New York, May 29 (Reuters) - Children's team sports are meant to boost confidence and foster good sportsmanship, but all too often youngsters end a season stressed out and in tears because of bad coaching, bad parenting - or both.

'In the 8 to 13 year old age group, 70% of kids drop out of organized sports after the first year," said Dr. Ronald Kamm, a psychiatrist in private practice in Oakhurst, New Jersey. "That's a high number, so something is wrong. A lot of time it's abusive coaching practices or excess pressure by the parents."

The problem is so pervasive, that an expert panel of sports psychiatrist, including Kamm, recently gathered in San Diego at the American Psychiatric Association meeting to figure out how adults can help Children love - not loathe - sports.

"I got involved because I was impressed over the years of children telling me stories - and not just children but adults, too - about horrible experiences they had in Little League that often shook their basic trust in adults for the rest of their life," said Kamm.

So how can you ensure that your child's experience doesn't end up fodder for future therapy sessions?

Well, taking a good, hard look at the way children's sports are conducted in your community is the first step, according to Kamm, who also happens to be a parent and a coach. All too often, Children's teams are organized in much the same way professional teams are made - by drafting.

"The new kids in the league get a public tryout and all the coaches look at them just like in the NFL, and the older kids get ratings from the previous year's coach, and they all sit around in a room and select their team" Kamm said.

Some coaches "have extensive scouting networks and they know each kid's performance.it doesn't occur to them that by stockpiling their own team with best players they are creating certain teams that are very weak."

The weaker teams may not win a game or even come close during the season, making children feel dejected, Kamm said. A better method would be for coaches to form six to eight teams - without knowing who was going to get what team - and choose a team out of a hat.

"That way you are setting a moral tone from the beginning of sportsmanship, of fairness, of compassion - and this is what is missing. If it's missing from the adults how are kids going to learn it?" Kamm said.

Although Brownie troop leaders get an average of 16 hours of training, the average Little League coach gets two hour or less. A book, National Standards for Athletic coaches, was published in 1995 by the Reston, Virginia-based National Association for Sport and Physical Education, to help communities form guidelines for coaches. Parents "should now insist that their communities get an education program together that will bring coaches in line with the recommendations," Kamm said.

However, coaches are only part of the problem. Parents also need to examine their motives, and look at how they treat their child. Probably some of the word behavior Kamm has witnessed is parents yelling at children on the playing field, calling a youngster a slow poke, an imbecile, or worse.

"From time to time, ask yourself and even ask your child - am I pushing too hard?" he said. "Know the danger signs. If you are spending every dinner rehashing the previous game or next week's opponent, then you are over-involved, you are stressing it too important to you."