The Role of Coaches in Youth Sports

As a coach in youth sports, you have to be a teacher, role model and leader. Coaching children can be rewarding as you see them learn quickly and develop as people. In order for youth sports to develop and for children to grow as athletes, a caring and patient coach is required to bring out the best in the players.

  1. Teaching

    • In coaching children, you are fundamentally their teacher. You must teach children the rules and disciplines of the sport they are in as well as provide technical analysis and training of the basics in that sport. This ensures that the children have fun while they are learning. To do this, you have to have a sound understanding of the sport and be able to communicate this appropriately to children so they can understand.

    Leadership

    • Children need someone to look up to and as their coach. You will be their role model and therefore you must act responsibly at all times while with your athletes. Keep your language clean, remain positive, friendly and enthusiastic and act how you would like the children to act. You should be able to take control of the children, remain firm and set an example to them yet keep the learning and teaching fun.

    Sportsmanship and Competition

    • As a coach, you must teach children that they could win or lose. According to Drkutner.com, children who are sore losers worry what people will think of them if they don't win or feel that winning makes them a better person. As a coach you must teach children to be competitive, to always try their best and to believe that taking part matters as much as winning. Children have to understand that failure is only an experience and not something of which to be afraid.

    Communication

    • What you say and how you say it is vital in coaching, especially coaching children, in which a specific style and tone is needed. Remain positive and enthusiastic. According to Brianmac.com, of what children remember, only 10 percent comes from what is vocally expressed. The remaining 90 percent comes from your tone of voice, your body language and your facial expressions. If you are unhappy or negative, a child you are coaching will pick up on this and mis-communication could occur.

    Evaluation

    • As a coach you must be able to evaluate your session plans and training schedules so you can adjust the training for the future to better suit your sport and the children you are coaching. You can make mistakes in coaching youth athletes, but should admit you were wrong and learn from these mistakes to improve your coaching methods. In planning for any eventualities to go wrong, being prepared will enable you to achieve better results.