By Matt Veit
(January 26, 2023)

In 2020, the CDC estimated 54.1% of school-age children in the United States participated in sports (Black et al., 2020). However, an estimated 70% of kids quit sports by the age of 13 (Eng, 2021). Reasons for athletes quitting at such early ages have been attributed to increased anxiety, fear, anger, diminished self-esteem, and impaired relationships with teammates, parents, and coaches. Many youth sports are also seeing enhanced mental health risks, as many young people state they simply don’t have any fun playing the game anymore. So where do these negative emotions and perceptions of youth sports stem? This short essay presents some of the main reasons believed to be negatively impacting the state and participation of youth sports, as well as provide a short action plan for coaches to help and re-tool the overall purpose of youth sport.

Everybody Loves a Winner

The great Vince Lombardi famously stated, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Everybody loves a winner, whether is it a super bowl winning franchise such as the Lombardi-led Green Bay Packers, or a 3rd-grade youth basketball tournament, a person can expect to see fans yelling and screaming in excitement over the athletic competition. Showing excitement and intensity in sport is not a negative, it is what makes sports special to so many people, but where that energy and intensity is being focused has seemed to be misplaced in the youth sport community. A “win at all costs” approach (Fenoglio & Taylor, 2014), has been embodied by so many youth programs throughout the country as the sole definition of success. For some, it does not matter how or what impact is being made on the individuals or team participating. As long as that 5th-grade team gets their $3 spray-painted plastic gold trophy at the end of the day, parents and coaches are happy. This winning-at-all-cost approach has influenced how coaches approach their role as a youth sport coach, creating punitive coaching practices and toxic coaching characteristics.

The use of punitive coaching practices (the use of punishment) has been a common coaching practice for the eternity of coaching. However, is this approach appropriate for a youth soccer team? Common examples of punitive coaching are the use of conditioning, benching, yelling, cleaning equipment, and alternating positions as punishments (Battaglia et al., 2017). At the youth level, the question can be asked if there are positive results from having a youth soccer team run laps around the field for losing a match. Findings have suggested that punitive coaching practices at the youth level have resulted in more negative feelings over positive emotions in relation to perseverance, accomplishment, and relief (Battaglia et al., 2017). Reports of youth stating feelings of hate, anger, and embarrassment after punitive coaching practices makes one question its usefulness in youth sport. If a coach really believes that using punitive coaching practices for the elementary club team will decrease the likelihood of a child making further errors in performance, they are more than likely correct, the athlete will quit.

Toxic coaching includes expressing anger, hostility, threats, yelling, and expressing and/or modeling anti-social values or behaviors such as insults or condoning cheating (Turnnidge & Cote, 2018). It doesn’t take long to see examples of these practices happening in the youth scene; videos of players, coaches, and parents exhibiting behaviors of swearing and insulting opponents in front of their youth teams are commonplace. Just recently, a video was posted where a youth football team runs on a field around their coaches and parents shouting that the other team “Ain’t s***.” Some of the players on the team had already embodied the behaviors of the parents/coaches yelling about how they were going to “F*** up” the other team. Young children absorb the behaviors they see in their environments. This is true for home life, school, friendships, and sports. Many times, coaches do not have control over an athlete’s home life or parent influence, but coaches can control the environment they create in practice and must prioritize making the youth sport experience much more than numbers on a scoreboard. A coach can model positive development in their athletes, create positive environments, and help athletes recognize failure as learning.  

Modeling Positive Development

The foremost behavior a coach can exhibit in creating a positive youth development experience is modeling their individual behavior to match the goals set for the team. Athletes will not buy into following a coach who does not practice what they preach. If a coach tells their athletes that they prioritize effort and teamwork over winning, but then punishes the team for losing regardless of effort, the team won’t buy in. Positive Youth Development is defined as, “The goal to prepare and engage youth in opportunities that will provide strengths and qualities to flourish in the future” (Watson et al., 2011). Coaches at the youth level should aim to prioritize skills they wish their team to achieve such as teamwork, effort, determination, leadership, and voice (Camire et al., 2014). These are transitional skills that will not only positively impact athletes on the playing field, but off the field as well including the classroom, relationships, and their futures.

Create Positive Environments

Similar to the workplace or a classroom, coaches must prioritize creating a positive practice and game environment where athletes feel safe and are willing to try new skills in an attempt to fail forward. Coaches can create this environment by encouraging autonomy and initiative, stating clear goals/expectations for all party members, supporting new ideas, recognizing the athlete’s contributions, enabling open communication, and facilitating supportive relationships with team members (Turnnidge & Cote, 2018). If a coach creates a positive learning environment, they can expect to see increased self-esteem, confidence, citizenship, achievement, and decreased delinquency (Bean & Bean, 2016). Perhaps the greatest environmental behavior a coach can create is an environment of trust. A trusting environment consists of a coach who believes in their players and players who believe in their coach. These behaviors increase the likelihood of a team becoming a more cohesive, bonded unit. Phil Jackson, former coach of two of the greatest sports dynasties the world has ever witnessed, believed that “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.” A coach can help create this trust by building a positive environment that athletes get excited about when they come to practice and games.

Recognizing Failure as Learning

Everyone will fail. No coach will always create the perfect game plan. No player will do everything right on the court. There is a tendency for young athletes to avoid failure in sport. Athletes will stay in their comfort zones to avoid the uncomfortable feeling that is failing. Failing does not feel good, especially for a young athlete who may feel that all eyes are on them and that they must be perfect at all times. A common example of this seen in youth sports is athletes avoiding the use of their non-dominate side. Youth basketball players will shoot layups with the right hand on the left side, soccer players will kick with the right leg during left foot drills (left is the non-dominant side in this scenario). Although these actions may seem small, they can have a snowball effect and lead athletes into avoiding trying new things in the future due to that fear of failure.

To help athletes embrace, learn, and lean into failure, a coach can teach and create an environment that allows athletes to embrace their vulnerabilities. If athletes can learn at a young age to take safe, calculated risks, there is an increase in positive outcomes such as developing positive responses to negative outcomes, enhanced problem-solving skills, decrease fear of failure, ability to challenge negative thoughts, seeing problems as opportunities, and reflect on performance (Camire et al., 2014). This is where the coach comes into play. It is very rare that a young athlete will be able to develop and go through the failure thought process alone. It is human nature to fear failure, and to want to stay in a comfort zone. If a coach can create an environment that allows athletes to embrace and accept failures as improvement, an athlete’s potential for growth skyrockets.

Conclusion

Youth coaches must also be cautious about the negative effects of punitive coaching practices and the detrimental effects of toxic coaching practices. The creation of positive coaching and learning environments where the emphasis is on the development of athletes and people is the most beneficial path for youth sports to follow. These environments, especially ones that use failure as a catalyst for growth will help kids get into youth sports, stay in youth sports, and take life-long lessons they’ve learned through sport into their lives, even if they never reach a high school athletic program.

References

Battaglia, A. V., Kerr, G., & Stirling, A. E. (2017) Youth athletes’ interpretations of punitive coaching practices. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 29, 337-352. DOI: 10.1080/10413200.2016.1271370

Bean, C., & Forneris, T. (2016) Examining the importance of intentionally structuring the youth sport context to facilitate positive youth development. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 28, 410-425. DOI: 10.1080/10413200.2016.1164764

Black,  L.I., Terlizzi, E. P., & Vahratian, A. (2022). Organized sports participation among children aged 6–17 years: United States, 2020. NCHS Data Brief, no 441. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:119026.

Camiré, M., Trudel, P., & Forneris, T. (2014) Examining how model youth sport coaches learn to facilitate positive youth development. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 19(1), 1-17. DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2012.726975

Eng, J. (2021, October 5). 70 percent of kids in sports quit by their teens-here’s how (and why) to keep them in the game. ParentsTogether. https://parents-together.org/70-percent-of-kids-in-sports-quit-by-their-teens-heres-how-and-why-to-keep-them-in-the-game

Fenoglio, R., & Taylor, W. (2014) From winning-at-all-costs to give us back our game: Perspective transformation in youth sport coaches. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 19, 191-204. DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2012.748737

Turnnidge, J., & Côté, J. (2018) Applying transformational leadership theory to coaching research in youth sport: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 16, 327-342. DOI: 10.1080/1612197X.2016.118994

Watson, J. C., Connole, I. I., & Kadushin, P. (2011) Developing young athletes: A Sport psychology-based approach to coaching youth sports. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 2, 113-122. DOI: 10.1080/21520704.2011.586452