Making Life Skills Work in Youth Sports
Conventional wisdom tells us that sports programs teach kids important life messages. Unfortunately, this optimistic dream does not hold true for a majority of kids involved in organized sports today. Many teaching opportunities are missed or are entirely ruined when bad behavior and negative elements become more the norm than the exception.
Despite the many experts who claim that sports increase confidence, self-esteem, and scholastic performance, we as a society continue to prevent a great number of our children from reaping these desired benefits. Today's youth sports programs do more to belittle a child's confidence and self-esteem than they do to improve or benefit the child's overall welfare.
I don't mean to say that sports are an inappropriate setting in which to teach life skills. Quite the opposite: Sports by their very nature can teach essential life skills. For example, team sports teach athletes to work together in order to be successful, but this lesson isn't conveyed automatically. The coach or instructor working with kids needs to capitalize on and reinforce the natural lessons that present themselves in sports. When coaches do this, they produce positive results.
INCORPORATE LIFE SKILLS INTO
SPORTS TRAINING
The Youth Evolution Sports structure calls for the inclusion of life skill lessons every time the team meets on the playing field. We provide coaches with easy-to-use reference tools that assist them in capturing these teaching moments. The key to the success of this method is that teaching is intertwined with on-field skill training. It never interrupts the flow of an instructional or competitive segment, but it is designed to complement whatever the training situation is at that time.
For example, during practice when we move to the competition phase to test a participant's progress, a coach encourages, instructs, and corrects mistakes, but he also monitors each athlete's behavior. If an athlete becomes dejected because an opponent outscores him or beats him on a play, the coach addresses that player immediately. He explains that the player executed the skills properly, improved, and was prepared, and that these are the more important results.
The coach also addresses an athlete who is showboating or gloating about his achievements. The coach explains to the athlete that it's okay to take pleasure in success, but he must keep things in perspective, maintain his self-control, and always respect his opponent. And the coach reminds the player that even a good performance or victory should not stop him from continuing to prepare by reflecting on what he did correctly and how he can build upon that to improve further.
These scenarios touch upon two critical life skill messages: preparation and self-control. Over the length of a season we devote specific days to eight key life messages. The message of the day remains the focus for the entire ninety-minute session. Not many youth sports programs pay that much attention to life skill training.
The absence of life skill training in traditional programs was the primary reason I incorporated it into Youth Evolution Sports programs. In order to truly create a Fair Play environment, life skill structures and methods are a crucial part of coaching responsibilities.
You may be wondering how you can possibly have the time to spend preparing and teaching life skills at each practice session. It's actually fairly easy. In the Youth Evolution Sports programs we use wristbands that have plastic pockets attached. You've probably seen these wristbands on the arms of college and NFL quarterbacks. Normally a quarterback will hold his plays in the pocket of the wristband as a quick reminder of what he can call. Instead of plays, customized life skill messages are inserted into each participant's wristband each week with key reminders that reinforce the messages. Over the span of the eight-week program we emphasize eight life skills.
Self-control
Responsibility
Goal Setting
Sportsmanship
Smart Moves
Teamwork
Leadership
Perseverance
Reminders or key points accompany each life skill message on each participant's wristband. The players receive a new card each week.
These life lessons are integrated into every single practice. We remind the instructors to begin each session by introducing the life skill focus of the day along with the fundamentals that will be taught. They give their players a short explanation of the life skill and how it applies to their sport, school, family, and friends. For example, if the life skill is "responsibility," a coach explains that the players must be responsible by paying attention when the fundamentals are taught. As a result they will be able to perform well, score points in competitions, and not let themselves or their teammates down. The coach also explains that when players are responsible at school by paying attention and doing their homework, they will reap the same benefits in the classroom. They must be equally responsible at home by helping out with chores and listening to their parents.
Throughout the session the coach gives brief reminders of the day's life skill. During the ebb and flow of athletic instruction and competition, examples of life lessons are used constantly. A young player who does not pay attention during an instructional period provides an ideal opportunity to speak to him about responsibility and explain what he missed and how that can affect the entire team.
Athletes experience real-life scenarios at every level of their sport. One of the most common of these is overcoming a poor performance. No one is perfect, obviously, and sports give you the opportunity to test how you handle, learn, and recover from adversity. This acquired skill of not dwelling on a mistake but instead learning from it and moving forward can be invaluable throughout life. Once a young athlete understands how to recover from mistakes or poor performances, his future rate of success improves on and off the playing field.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM CAPTAINS
Many youth teams assign one or more kids the position of team captain. These individuals usually serve as representatives for the team during ceremonial moments in a game. For example, a team captain may be involved in the coin flip before a football or soccer game. In some sports team captains are the only players allowed to talk to an official during a game.
Rarely are team captains in youth sports trained to lead with correct life skills, however, even though this should be their responsibility. The point is that many youth teams do not provide the guidelines or structure by which team captains can perform those responsibilities. In addition, singling out specific individuals to perform such roles keeps other teammates from learning those same skills and responsibilities. I feel strongly that everyone should have the opportunity to represent their team as a captain. We then provide each captain with the information and direction necessary to make this a valuable experience.
Out of a total team of players a coach can name a number of co-captains per week, until everyone has the opportunity to be a captain, and assign them specific responsibilities. Each captain is responsible for assisting the coaches with the life skill message for the week. They might be asked to lead the life skill by example. If, for instance, goal setting is the life skill, a team captain might wear in his wristband reminders of what he wants to accomplish during each practice as an individual and as a team. A coach would also call upon the captains during the week to provide examples of the particular life skill.
During games and competitions in practice, team captains encourage their teammates vocally using references to the life skill they were assigned.
The consistent yet unobtrusive presentation of key life skill messages has had a lasting effect on the thousands of kids across the country who has participated in programs I’ve developed. Incorporate them into your own sports program, and you will provide a tremendous service to kids.
- Scott Lancaster, August 2007