Positive coaching: It’s a choice and a philosophy

Posted in Sports
by Lorain County Moms

By Jack Perconte, McClatchy-Tribune

In many of my writings over the years, I have written how youth coaches have a great influence on their players, positively or negatively, as the case may be. As proof of this I have used my own experiences as examples, my kids’ experiences with their coaches, and the many discussions I have had with my students about their coaches. Most people involved with youth sports agree that the lessons learned playing sports are valuable to our youths’ development, so it comes as no surprise that youth coaches hold a key component to our kids’ futures.

Youth coaches have a great opportunity to be a positive influence to players’ future and, often, even to the opposition players perception of coaches. The problem is that many adults waste that chance. By choosing to coach for the wrong reasons or by being totally unprepared to work with kids, many youth coaches squander the opportunity to be the positive, influential coaches they can be. Many parents coach only so they can give their own child an edge. Others zap the fun out of sport with negative talk, actions and an inappropriate sports perspective of what youth sport should be all about. These are just a few of the reasons that coaches are unprepared for being a positive influence on youth.

The good news is that it does not have to be this way. Adults have a choice in the matter. However, it does require preparation on the part of youth coaches, schools and leagues. Before the coaching season begins, coaches should sit down and write out their coaching goals and philosophies to present to their teams. Additionally, youth athletic leagues have the responsibility of looking for qualified coaches, training coaches, helping them with their goals and philosophies and monitoring their progress as the season progresses. Parents of athletes have the responsibility of helping volunteer coaches with their support and help as needed. When everyone works together in these ways, coaches will become the positive influences that kids deserve. With that in mind, following are the qualities that leagues should encourage their coaches to attend to in their coaching philosophy.

Coaches need to consistently choose and practice:

1. Perspective always keeping in mind the age of youth, the goal of the level being played and the role model responsibility.

2. Communication always a key in relationships, being able to communicate with kids of that particular age is crucial and may require a trial and error approach to reach each player.

3. Focus and Perseverance remaining focused on the goal of developing athletes, physically and mentally, can be difficult without focus, especially when dealing with unhappy players and/or parents.

4. Patience nothing turns kids off more than coaches who have unrealistic expectations and a lack of patience when kids are trying their best.

5. Commitment setting the goal of helping every player on his or her team is crucial. This is not as easy as one might think because of the various attitudes that kids bring to sport.

6. Consistency (following up on commitment) — helping all team members and devoting equal time to each player, even the less-skilled and less-interested is necessary to be a positive influence. Consistency is noticed and respected by players as well as by parents.

7. Controlled Enthusiasm enthusiasm that is not over the top is necessary and influences kids more than one might initially be able to tell from kids’ expressions.

You may have noticed that these are some of the desirable qualities that we teach and try to develop in our athletes. When kids observe coaches who display this type positive coaching philosophy, we are on our way to developing a new generation of positive coaches. It gets back to my favorite quote (author unknown) that comes from the great John Wooden’s book, “Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections” ”No written word nor spoken plea can teach our kids what they should be, nor all the books on the all shelves, for it is what the teachers are themselves.”

Coaches who realize it is not so much what they teach, but who they are, will be positive influences on athletes’ lives.

Jack Perconte played 12 years of professional baseball. After retiring from professional baseball in 1987, Perconte opened a baseball training academy in Naperville, Ill. The hitting drills, mental training and coaching tips found in “The Making of a Hitter” (www.themakingofahitter.com) were culled from the 60,000 hitting lessons Perconte estimates he gave while operating the academy. He has also written “Raising an Athlete,” and writes for the blog http://positiveparentinginsports.com.