How to Be a Successful Middle School Coach

Coaching middle school sports teams can be an extremely rewarding experience. For the past six years, I have volunteered as the coach of both the boys and girls water polo teams for a local middle school. During this time, I have grown to identify some key components to being a successful coach at this level.

Please keep in mind that I do not define "success" at this particular level of competition as "winning a lot of games." Winning is the ultimate goal and nice when it happens, but you want to be concerned with retaining players and providing the fundamentals. By doing this, you create a solid foundation for high school programs, and that is where winning becomes more important.

1. Make Sure the Kids Are Having Fun

Above and beyond anything else, you want the kids you are coaching to have a good time. Period. At this age, many of the athletes will likely be new to the sport. Since they are going to have a lot thrown at them, some of the new players will feel a lot of pressure and stress. Try to break this up by joking around with them. You want to be in control and have respect, but you also want to have your athletes feel at ease. Smile a lot. It will be contagious and help to foster a positive atmosphere. Your main goal should be to have the kids enjoy the sport to the point where they want to continue playing and learning.

2. Make Sure the Kids Learn the Sport

You've made sure the kids on your team are having fun. Check. The next item on your to-do list is making sure everyone on your team is learning the sport. At this stage of development, it is more important that they first learn the grand scheme. Make sure they know the rules and the ultimate goal. Once they understand the objectives, then you can start to ease into specific responsibilities and position techniques.

3. Start Evaluating Talent

Your team is having fun and learning the rules. Check, check. Next up is to evaluate your talent. In any sport, as with most things in life, some kids are going to be more suited to various positions than others. If you are a football coach and you have a player who also dabbles in soccer, give him a chance at kicking. If you're coaching water polo and have a player who is especially good at treading and/or has decent reaction time, ask if he would like to try playing goalie. Discovering preferences and abilities at this age makes it easier to develop your athletes for the long haul.

4. Communicate Effectively

At the middle school stage, there is absolutely no reason to berate or yell at a player for making a mistake. If a player is misbehaving, that is a separate issue; but understand the fact that your team will make mistakes. The way to handle it when they do is to approach the player who dropped the ball or swung at a bad pitch and calmly explain to them what they did and how they need to do it next time. After explaining that part, make sure you compliment them on something they did well or reassure them that you know they will do it better next time. The compliment and/or reassurance will let them know you aren't mad at them and make your constructive criticism more effective.

These are some of the tips I've found that will help towards helping become a successful middle school coach. At this age, the kids love to learn new skills and techniques. Helping stoke the fire of learning is very rewarding and makes all the time and effort worth it. Be patient with your team, and you will reap many benefits and have a team consisting of happy players. And that right there is true success!