Coaching Youth Football
I love coaching youth football and other youth sports. It amazes me the spectrum of coaches. I guess I should not be surprised since the majority of us are parent volunteers. And some of the unlucky few, defaulted into the coaching spot because the assigned coach got busy with work or resigned for some other reason.
If you are going to coach a team, you must be committed and responsible. The team is counting on you. The basketball team I help coach played a team this past weekend and the coach did not show up for the game. A parent at the last minute had to step in to coach. Hopefully the head coach did not have a fatal accident or some other major issue, but I comment on this because this is not the first game I have attended where the head coach did not show for a game.
I feel like coaching youth sports is a privilege and the players and parents look to you as the leader of the team. If you decide not to coach once the season has started, you are letting down 20+ individuals.
Also, if you are going to coach. Please read a book or two or even ten on how to coach and coach your sport. If you hate to read buy a few coaching DVDs. Coaching youth sports is not like playing high school or college ball nor is it like coaching high school players. A HS coach in our area tried assistant coaching a few years back and he said it was nothing like coaching high school football.
If you are thinking about coaching a youth sport. Ask other coaches about the time and effort it takes to coach a team. Don’t just jump in and think, oh they are just kids this should be easy. Coaching youth sports is much harder than coaching High School players.
Contact me anytime if you are considering coaching and I will point you to some great resources. Or just read through the blog for links and resources for coaching youth football.
Play for fun and winning is funner.
Coach,
I just signed up as the head coach of my two boys (4 & 6 yrs old) flag football team. It was really by accident that i ended up being the coach, but it’s basically like you blooged, the assigned coach backed out, so at the first practice there was no coach and I volunteered.
I have two basic goals for these kids:
1) Fun – at this age group, I just want them to have a blast! I understand at this age there attention span is pretty short so if I don’t make it fun for them, I’m going to loose there attention fast. I also want it to be fun for the parents, so I plan on trying to get the other dads that stick around for practice involved. I really want it to be a memorable time for the kids and their family!
2) Win – I want to win games, but not for the sake of just winning, but so that the kids can see the fruit of there labor (practice).
Question:
I think I can handle the first goal, as I’m a big kid anyway. It’s my second goal that I’m a little worried about. This is the first time i’ve coached anything, so I’m looking for some really good sites that can help me with mechanics of pewee flag football. For example, what kind of plays to run with Kids this age etc….
Any help or tips you can provide is greatly appreciated.
Toriano