Hey, Coach!

Even though most state that coaching is simply to teach others how to play a game, it is much more than this. The effects that coaching can have on a young child or youth, can help them to gain some important tools that they can keep for the rest of their lifetime. The tools that you will be teaching to your players will help them to grow and flourish, no matter what turn they make in their lifetime.

The first major lesson that individuals can learn from playing on a team that you are coaching comes from the relationships that they build with each other. When one is able to work with a team, no matter what the project, and learn how to compromise and fit into the bigger picture, it makes it easier for them later on. The youth and children that are involved will grow up with ideas about what it means to help others as well as take on their own leadership roles. They will also be able to see these same relationship values coming from the leadership role that you present.

For the individual child, participating in sports can have the same major effect on them. This first begins with the child having the ability to understand the importance of health and exercise in order to stay at their best. Recent studies have shown that adults that played sports when they were younger are much more active and exercise as adults up to three times more than other average adults.

Beyond this, children and youth will gain insights into which they are as individual players. Not only does their physical health improve, but their mental health will as well. Once a child or youth understands the game and begins to get positive feedback from the moves that they make, they are likely to also get a good boost of self-esteem. This doesn't just happen with self-esteem, but also with perceptions of themselves, such as body image. The attitudes that the children learn with positive outlooks on their mental and physical health, will eventually carry over into how they see themselves in the future and as adults. The foundation begins when they are young and playing on any type of field.

What does all of this mean to you as a coach? The basic rule is that you should have the ability to coach right. You are not just playing a game. You are also building a foundation for them. This foundation includes personal changes that are important to the child as well as a building of who they are mentally, physically and relation to others. If you want to play a good game as a coach, it means making sure that everyone starts off on the right foot.