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Your youth sports program should seek
mentors who can meet kids' needs
from Day One of practice.

Helping Your Town Create Super Coaches

By Rick Wolff

Posted: Wednesday June 29, 2005

Well-run youth programs don’t simply happen. As an organizer, you need to invest time, energy, patience and planning. And for children to enjoy themselves and learn skills and sportsmanship, you must have good coaching.

Most organizations use volunteer coaches these days. Often these are parents who give their own time to keep teams running. Unfortunately, many volunteer coaches receive little training beyond a preseason organizational meeting to pass out rosters, uniforms and whistles.

Here are a few suggestions on how to improve the coaching in your town:

Be proactive. Invite a highly respected local college or high school coach to give your volunteer mentors a basic lecture. This should not be a breakdown of X’s and O’s. Instead, have your speaker focus on the basics of holding a practice session (such as using outlines for activities or running specific drills), tips on distributing playing time and how to motivate players through praise. Also ask the speaker to discuss helping young athletes through a season’s highs and lows, as well as how to handle parents’ demands. You’ll be surprised how many coaches hunger for just this guidance.

Create a highlights package. We know video footage can be a wonderful instructor for developing athletes. But coaches can learn plenty too. Find someone on your league’s board to tape sideline action during games, and show parents and coaches the edited highlights. The scenes will be revelatory, both for those who behave boorishly and those whose demeanor encourages their athletes to succeed.

Question your constituents. League officials usually want to know whether kids enjoyed playing for a particular coach or team. Put together an end-of-season survey that athletes and parents can fill out anonymously, and note both positive and negative comments. The surveys should help guide your board in assembling coaches for next season.

Keep your staff fresh. All league coaches should have only year-to-year assignments, and you should always look for leaders who can help the kids in your program. If your town, like many, struggles to find volunteer coaches, reach out to high school senior athletes. You’ll find your youngsters are eager to have a varsity player for a mentor and role model. High school athletes also rarely lose control at games, and they understand how much their charges want to play.

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