Adolescent brain development and why coaches need to understand it.
Part of the reason that I decided to start this podcast and blog is because I’ve noticed for a long time that the focus of most of our sports coverage around the world is focused heavily on wins and losses and competition and less on the type of stories that I’ve always felt are the true power of athletics. While I certainly love sports in all its forms and never shy away from competition myself, I’d like to focus mainly on the bigger picture of sports and how they can play such a powerful role in the lives of people all over the world. We will focus heavily on the impact that sport can have on our youth, but the premise of this blog is that sports are much more than wins and losses. It’s about bringing people together for a greater cause and allowing people to connect in meaningful ways that go far beyond our sidelines. We plan on writing articles that help support youth athletes, coaches, and athletic administrators; while providing the public with stories and information that talk about sports in a different way.
I recently attended a wonderful workshop that was put on by an international development organization in Washington D.C. surrounding the idea of positive youth development. It wasn’t a sport-specific workshop, but it talked about the organizations' research into what positive youth development is and what individuals and organizations can do to ensure programs reach youth in positive, meaningful ways. Overall, it was a wonderful refresher and a source of some really engaging information; but one thing really stuck out that is incredibly applicable in the coaching and sports world and that was a conversation about emotion and the way that the adolescent brain develops.
I wish I could share some of the slides they put together, but the ideas and principles they discussed are so important for coaches to understand as they work with youth of all ages.
As coaches, we have a lot to think about when it comes to working with youth and I can say that an area that I personally have not ever thought about is the cycle of brain development and how that might impact how youth behave, how they react to situations and how they might feel about their surrounding environment; and how that might contradict with how we, as adults, do the same. What I learned in this workshop is that it’s so important to understand this cycle in order to create programs that fully engage youth in positive ways. As the youth brain develops, I learned that:
They are more likely to be beholden to their emotions.
They are proudly creative.
They are justice-oriented.
They need opportunities to make decisions.
They are very risk-averse.
These five takeaways, in my mind, directly relate to things we think about when putting together practices, programs, and events; but I don’t think we often think about them from a brain development standpoint. What the research shows though, is that these elements are incredibly important to understand when trying to create a positive environment for youth. As coaches, we can absolutely include these elements in our program planning and if we do, we can more meaningfully reach youth and create a culture that is supportive and positive.
After going through this workshop, the wheels began to turn to how I could personally this new understanding into my programs and activities. I haven’t fully hashed out how that would look exactly, but my initial thoughts for each of the five elements are:
Emotions: simply having an understanding that reacting emotionally to things is biological and natural, it allows me as a coach to plan practice in certain ways that allow for emotion to be a part of what we do. It also can help dictate how I react to each youth because I now know why the kids might act out or change moods quickly or respond to certain things. This understanding can go a long way in how a coach can better engage with each individual on their team.
Creativity: Understanding that youth are naturally creative allows for coaches to provide opportunities to be creative in practice. We learned that when given the opportunity to bring ideas and solutions to the table, youth do very well. As coaches, we can often try to dictate creativity through the way we run an activity or teach a session when we can perhaps put more of the onus on the kids to bring that creativity.
Justice: This is a big one and one that points directly to the culture that a program creates and fosters. If players feel that there isn’t justice in certain situations, that can start to turn the program/team in a negative direction. This could happen if rules are properly enforced, if certain individuals get preferential treatment, if coaches aren’t consistent or a number of other things that can easily happen within the team dynamic and in the throws of a busy practice or event. We have to make sure that we are consistent, equal and impartial.
Decision-making: Coaches talk a lot about putting kids in positions to make decisions on the court or on the field within a drill or game, but we learn that if we expand that to go beyond practice, that kids can really thrive when given the opportunity. Again, these opportunities need to be equal and consistent.
Risk-taking: As adults, we tend to think through things and understand the risk/reward of various situations. Kids, on the other hand, tend to dive right into situations without thought of the risk. This is directly related to how their brain is developing. This can obviously be negative if those risks are unhealthy or dangerous, but since we know that they are more likely to take risks, coaches can provide a safe space for risk-taking. This can be built into practice planning, program design, and coaching style.
Easy enough, right? Obviously taking these things into consideration are in addition to the technical, social, and emotional development that needs to take place in the team environment; but if done correctly, adding in these elements can take a program and the relationship coaches have with their players to a whole new level. Understanding how a youth’s brain develops allows for such a value add that we can’t afford to not learn about the development process and its effect on each individual youth and by doing so, we can ensure that we are doing our best to create the type of environment that is fun, nurturing, engaging, educational, and safe.