When you look back at your favorite memories growing up, what were they doing and who were they with? For many people, some of their fondest memories are with their sports teams, or with the friends they made from participating in sports growing up. Youth sports offer a unique way to teach kids teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, discipline, and many other life skills that will help them as they approach adulthood. It can be a safe space and learning opportunity for everyone involved. Youth sports can be a highlight of childhood, or they can be a negative experience with tremendous pressure, competitiveness, and burnout. As coaches, parents, trainers, and supporters, it’s important to create an environment that promotes all the greatness associated with sports without the negatives to the best of our abilities.
Youth sport provides incredible and unique opportunities for children to learn more about themselves, build their confidence, and learn to work with others while pushing themselves to improve. To keep youth sports as a positive environment, what can you do as a coach, trainer, parent, or volunteer?
Keep Praise Effort-Based, Not Talent-Based!
When an athlete scores a goal or completes a skill especially well, we all tend to compliment them by saying “Wow! You’re so talented! Winning must feel so good!”. This is great to boost confidence in the moment, but effort-based feedback could result in more resilient athletes and youth! Giving positive feedback such as “Your hard work is really paying off!” can be just as fulfilling at the time to the athlete, but long term could result in a more confident athlete who is willing to make mistakes and try more challenging things. A child who is complimented on “raw talent” and winning may come to a point where they don’t try things outside of their comfort zone because they may fail, but ones that are praised on effort instead are more likely to try a harder skill because they know that it is ok to not succeed, as long as they are putting effort in.
Don’t Rush Specializing
Lately it has been harder and harder to justify keeping children in multiple sports at once. There are specialized programs for every sport now that can have children doing one sport for 20 hours a week by the time they are 10 years old. With the rising costs of schooling and sports-based scholarships being a big help for affordability, it can be tempting to buy into this specialized training program from such a young age, especially if the athlete shows promise and passion for the sport. That being said, having your young athletes explore multiple sports can improve their skills at each one, improve their physical literacy (how they move their bodies), decrease likelihood of injury, and decrease likelihood of burnout!
Encourage Team-Based Bonding
Youth sports are extremely important for all the reasons we have already mentioned and more. Possibly my favorite reason to encourage your athletes as coaches, trainers, and parents to participate in youth sports is for the bonds they make. As a figure skater, I look back fondly on the friendships I built, and still maintain to this day! Encouraging games and activities in and out of sport can promote connections with other athletes and build friendships outside of students at their school. It can provide a safe place to escape from school and build friendships based on mutual interests. The team may perform better with teammates trusting and respecting each other in and out of sport, it can help young athletes push themselves as they have a support system going through the drills with them, and the athletes can cultivate deep friendships through their sport.
Youth sports is an incredible thing. It has the potential to really improve the lives of kids, promote healthy habits, and improve life skills like teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving. There are many things out of your control as the coach, the trainer, or the parent to help these young athletes continue loving their sport into adulthood, but hopefully these tricks will help support their love of sport and physical activity long term.
