and tournaments. Yes, this includes Thanksgiving weekend if your child plays ice hockey and your entire summer break if baseball is his thing.

I have my daughter's US Figure Skating card in my wallet, plus there's a copy of it in her skate bag. I also have the number written down in a few other places. But none of that really matters because I could recite that 7-digit number in my sleep. Since I need it for every test session and competition, it's just easier.

And, you give them all gift cards (see #3).

Of course, it's not just snacks. You regularly pack and carry breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner (and sometimes all three on the same day) for your athlete, any tag-along siblings, and yourself. You get extra sports-mom credit for managing food allergies (your family's, or a teammate's), venue rules (no outside food! no milk on the bus!), and refrigeration challenges. More »

When you're juggling your child's sports schedule, your spouse's, your boss's, a carpool or two, and—oh yeah!—school, you know you have to write everything down, preferably in more than one place. And you know you can never assume that just because this week practice was at 4 p.m., things will be exactly the same next week.

Every sports mom or dad has to volunteer, and if you stick around more than a year or so you'll find yourself in an organizing role too. That means you can show those volunteer management websites who's boss quicker than anyone can hit "reply all" on an email to the entire club. More »