Job Description for Volunteer Coaches

Most of the youth sports going on in our communities would not work without the efforts of coaches who voluntarily give hours of their time to provide a safe learning environment for the young people they mentor. These volunteers might be parents of players on the team or they might be other members of the community who have knowledge to share and the time to share it. Volunteers are the engine that drives youth sports, and they are typically the ones who give young people their first impression of the sport being played.

  1. Player Safety

    • Player safety is the single most important duty of coaches at any level. For volunteer coaches, there is usually not a requirement to be certified in first aid and CPR, but there is a need to understand the basics of treating injuries. Perhaps more importantly, it is the duty of the coaches to create a safe learning environment for the young people in their charge. Coaches must keep the health and safety of the players as the top priority in the drills they do and the way they manage competitions.

    Types of Coaches

    • There are many types of volunteer coaches, but the most common is the parent coach. Most kids who begin playing soccer or baseball or basketball do so with a coach who is the father or mother of one of the players on the team. Quite often those parents don't have any formal training in coaching that sport, but they are out there doing the best they can and learning along the way. Some cities and leagues use well-trained volunteers to help teach athletic skills to young players. These are skilled practitioners who give of their time to share what they know with the participants.

    Skill Development

    • One of the most difficult tasks for many volunteer coaches is teaching the skills of the game to the players. If the coach has not played the sport at any significant level or has never coached it before, the learning curve can be steep. Most leagues work hard to make sure coaches have an opportunity to be trained correctly in the sport they are coaching.

    Leading By Example

    • Coaches are responsible for showing players by their own example the way to behave on the field in practice and game situations. When coaches lose control at game officials or kids, that behavior sends a message to the players that stays with them. The example set by coaches can impact the desire of a youngster to participate and also lead to young people who model that behavior.

    Warning

    • The volunteer coach often finds himself in a thankless job. While the time on the field working with players can be very rewarding, it seems that there are always parents and spectators who do not appreciate those efforts. There will be times when it becomes hard to be a volunteer because of the off-field issues that the coach must address.