DR. VINCE MINJARES
Project Manager, Sports & Society Program
As a ‘90s kid growing up in the suburbs of Southern California, I cherished my coaches.
Dad, my first coach, came running to the backyard at the mere hint of me dribbling outside and practicing my jump shot. Our epic practice sessions and 1v1s became their own folklore in my family, a sign that a seed had been planted and we had both fallen in love with something special: me with basketball and Dad with coaching.
Coach Smith and Coach Alaniz, my middle and high school coaches, often drove me home from practice and joined family dinners to break bread with my parents. As they recanted stories of great former players they once coached, and how I played like them, I fell asleep those nights excited about returning to practice the next day.
Why do these stories matter? Because coaches matter – and they need more support, especially since new research shows the value of trained coaches. That was a key takeaway from the National Coach Survey, recently released by The Ohio State University LiFEsports Initiative in partnership with the Aspen Institute, Susan Crown Exchange and Nike.
Across the country and around the world, we hear a common refrain that “sport develops people.” That’s true, but with an important qualifier: In order for organized sport to deliver on its promise for youth development, we need skilled coaches.
Sport does not automatically deliver benefits, particularly in areas of social and emotional development like self-confidence and a sense of belonging. Rather, it is coaches who foster the conditions within sport settings that enable positive outcomes to occur. How coaches build relationships, set expectations, respond to mistakes, design for learning, and manage conflicts influences the way young people feel about themselves and their experience. In too many scenarios, coaches become the reason why a player quits and vows never to return. Given such influence, it is time that we invested in their development.
The National Coach Survey, which sampled more than 10,000 coaches across the country, reinforces the view that coaches recognize their influence and want to help young people grow. When asked why they coach, the vast majority of coaches say they are motivated by working with and developing young people in their community. As a coach and player, that was certainly my experience.
Unfortunately, coaches are struggling to adapt to a new generation of young people with more diverse needs. For starters, survey results show that many coaches feel ill-prepared to support LGBTQIA+ communities, youth with disorders and disabilities, and refugee/immigrant youth. Many coaches also express a lack of confidence around how to link youth to mental health resources, navigate the pressures of social media and reduce performance anxiety. Importantly, many also want training in these areas and others, such as motivational techniques, identifying stressors off the field and working with parents/caregivers.
Growing our youth coaching community demands a clear vision for coach development. I’ve seen how effective such a vision can be. After my own time as a youth coach, I ultimately became a coaching researcher who moved from California to New Zealand to build coach development programs. I was drawn by the country’s long term vision for coach development across levels. Sport New Zealand, a national body, existed to guide effectiveness in coaching and coach development across the country, including a national coaching strategy and support for regional coach developer programs. As a coach developer, my responsibility was to identify, recruit, train, support and evaluate coaches in my region. This challenging work involved building coaching pipelines, growing communities of practice, leading workshops, resolving coaching conflicts, and evaluating for quality improvement.
Through my journey, one thing became clear: Regardless of level or experience, coaching is hard work that requires support. And quality youth sports coaching demands diverse knowledge and skill that is trained, reflected on, evaluated and valued. So how can our nation’s governing bodies, schools, leagues, researchers and funders collectively improve support for these coaches?
A few places to start:
Articulate a clear vision for quality youth coaching, grounded in positive youth development. As a nation, we must continue to get clear on what great youth coaching looks like, with a sound foundation in holistic coaching and positive youth development. Drawing upon Calls for Coaches, National Standards for Sports Coaches and the Quality Coaching Framework, youth coaches need universal principles that apply across ages and stages of development but allow for the flexibility to adapt to regional, cultural and day-to-day demands of their environment. Those principles should be accessible and relatable, with clear insights that can be applied on day one.
Rethink recruitment models to expand the pool of coaches. Let’s reimagine the process of recruitment and retention, particularly to build community and continuity among women, BIPOC and coaches under 30. The 18th Ward in New Orleans offers an interesting case study. Their coach-in-training and coach pathways programs target local high school and college students looking to give back to their community and build their resumes.
Intensify support and training for coaching mental health and wellbeing. At a minimum, sport organizations have a responsibility to provide coaches with clear protocols for responding to potential mental health crises. Mental health literacy training should be subsidized and offered to coaches for free or at significantly reduced cost. Coaches should also receive guidelines for identifying risk factors and be afforded opportunities to learn coaching concepts aimed at prevention, such as psychological safety and trauma-informed practice.
Issue coach development guidelines, backed by adult learning principles. Coaches learn in multiple settings, including through formal training, mentoring relationships, peer observation and self-study. To grow the coaching community, our collective learning environment must be flexible to the many populations, time constraints, resources and learning preferences that exist. Guidelines will help. Grounded in principles of long-term coach development and adult learning, such guidelines should be applicable to anyone looking to design coach learning opportunities, including coaches themselves.
While the fruits of coach investment will take time, we must not forget our north star: Coaches matter. Organized youth sport in this country would not exist without coaches like Dad, Coach Alaniz and Coach Smith. With the National Coach Survey data, we now have direct access to what we have always known about them. They love giving back, believe in the power of sport and embrace their influence. At the same time, we also have a rare glimpse into their vulnerability. Coaches have shared where they lack confidence, feel unprepared and want training. We can do more to support them.
Vince Minjares is a Project Manager of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program with responsibility for driving Project Play’s school sports and coaching portfolios. Vince earned his Ph.D in Coaching & Pedagogy from AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand and his M.A. in Education from U.C. Berkeley. Vince played Division III Basketball at Claremont McKenna College before embarking on a career in coaching research and coach development. Vince recently returned from New Zealand, where he served as a sport development officer, consultant and coach. He can be found on Twitter (@PlayerLearning) and contacted by email, vincent.minjares@aspeninstitute.org