Each year, more than 6.5 million youth sports coaches take to the field \u2014 most of them volunteers. The American Youth Soccer Association, which oversees 800 recreational youth soccer teams, estimates that about one-third of its 40,000 volunteer coaches are new each year.<\/p>\n
Some parents sign up to coach because of their love of the sport or to give back to the community; others do so simply because they know someone<\/em> has to step up to lead the team.<\/p>\n As the spring sports season approaches, here\u2019s an overview of what to focus on to have a rewarding and safe season.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to have been an all-star player in order to be a coach, but if you\u2019re new to the sport, you\u2019ll need to learn the fundamentals and familiarize yourself with drills and age-appropriate skills. A good first step is to see what\u2019s available through your team\u2019s league.<\/p>\n First-time AYSO soccer coaches will find a range of resources, including required courses, on the AYSO site. Little League also has information aimed at first-time coaches, including a suggested 10-week curriculum for its Tee Ball program for ages 4-6. Additional free resources, including practice plans and general coaching advice, are available online through Little League University.<\/p>\n John Engh, executive director of the National Alliance for Youth Sports, notes that coaching young players is a lot different than coaching pre-teens. \u201cIn the beginning, it\u2019s all about having fun and developing motor skills,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n In National Standards for Youth Sports,\u00a0NAYS recommends that youth sports programs for kids younger than 9 allow coaches on the field during games. The guidelines also discourage coaches for this age group from keeping score or tracking standings. \u201cYou can teach kids that winning is part of the game, but the idea that you celebrate beating the other team is kind of crazy,\u201d Engh says.<\/p>\n Kristen Dieffenbach, Ph.D., who is an associate professor of athletic coaching education at West Virginia University, president of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence and executive board member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, recommends using lots of positive behavioral reinforcement for younger kids, including praising them for paying attention. \u201cBe prepared that some of them may have trouble staying on task,\u201d she says. She also advises coaches of younger kids to introduce one new idea at a time\u00a0and to repeat it in different ways. \u201cThey need time to process it,\u201d she says. Remember that you\u2019re not looking for them to execute a skill perfectly\u00a0but to make attempts at it, she adds.<\/p>\n Dieffenbach also recommends talking to your child ahead of time about your dual roles as parent and coach. \u201cI have to remind my 6-year-old that I\u2019m there for him but I\u2019m responsible for the other little boys and girls too,\u201d says Dieffenbach, who coaches her son\u2019s ice hockey team.<\/p>\n With kids who are 11 and older, coaches have the opportunity to engage more and talk about tactics and strategies. At this level, many coaches have already been doing so for a few years, which is a good thing: Older kids can tell if a coach isn\u2019t very prepared, Engh notes.<\/p>\n In its \u201cState of Play 2017\u201d report, The Aspen Institute\u2019s Project Play noted that only about 30% of youth coaches had received training in key areas, including concussion management, general safety, and injury prevention, as well as CPR and basic first aid. Volleyball had the best-trained coaches overall. As part of its focus on improving these numbers, Project Play is working with its affiliated organizations to create free online coach resources, to be released later this year. \u00a0<\/p>\n Free online concussion training for coaches is currently available through NAYS and through Heads Up, a series of initiatives developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also offers free online training and information about preventing heat-related illnesses in athletes.<\/p>\n From the outset, it\u2019s important to enlist the support of the other team parents, Dieffenbach says, whether it\u2019s asking someone to shag balls in the outfield or serve as the go-to person on the sidelines if a child has a minor injury and needs tending to.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all about setting expectations. \u201cLet them know what you\u2019re trying to do, and how they can help ensure it\u2019s a great experience,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can couch it as \u2018This is in the best interest of your child.\u2019\u201d She recommends holding an in-person parent meeting and setting some ground rules to let parents know you\u2019re happy to talk, but preferably not during games or practices.<\/p>\n You can ask them to email you, but to wait a day, Engh adds, noting that\u2019s what he did when he coached his kids\u2019 teams.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important, too, to keep in mind that you\u2019re there representing a league or other recreational sports organization, which should have already-established policies and guidelines about parental conduct. \u201cSome parents may be more competitive, and others may have no preconceptions at all,\u201d Engh explains. \u201cHopefully the league will have a statement about being recreational and focused on having fun and developing skills.\u201d This is one of the elements NAYS will require for\u00a0organizations as part of a new designation launched as a benchmark for quality in kids\u2019 recreational sports.<\/p>\n Guidelines may also come in handy when fielding complaints from parents that their kids aren\u2019t getting enough playing time or if parents are otherwise causing issues. For example, AYSO\u2019s Kids Zone program asks parents and spectators to sign a pledge that they\u2019ll show good sportsmanship, including not coaching kids from the sidelines or yelling at them.<\/p>\n Information about interacting with parents is also available online through the Positive Coaching Alliance, which offers online courses and other resources.<\/p>\n Experts agree that the focus throughout the season should be on making the experience a positive one. \u201cWhen a child walks out on a field or court for the first time, the coach is the person introducing them to that sport,\u201d says Sue Hunt, project director for The Aspen Institute\u2019s Sports and Society program. \u201cEach day, find something good that every kid on the team did, not just the best athletes. If you line them up and give them drills from day one, that\u2019s not going to be a fun experience.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s kids have so many options on how they spend their free time. If we don\u2019t ensure it\u2019s fun and enjoyable, we may lose these kids,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Engh similarly notes, \u201cYour goal should be to have every kid on your team want to sign up again \u2013 and even want you to coach them again.\u201d <\/p>\n Share photo via Mannie Garcia\/Getty Images. <\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each year, more than 6.5 million youth sports coaches take to the field \u2014 most of them volunteers. The American Youth Soccer Association, which oversees 800 recreational youth soccer teams, estimates that about one-third of its 40,000 volunteer coaches are new each year. Some parents sign up to coach because of their love of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Where to start<\/b><\/h2>\n
Coaching different ages<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Focusing on safety<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Dealing with parents<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How to coach fun<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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