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Fun & Skill Development v. Winning

Coaching Youth Sports: Getting To The Heart Of The Matter

The heart of every team and player experience is the coach. Coaches have a choice of going down one of two paths. One is a win-based approach. The other is often called developmental, but I prefer to call it "relationship- and experience-based coaching. "

Win-approach coaching is the most common by far (especially these days).  It involves short benches, and scheduling more and more games to build a winning record.  As a result, the dialogue between coach and players is one-sided and mostly counter-productive. It can result in brawls during the post-game handshake line, reckless play, lack of respect for the rules, opponents, officials, coaches and the game itself.

SmartTeams™ Talk: Joe Ehrman Urge Coaches To Reclaim Sport's Educational, Social, and Ethical Role In Society

In an inspiring and thought-provoking SmartTeams Talk, Coach for America founder and former NFL player, Joe Ehrmann, offers four specific ways coaches can use their unique position in a society in which sports is our "secular religion" to transform the lives of their players and reclaim sports' educational, social and ethical role.

Your Child's Coach: Transactional or Transformational?

There are 53.8 million kids playing sports in the United States and, most of the time, when they talk about sports with their teammates and their parents, they begin with these two words: "Coach said... ."

It's not at all surprising, as research shows that, in the hierarchy of adults, coaches occupy the top spot in the minds and hearts of their players. Understanding this stature places quite a responsibility on youth and high school coaches. What they say, and do, really does matter.

Coaches occupy the top spot in the minds and hearts of their players. Understanding this stature places quite a responsibility on youth and high school coaches, who have a choice, says a longtime hockey coach, between being a transactional coach or a transformational coach.

The End of The Hockey Season Is Time to Reflect, Both for Coaches and Players

At the end of each season all players should take some time to review their performance and quality of experience playing the game. This process transcends the win loss record of the team and looks at individual development and overall quality of the experience. There are no so called “life lessons” on the score board and only through intentional review and discussions in the proper context can the real benefits of playing athletics be realized.

All top-level organizations have feedback mechanisms to help individuals develop. Without this type of communication and process between player and coach individual player development is likely to be slowed. This is very true in athletics as well as in the business world.

Ray Lokar (Coach and Positive Coaching Alliance Trainer): Young Athletes Will Play With Joy If Adults Let Them

 Editors note; The following article originally ran in June 2012 for our “Sports Dads Month” focus on dads we identified as helping to keep all kids safe.

With MomsTEAM's June Is Sports Dads Month winding down, we hear from longtime coach and trainer for the Positive Coaching Alliance, Ray Lokar:

MomsTEAM: Were you an athlete and what sports did you play as a youth (under 19)?Ray Lokar and family

A longtime coach and trainer for the Positive Coaching Alliance says that young athletes will enjoy the experience only as much as adults allow them to because, to them, it is only a game.

Do Players On High School Varsity Deserve At Least Some Playing Time?

I'm writing this blog under the protestations of my 15-year-old son. He would prefer that I don't write this at all, or that I write it anonymously, so that he doesn't suffer the playing-time repercussions from his coach, but it can't get any worse than it is. And, frankly, I will be completely quiet if someone - anyone - can explain to me the benefits - to the coaching staff, the team record, AND the kids - of having an entire group of players (say, 5 or 6) ride the bench the entire season and see no playing time.

Is it okay for bench-warmers on a high school varsity baseball team to get no playing time whatsoever, even when their team is way ahead? One sports mom is looking for answers.

Playing Multiple Sports: A Healthy Advantage for Youth Athletes

The overlap between youth sports seasons is only getting worse and the degree to which kids are specializing at ever-earlier ages in a single sport is a troubling trend in youth sports, says one longtime baseball coach and author.

Evaluating Coaches: Ask Athletes, Watch Practices

Wheelock College athletic director Diana Cutaia says it is important in evaluating coaches to seek input from student-athletes (because they don't measure success solely in terms of wins and losses), and to watch them run practices, where good coaches are always teaching, motivating, and keeping kids moving.

What Life Lessons To Teach Is Coach's Choice

There are tens of thousands of well-meaning coaches in youth and high school athletics/activites across this nation. Being placed in a position of influence and power over young people, however, requires - to borrow from the Hippocratic oath - that coaches first do no harm, and hopefully do some good. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that many will be remembered by their players for all the wrong reasons.

Being placed in a position of influence and power over young people
requires - to borrow from the Hippocratic oath - that coaches first do
no harm, and hopefully do some good. Whether to teach positive or negative life lessons is the coach's choice.

Goal of Coaching: Develop Winners in Sports and Life

During the off season local associations are faced with assigning coaches to the teams for the up coming year. Coaching committees and ultimately youth hockey boards will approve the coaches for the coming year. In many programs getting enough qualified coaches is a problem. Some programs start fresh each year and some leave coaches in place for many years. In short there is lots of attention and even drama about who is going to coach the teams, especially A teams. What is missing is actually determining how qualified the coaches are and an on going coach development program. It seems as the season begins teams and coaches are on their own.

Coaches are the most important and powerful individuals in any youth sports
organization. Coaches determine the quality of experience that players
have and can have a significant impact on the lives of their players.

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