Muscatine Girls Softball Association

Coaching Youth Sports Ethically

May 16, 2007

Jane and Sarah are talking at their sons?’ baseball game. Jane says to Sarah: ?“Boy, Evan sure does love baseball. It?’s all he has talked about since practices started. He could not wait for his first game today.?” Sarah replies: ?“Well I?’m not sure how well Jacob likes baseball. I thought for sure he would love to play on a team since he loves to play catch and hit at home with his dad. I can?’t quite figure out why he?’s not more excited about it.?” Jane asks; ?“Who is his coach??”

Who is the coach may seem like a simple question but that was exactly the problem with Jacob?’s team. Unlike Evan?’s coach, Jacob?’s coach was not very encouraging. In fact, he became frustrated when bad plays were made and often would yell at his players. He often would have the less developed players play catch in the outfield while he worked with who he considered to be the ?“stars?” of the team. Jacob felt like a failure. Worse yet, his dad always played catch and threw balls for him to hit and always told him what a great player he was. He did not want to let his dad down.

Whether you were recruited to coach or you volunteered, coaching youth sports is not something to be taken lightly. Your actions as a coach can have lasting impact on the children you are coaching. Evan loved baseball because he had an encouraging coach who took the time to make sure each player was learning skills to play the game. His coach never yelled when mistakes were made. Instead, he would stop for a moment and point out the error and then demonstrate the correct way to make the play. He always encouraged the effort and congratulated the triumphs.

Your job as a coach is not to have a winning record. Your job as coach is to develop the athletes?’ skills and make sure they have fun.

According to The Coaching Corner website (http://www.thecoachingcorner.com/basics/what_to_teach.php); there are six fundamental areas volunteer youth coaches should focus on teaching:



1) Fun!

This one is first for a very important reason. Your team signed up to play for fun. Kids aged 4 to 8 play completely for fun and age 9 to 12 for competitive fun. They love to play games including organized sports. They are there to have fun and your number one job is to make it a FUN experience for them. This can be done in a variety of ways; from fun drills to warm-up chants to letting the team choose an activity for a practice.

2) Fitness

Warm-up and conditioning exercises should be part of every practice. A couple of laps around the field and some basic stretches should be a routine that the players know and can do before any drills or skills are learned.

3) Teamwork

Young players are very ?“me?” oriented and have little awareness of the team concept. By showing them how to work together to make a good play you are introducing them to a concept that will surface in all facets of their adult life. Most of us have to work with others in our professions or careers and by showing how cooperation helps everyone, you are fostering good teamwork.

4) Skills

Each sport requires specific skills. Whether it be throwing and catching in baseball or kicking and dribbling in soccer, there are fundamentals that must be mastered by each player in order to play the game correctly. You should prepare a practice plan for each practice with specific skills to be worked on. These basic or ?“fundamental?” skills should be practiced each time the team meets and built upon by introducing new skills. Remember the old saying; ?“Practice makes perfect?”.

5) Diversity

There will be a number of different types of athletes on your team. Some good players, some ok players, and some that need a little more work. Some may be rich and some not-so-rich, some Hispanic, Asian, you name it. The point is, it does not matter who their parents are, what they look like, or what their skills are. Everyone should be treated equally and if you cannot do that you should think about your desire to coach.

6) Respect

Respect for the game, themselves, you (the coach), other players, the rules, and officials are absolutely required. Your guidance will reinforce this. Praise for accomplishments both major and minor will go a long way in making them feel good about themselves, therefore respecting both themselves and you. Your conduct is critical in regards to respect. If you respect other players, coaches, and officials your players will too.


During your coaching career you will be faced with some tough decisions. What is more important? Winning or having fun? Do I play my best players or do I give everyone their turn? Do I follow rules given to me by the sports organization or do I ignore them like many other coaches do? After all, that is often how the other teams win. They play only ?“talented?” players in key positions. They sit the less talented players on the bench as much as they can get by with. Other coaches care first and foremost about winning. But it all boils down to this: ?“It?’s not whether you win or lose, it?’s how you play the game.?”
If all players are treated fairly and encouraged as much as possible, they will go away with many valuable skills and hopefully many good memories. But most of all, they will have had a lot of fun.