Articles
Mastering Motivation
When I run into people from my youth-sports days, they tell me what a great coach my dad was and how they still remember some of the ways he motivated them to work harder and be better.
Safety Coach
My memories of being a volunteer coach of my kids’ teams rarely involve anything to do with the sport I was coaching. Sure, I remember some of the conversations with players after a particularly fun game, certain kids making great plays, and those times when one of my lesser-skilled players rose to the occasion and did something in a game that he had struggled with throughout the season.
Cultivating Passionate Participants
When I was younger, I couldn’t wait for the next season to start, and it didn’t matter for what sport. Baseball was my first choice, but basketball, football, soccer, and wrestling were all big in my house.
Sidelining Spectators
On a recent drive to work, I decided to write a column about the importance of coaches and administrators knowing about heat illness and how to help prevent it in youth sports. Living in South Florida, I always found the subject intriguing.
A Baffling Bill
This headline recently appeared in North Carolina: “NC senators propose eliminating participation trophies for youth sports.”
Hold coaches to the same standards for safety and uniformity
There is a feature on the National Alliance for Youth Sports website (www.nays.org) available for parents to report a coach who is behaving badly. The feature is called, you guessed it, “Report a Coach.”
Attacking Adversity
One of the great exercises that the National Alliance for Youth Sports offers in its Academy for Youth Sports Administrators is to make a list of all the reasons that sports are great for kids. We’ve done this with groups hundreds of times through the years, and the lists are nearly identical.
Banish Black-And-White Stripes?
Since the inception of organized youth sports, there has been a need for officials to oversee the games on fields and courts. And today, there is a serious problem—nobody wants to do it anymore!
Celebrating Diversity Through Sport
I often see the single word “sports” posted on my social media timelines. It usually refers to a great play, an incredible ending, or something more powerful. It is said that sports can heal and unify. In Philadelphia, this occurs every year through the Philadelphia International Unity Cup.
The Hard Truths Of Youth Sports
Human nature makes it difficult to acknowledge deficiencies or inadequacies about what we like or love when it conflicts with what we want to believe. Such is the case with me and youth sports.
Growing Pains
In a recent meeting with a city whose personnel were only in the beginning stages of developing a recreation program, I was asked what I thought the biggest challenge would be for new staff members. As I’m sure is the case with most professionals post-conversation, I realized on the drive home that I had a better response to that question than the one I gave.
Savor Setbacks
One of my most memorable youth-sports coaching experiences was the first season I coached my son in T-ball. Having played baseball my entire life, I couldn’t wait to coach the sport I loved so much.
Youth Sports Administration 101: Youth-Sports Supervision
Proper supervision is of the utmost importance to ensure the safety of league participants; it should be taken seriously. It only takes a few seconds of complacency for an incident or accident to occur.
Time To Update
The biggest challenge for an organization that offers online education or training almost certainly is making sure the information and curriculum are up-to-date. Even for a subject that may seem simple, like youth sports, the amount of change can be overwhelming.
Youth Sports Administration 101: Complaints And Conflict Resolution
Those who manage a youth-sports program know there will be times when parents complain. Incidents also may occur at the fields and sports venues that may have to be dealt with on a game day. Regardless of the type of complaint or severity of an incident, it should be taken seriously.
Banish Bullying
About 10 years ago, the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) received a call from one of its largest member organizations: “What does NAYS have for us on bullying prevention?” I immediately recognized this was a subject missing from our training. NAYS contacted organization officials to discover the extent of the problem.
Opportunity, Motivation, And Access
The National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) has always championed the idea that active kids are likely not only to be more physically fit but to be mentally healthy as well. This is especially important during the recent and present situations involving the pandemic.
The Quest For Fun
Of all the programs initiated by the National Alliance for Youth Sports, my favorite one is the Start Smart Sports Development Program. It began, in part, because of the shocking statistic that many kids quit sports by the time they turn 13 years old.
Youth Sports Administration 101: Lead The Charge
To participants in a program, coaches are its face, so it is imperative that the goals and expectations be engrained in them. A coaches meeting is the kick-off to a season, and teams generally begin practice shortly thereafter.
Break Body-Image Barriers
Lately, I have been lucky enough to view some of the interviews the National Alliance for Youth Sports is collecting from top experts for a free, new training that will be offered to coaches, parents, and youth leaders, which deals with understanding good mental-health habits. One of the areas of discussion is how boys deal with body image in sports, and the staggering figures on how many are encountering difficulties, just as many girls have for so long.