11 Important Youth Sports Ideas for 2020 (in no particular order)
BETTER, NOT MORE: We are seeing a trend in clubs, organizations, and programs increasing the number of youth served, despite a growing inequity of qualified coaches and mentors. In the shuffle to bring in more numbers (and subsequently more money), the youth development focus can get lost in the process. Instead, we need to focus on better, not more. Now, this isn’t saying we should have fewer kids playing sports, in fact, the opposite needs to happen, but teams and programs shouldn’t be bringing in more numbers than they can support effectively. What we need is more qualified coaches for each club, organization, and/or program so that they can properly support more youth.
CIRCLE VS. ANYTHING ELSE: Circles create inclusion and safety. Circles put everyone on the same level, including coaches. I see far too many teams jumbled up and gathered in ways that aren’t inclusive and encourage disengagement. In her book “The Last American Man”, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about how the circle is the most natural shape in the world and if it's good enough to be the most natural shape in nature, then it’s good enough to be the most natural shape in coaching.
LISTEN VS. SPEAK: As youth’s brains develop, they are using the part of their brain that is less rational and more emotional. As a coach, if we can learn to listen more than speak, we can help encourage youth to develop the parts of their brain that make decisions and solve problems because the coach isn’t doing that for them.
MORE FEMALE COACHES: I attended the 2020 United Soccer Coaches Conference and while there were many female coaches present, it was obvious and clear that there were many more men present. That tells us what we already know, that inequality exists in the coaching profession. While the USWNT is rightfully fighting for equal pay, the fight also continues to increase the number of female coaches available. We know that barriers exist for young female athletes to participate in sports and one of those barriers is a lack of positive female role models as coaches. 2020 needs to be a year of progress and positive movement to bring in more female coaches in all sports.
YOUTH-CENTERED: As coaches and program administrators, I’d like to see an increased focus on making teams and programs more youth-centered. By youth-centered, we mean that youth play a role in the design and implementation of their teams and programs. By building in opportunities for youth to provide feedback, help create the team/program culture, set goals for themselves and the team, and help set expectations; we create a situation where youth are more bought in and feel more empowered. This is huge. By making programs more youth-centered vs. coach-centered, we can help ensure that programs are sustainable and the culture can be positively developed and built upon.
TEAM BUILDING: So many teams don’t focus on the team and culture building side of practice. The focus tends to lean heavily on skill development that coaches and programs miss out on the opportunity to create a positive team dynamic. Team building activities (both sports-related and not) can have a wonderful long-term impact on youth as individuals and as a team.
POSITIVITY: The power of positivity is immense. Many coaches can be pretty set in their ways and while certainly have moments of positivity, I think that a culture of positivity is what needs to be developed in 2020. Positivity with our youth, positivity with parents, and positivity with ourselves. When we coach with positivity versus negativity, the impact is incredible. Yelling, frustration, and impatience all get in the way of positive youth development.
UNDERSTAND BRAIN DEVELOPMENT: There are so many great coaches in the world. There are also some not so great coaches. The technical side of things is the easiest aspect of coaching to learn and often the one most focused on. It’s the social, emotional, and cognitive side of coaching that is most difficult and subsequently often the most neglected. If you are a basketball player who can’t use his or her left hand, would you simply never practice it or would you work at it until it becomes a strength? The answer to that question is one that can differentiate between good and bad coaches. One way that coaches can start to work on the non-technical side of sports is to start to get an understanding of how the adolescent brain develops and what that development process means for our youth.
POSITIVE COMPETITION: We focus so much on the end result, wins and losses. The reality is that the process is what we spend most of our time on, but we tend to focus less on it. As coaches, we are judged by our record, but if that is what we are focused on instead of what can lead to that record then we are doing the youth and ourselves a disservice because if all that matters is the result, it is likely that some of the harder development processes will be neglected; such as team building, getting to know players as individuals, etc…so we need to make the competitive side of sports more positive. Competition is wonderful and I believe needed, but have to also have room for wins and losses to not be the end all, be all.
PAY TO PLAY CHANGES: The cost to play sports in America continues to increase. Every year, it’s more expensive for kids to simply play sports. Club fees, equipment, travel, coaching, etc….all cost more year over year. Additionally, youth sports are now, in many cases, year-round; increasing the cost even further. Income is one of, if not the biggest, determinants in whether or not youth play sports. Youth from wealthier families play more, simple as that. The reason is because of the pay to play model and the business that youth sports have become. We need to start thinking of alternatives to this system so that youth sports are more accessible and available for all youth.
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT: Where to begin. Parents can make or break whether or not youth start playing, continue playing, and/or enjoy playing. We already know how important fun and being with friends is on whether or not youth start and stick with sports, but outside of cost, the role parents play is instrumental. Unfortunately, we all have too many examples of parents taking things too far and far too seriously when it comes to being sports parents. Yelling at refs, yelling at other parents, yelling at the coach, yelling at their kids. So much yelling. 2020 needs to be the year of listening.
BONUS: GROWTH MINDSET: As humans, we should always be learning. For those that aren’t familiar, there are two main mindsets that people have; fixed or growth. A fixed mindset says that things are the way they are and we can’t change them. I’ve observed a lot of coaches who have a sort of fixed viewpoint to coaching and go through year after year doing the same things. A growth mindset says that we are always learning. In my opinion, this is the mindset that all coaches should have. No matter how much experience we have, no matter how old we are or how long we’ve been coaching; we can always be learning. As coaches, let’s make 2020 the year of learning.
The reality is that so much more needs to be done. These are 11 ideas of MANY. We could probably write a post a week with 11 ideas and we’d have enough content for 2020.