Lesson 2 focuses on the practical methods of coaching kids—what to teach and HOW to teach it so it sticks.

Most Important Principles Explored:

4. Coaching FUNdamentals

5. Avoid Lines

6. The Effort Affect

Bonus Material

If you’re unsure if the KIDS are having fun (if you can’t tell by their laughter, smiles and the question at the end of practice, “Is practice over already?”) then ask them.  Ask them to rate it on a very simple scale of 1 to 3, or 5.  If you do this regularly, it helps them feel they have a voice in what they do at practice, (which is not normal for coaches) BUT very beneficial for kids!  This makes practice fun, playful and inventive for them, when they give input, like the video talked about of the knights and dragons. Instead of practice being like school where they are told what to do, this can be an interactive experience that leads to greater engagement and learning.  The big picture here is we’re building a program that matches the goal of making it fun and being the antidote to burnout, so kids stay involved and learning is optimized.

In coaching young kids it can get even very complicated, particularly in a team environment where coaches often spot the early maturers.  Age also has a huge impact here as well, if you look at it in the normal school year scenario.  Let’s say for 6 year olds, here’s the math.  You have a 6 year old with a birthday of Aug 28th and another with a DOB of Sept 20th, and this is a fall season sport looking at birthdays as of Sept 1st.  The child with the DOB on Sept 20th is 15% older than the other 6 year old.  Then add in if they might be an early maturer and/or have genes from taller parents, this child may appear to be more “advanced” than others.

To complicate youth sports even further you add in the formula that many parents (and coaches) use of the 10,000 hour “rule”, where incorrect application of the “formula” with someone becoming an expert at anything by doing it for 10,000 hours, starting too early, specializing too early and doing too much too early.  Parents are often the ones driving and abusing this with the most common justification phrase of: “Yeah, but my kid…”
“I know most kids shouldn’t do this, but have you seen my kid?
Nobody pitches like he does, at this age (10 YO).  With just a little more time invested, he has the chance of getting drafted right out of high school.”

Coach, this is real!  This dad, because of the pitch counts in Little League, enrolled his kid in four leagues.  He wasn’t pitching every 4-5 days, he was pitching 4-5 times a week.  By 13 his arm was destroyed and more importantly a huge fracture in their relationship because of the pressure the dad put on this son and the playing hurt most of the last two years.

I bring this up here so as coaches we can beware that there may be competing forces on the kids you coach.  Given the framework of long term athlete development, it can be up to us to help ensure a child’s long term success.

Enter question bank #2 here.