What Coaches Should Be Teaching Young Athletes

Most coaches of youth sports don't appreciate the importance of what they do. Young people look at adults of authority figures. They listen, they watch, and they learn. That's why it is vital that as a coach, what you are teaching the children is the right message.

At the youth level sports are supposed to be fun. It's a game. While winning is still a good way to measure progress, winning should be secondary to the more important lessons you can pass along.

Teamwork

One of the first things I tried to impress upon my teams is the idea of teamwork.. We play as a team, we treat each other like a team. While individual effort is critical to the success of a team, no individual can win without the support of their team mates. I can't control how they treat each other at school or in the neighborhood, but while they are on my laying field, they are required to treat each other with respect and encouragement.

If you want to see a team effort disintegrate quickly, allow the kids on the team to start complaining about their team mates and criticize each other. I have seen teams that were playing well fall apart because of one person who succeeded in disheartening others on the team.

As a coach, you have the responsibility of stopping that every time you see it. If you allow it in practice, you will see it in the game. Anything that gets in the way of teamwork and cooperation is a potential problem that you have to address.

Respect For Authority

I try to keep the relationship between myself and my players light. We joke with each other, and we have fun, but they understand that there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. I am their coach. I'm not there to be their buddy. They may not agree with all of my decisions, but I demand that they show me respect as their coach.

The same holds true during the game when they deal with the referee or umpire. The ref/ump will make mistakes. There will be bad calls. They don't have to agree with the ref, but they may not talk back. If there is a bad call it is the coaches job to address it.

This is an important area to practice what you preach. During the game the referee is the authority. As a coach, it is appropriate to question the ref about a bad call, but you must do it respectfully. If you begin ranting and raving at the referee, the kids on your team will see that, and will learn something different from what you have been telling them.

Discipline

There is a saying that when it's time to perform, the time for practice is past. As a coach, you have the ability to instill in your players the need to take practices seriously. Basketball coach Rick Pitino used to tell his player that playing well during a game was fun, practices were not meant to be fun. While I don't entirely agree with that, I do understand that practices are a time to work at developing skills, it's not a time to just run around a play. While I tried to keep my practices fun, there were specific skills I wanted my players to work on, and if they weren't trying to improve those skills, then the fun part of practice was over.

Children need to understand that practice is an important part of improving. If they want to get better as individual players, and as a team, they need to practice.

Appropriate Skills For the Age Level

Nothing frustrates me more than to see a coach on a youth baseball team trying to show a pitcher how to throw a curve ball. Developmentally, young arms aren't ready for the stress a curveball put on the arm. Most pitchers at that age should concentrate more on controlling the ball in the strike zone.

Way too often I have seen coaches working on teaching players tricky moves or fancy plays, when the team can't perform basic skills consistently.

Teach the basics. Once a basic skill has been mastered, you can add to it, but remember to continue to go back and practice the basic skills. I have seen teams that were solid in their basic skills defeat teams that were more talented. I have seen flashy players lose the ball, or make bad plays because they were trying to be too fancy, rather than just making the basic play. Teach the basics first.

Love of the Game

I put this last, but it is by no means least in importance. I said this at the beginning, but it's worth repeating: It's a game! At the youth level, kids play sports because the game is fun. They're not there for the money or the glory. They're there for fun. A coach has the ability to keep it fun, or to kill the child's love of the game. It's not about winning. During games I tried to give my teams the opportunity to win, but not at the expense of the children on the team. Keep it light. Keep it fun.

Although you have a big responsibility, if you keep your focus on the right areas your teams will grow, progress, and show signs of success. If the kids are enjoying themselves, they'll keep coming back and growing more. Remember that they're children playing a game. Keep that in mind, and you'll do fine.