At youth sporting events, parents, family and friends fill the seats to support their children as they perform on the field of play. During these games the parents and kids can be separated by everything from out-of-bounds markers to wire fences.

Although the parents are separated from their children for a short period of time, they are active and often times the driving force in getting their children to play youth sports.

Renee Williams’ daughters Savannah, 10, and Macie, 8, play youth sports. Savannah has played for the last five years, and her mother said she involved them in youth sports so they could develop physical and social skills.

“We wanted them to be active,” Williams said. “We wanted them to continue to develop skill and coordination and we also wanted them to hang out with their friends, do something constructive while they hang out with their friends. And they both love it.”

Williams said that what she enjoys from watching her kids play youth sports is seeing the improvements they make throughout the year.

“I really like watching their skills get better,” Williams said. “Because then they start feeling better about themselves and they want to do it more often. From the beginning of the season to the end, every year you can see the team come together and they have fun and that’s what I like most.”

Savannah, meanwhile, said being part of a team was one of the reasons she decided to play youth sports.

“It’s just really fun,” Savannah said. “And you are really proud of yourself when you make a good hit or a good play, especially pitching. And when you improve on pitching you feel really good.”

For Williams, watching her kids play has been a rewarding experience, but she said that those rewards don’t come without difficulty. Williams said she gets nervous at crucial points in her kids’ games because she wants to see them succeed in those difficult situations.

“I know when it’s important to them,” she said. “So if they don’t do well, I know they’re going to feel badly. And that’s kind of hard.”

Williams said that watching her kids’ reaction when they are unsuccessful, like watching Savannah strike out, can be especially tough for the parents in the bleachers and the child standing at the plate.

“We had that a couple weeks ago,” Williams said. “She was pretty upset.”

At a recent Lawrence Girls Fast Pitch Association game, Savannah got the chance to pitch. Her mother encouraged her as she warmed up between innings. And just seconds before Savannah’s first pitch of the inning, her mother yelled out again.

“Let’s throw some strikes!” she cheered. Seconds later Savannah rolled a grounder to home plate. Savannah then hung her head.

“Just relax!” her mother encouraged her. And on the next pitch, Savannah threw a ball right across the plate for a strike.

“Just like that! There you go!” her mother yelled. Savannah breathed a sigh of relief, and then cracked a smile.

“I just love it,” Williams said. “Watching them, their eyes light up. They get all excited. They’re so proud of themselves when they do something they wanted to do.”

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Nine-year-old Jaiden Houser plays softball for the LGFPA Flames. She also dances in ballet.

“It’s just fun to me because you have something to do a lot,” Jaiden said.

Her mother, Barbra Van Cortlandt, said one of the reasons she got Jaiden involved in youth sports was because of the benefits her daughter could receive by being part of a team.

“She really enjoys it,” Van Cortlandt said. “It gives her activities to do. She can meet new friends.”

As a parent Van Cortlandt said one of the biggest joys is watching how the team progresses over time.

“They really improve a lot through the years,” she said. “It’s really fun. From the first practice (this year) everything was not really going very well, but watching them this game they could catch balls, make outs, pitching across the plate. It’s the improvement that they do and the new friends that they make, too.”

Like Williams, Van Cortlandt said she gets nervous while watching her kids play sports especially if they are playing one of the more difficult positions.

“Yes, I do. When they pitch, because they’re doing so much, you always want them to do such a good job,” she said. “And then catching, too. You don’t want them to get hit with the ball, but they’ve got all that padding on. You just want to do well enough that they feel good about their accomplishments and not feel bad about when they don’t accomplish what they want to.

“But if you can find something positive to show them, like the way they swung the bat or if they went down swinging. Try to find positives because that way it’s a lesson and you’re not just beating them down so they’re still having a positive and learning from it.”

Jaiden said her favorite part about playing youth sports was making new friends and playing for fun, as opposed to playing only to win. She added that playing softball presents one difficult challenge that ballet does not.

“Playing in the heat,” Jaiden said. “It’s not too fun because I kind of lose my strength.”

Jaiden said she appreciated that her parents let her play youth sports and said there was likely one underlying reason why her parents let her do so.

“I think they like to come and watch me play the games,” she said.