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Make it FUN!!!
Kids need to feel comfortable in their
environments, or they won’t come back. Who
wants to be the coach who turned the next
Michael Jordan against basketball?
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Never punish with
exercise.
When kids see running and push-ups as negative
punishment they no longer want to do those
activities…as coaches we want kids to embrace
conditioning, exercise and love of movement.
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Move-move-move.
Sport skills are made up entirely of
muscle-memory reflexes…your job as a youth coach
is to get those young muscles to adjust to the
challenges of a sport. Every second a kid
stands in line is a lost opportunity to train
muscles, to gain fitness, or to have fun.
Develop drills where all your players are doing
some type of sport-related skill. Besides, what
parents really want from youth sports is for you
to tire their kid out.
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Balance competition
with cooperation.
The best adjusted athletes are able to cooperate
as well as compete. Schedule both types of
activities into practices. Can you develop
drills and activities that simply CANNOT be
completed without the complete effort of your
team? Try it.
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Break the mold!!
Most coaches do with their players what their
coaches did with them. Think about this…coaches
used to not let players drink water during
practices because it made them tougher…does that
make ANY sense these days? Of course not. The
science of sport evolves and so should coaching.
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When possible, let
them figure it out.
Self-discovery can be a powerful teacher, and
sometimes kids figure things out all by
themselves. Sports evolve all the time, and
they do so as people have found a better way to
do things.
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Study up.
Read about your sport, find out what works,
especially for the developmental level of your
age group. Can you get 6-year olds to play team
soccer? Should a 12-year old throw a curve
ball? Is it better for kids to specialize or
cross-train? A great resource for youth sports
is the Youth Sports New York at:
http://www.youthsportsny.org/
. (Hint: the answer to all the above questions
is No).
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Have Fun.
That means you, coach! When coaching kids is no
longer fun, give it up until it’s fun again.
The kids will appreciate it.
