Coaches, you have a captive audience every season. Your players are captive because in order to make the team, and in order to play, they must listen to you and do as you instruct.

Coaching kids daily is a big responsibility that parents have delegated to you. Here’s what they’d like to see you teach your captive audience of young athletes.

How to work with others 

Parents want you to show their children how to get along with people who are different from him, how to get along with someone they don’t necessarily like, and how to work towards a common goal with teammates who all have different skills and personalities. Teamwork is one of the single most important skills that children need to learn as they head off to college, and as they start to make their way into the workforce.

How to fight for what they want

Even if a child is the best athlete on the team, parents want their kids to learn to fight for what they want, whether that’s a win, a personal goal, or a spot on the all-star team. They don’t want you to let them settle for what comes naturally or easy; they want you to look for ways to stretch and challenge them. Kids who have to fight hard for something always come out stronger than those who have it easy.

That someone believes in them 

Belief is empowering. Once, when my senior quarterback son had a bad game, the coach pulled him aside and told him three reasons why he wanted him to succeed and why he believed in him. That belief gave him the strength to come back strong the next game. As parents, it’s our job to believe in our kids, but as a coach, it’s your privilege to believe in kids and watch how that belief gives them confidence and motivation.

That you See them as a whole person, not just an athlete 

Are you interested in how your athletes are doing in school? Do you care if a child is having a hard time at home? Are you willing to deal with teammates who can’t get along, or do you just ignore it and hope it goes away? Please see that kids are much more than just athletes and look for opportunities to show interest and help in things that affect him outside of sports.

How to win and lose with class

Since every one of the kids on your team will face both of these the rest of their lives in every endeavor they undertake, teach them now, how to win with integrity and humility and how to lose with dignity. Please model this yourself, and take the time to talk about this as a team.

Coaches, don’t squander this chance you have to make leaders out of your athletes as you hold them “captive” this season. If the kids on your team never play sports again, will they walk away from competition having learned some valuable life lessons, or will they simply remember how many wins and losses they had?

 

Janis B. Meredith is a life coach for sports parents. She provides resources to help parents give their children a positive and growing youth sports experience. Learn more about good sports parenting habits in her book 11 Habits for Happy & Positive Sports Parents, available on Amazon.