A Reference At The Ready

By Fred Engh

The year was 1987. A gallon of gas cost 89 cents, Three Men and a Baby was the top-grossing movie, and I was part of a historic gathering that forever shaped the direction of youth sports in this country.

The National Alliance for Youth Sports was proud to convene organization leaders and various experts in Washington, D.C., to take an in-depth look at the state of organized youth sports.

We were there to provide some guidance and direction for recreation directors and parents, who were orchestrating sports programs for children in their communities.

Thirty years later, I can still recall every minute of those meetings; those who attended were incredibly passionate and insightful.

And what resulted from that meeting—the National Standards for Youth Sports—has served as the blueprint for conducting top-quality youth-sports programs ever since. Through the years, those standards have been used, referenced, and followed by thousands of recreation professionals committed to providing the very best youth-sports experiences.

A New Ballgame
But with time comes change, and today’s youth-sports landscape is significantly different.

There are new challenges, problems, and issues that programs must confront in order to ensure that boys and girls who step on fields, courts, and rinks are treated with experiences that mold values, shape character, and instill a life-long love of physical activity. 

With that in mind, Certified Youth Sports Administrators (CYSAs) from across the country gathered last year to review the standards and address areas that could be improved and enhanced to best serve today’s youth.

This new edition of the standards, which can be downloaded for free at www.nays.org, restructures the existing document into four core areas:

1.       Child-centered policies and philosophies
2.       Volunteers
3.       Parents
4.       Safe playing environment.

In addition to the core areas and the specific standards within each, the document also features three additional sections that provide information for professional youth-sports administrators, volunteers, and parents to explain what the standards specifically mean for each group. While the standards focus specifically on recreational youth-sports programs, they are applicable to a variety of sports settings to ensure safe, positive, and child-centered experiences.

Here's what some CYSAs had to say about how valuable the standards have been in helping them run model youth-sports programs:

Rich Dixon, Assistant Athletics Manager for Greenville County (S.C.) Parks, Recreation, & Tourism: I feel that the National Standards for Youth Sports should be utilized by every parks and recreation department in the country. They should be the gold standard that recreation professionals use every day in their youth-sports programs. They provide guidelines to ensure a fun and safe environment for children in our programs—and that is the ultimate indicator that we are fulfilling our responsibilities.

Rance Gaede, Athletics Supervisor for the City of Tamarac (Fla.) Parks and Recreation Department: As recreation professionals, we face many unique challenges as we strive to provide the very best sports programs for children in our communities. The experiences that children have at our facilities will be remembered for the rest of their lives, so it’s crucial that we utilize every resource available to ensure that our programs are being conducted in the best interests of every single participant who shows up to play. The standards are the ultimate resource, and when we meet with coaches or parents, we can reference the standards when decisions or policies are questioned. We can point to those standards that represent what professionals worldwide believe is the best way for providing outstanding sports programs for kids.

Fred Engh is founder of the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) in West Palm Beach, Fla. He can be reached via email at fengh@nays.org. To join more than 3,000 communities by starting a NAYS chapter, visit www.nays.org or contact Emmy Martinez at emartinez@nays.org or (800) 729-2057.