Seven Qualities to Look for in a Youth Coach or League

Registering your child to play an organized sport should be a task that you take seriously. Especially if this is the first time your son or daughter will participate in a particular sport, it’s vital to understand the philosophy and objectives the coaches and league have established.

One of the best ways to evaluate a coach or league is to observe their practices. The following provides a list of the “7 Qualities to look for in a Youth Coach or League” when registering for the upcoming spring season.

1. Develop every individual player throughout the league. Rather than make an immediate judgment based on a particular child’s size/weight or ability and pigeonhole that child in a particular position, a quality league should require that every child learn every position. Once the child has had a chance to do this, he or she should decide which position to pursue rather than having this decision dictated by a coach.


2. How do the league and coaches handle intimidation? Too often in sports, the more mature and bigger kids are allowed to dominate the program, leaving kids who have yet to blossom discouraged and uninterested in pursuing a sport. High quality leagues structure their programs to eliminate all types of participant intimidation by introducing every part of the game gradually and providing a comfort level for every participant. Youth leagues that begin a season by taking all interested kids and testing their skills without actually teaching those skills are programs you should avoid. A quality league will spend a majority of their time introducing skills and teaching. Avoid leagues and teams that require a child to test their courage by going one on one with a teammate (i.e. a tackling drill in football), before ever teaching that skill.


3. Practices that are well organized are always a good sign of a quality coach and program. If you witness kids waiting in long lines for their turn in a drill, or coaches continuously talking to each other and losing the attention of their team, it’s not likely a good situation. Look for kids paired off, receiving many repetitions, with coaches engaged and always teaching.


4. A progression of learning and improvement takes place throughout the season. If possible, find parents that have been involved with the league or coach in the past, and ask if their kids were satisfied with their improvement throughout the season. If kids feel as though they are improving, they’ll most likely enjoy the experience, and it’s usually the sign of a good coach.


5. Does the league require equal playing time for every player? Leagues that state equal playing time rules, and coaches that actually follow those rules, are most likely programs that care about the development of every athlete rather than league standings.


6. The emphasis is placed on learning the fundamentals of the game. Every parent should want their child to learn all the fundamentals of the game. This reduces the risk of injury, and enables the athlete to receive a progression of training and learning that can be applied throughout their entire playing career. Coaches who skip over teaching the fundamentals and conduct a majority of scrimmages during practice will not provide your child with the learning experience they deserve. A good youth football coach will teach blocking and tackling by taking every kid, experienced or not, and lining them up six inches apart. After they have executed each phase consistently and accurately, they should slowly move them farther apart until they’ve performed the skills correctly. By taking a gradual approach, a coach will produce safer results along with the development of fundamentally sound players over a relatively short period of time.


7. Winning and losing are put into perspective. If a coach states that his major objective for the season is to win a championship, you could be on the wrong team. Competition is good, and learning how to deal with losing can be valuable lesson, but coaches who are overly concerned with winning often don’t spend the time teaching the game, and therefore overlook the development of every athlete on the team. If winning is put into perspective and not overemphasized, you’ve found the right youth coach and program for your child.

The evaluation of a potential league or coach for your child is as important as evaluating a school and their teachers. Due to the importance placed on organized sports in every community, we as parents should be as diligent and critical of these programs as we are our education system. Remember, your kids will be spending many hours participating in these programs. A league’s philosophy, and the type of coaches they recruit, are vital to the future of your child’s athletic development. Use the Seven Qualities to Look for in a Youth Coach and League as your guideline.

- Scott Lancaster