Being a Youth Sports Coach- Take off the Dad Hat According to Expert Phil Thow

Too often in youth sports, we see parents coaching various activities, and their children being affected in one of two ways. A child of a coach will either be treated specially and always get to play whenever they want and in whichever position they want, or they will be treated twice as harsh as the rest of the kids, and have to prove themselves doubly since they are the ‘coach’s kid.’ There is a time and a place for parenting, and there is a time and a place for coaching. When you get to the sports field or court, it’s time to take off the Dad hat (or Mom hat) and put on the coach’s hat. According to Phil Thow, it will be difficult to separate yourself like that from your child, but you have to treat them as objectively as possible in order to be fair.

Attitude is everything. Remember that these are kids. They are here to have fun. They want to play, and they want to win, but they don’t want to be the next NBA, MLB, MLS, NHL, or NFL player. They just want to play. As a coach, you have to have a positive attitude and encourage them at all times. They shouldn’t get scolded for missing a play or doing something wrong. They should be told that they did their best, provided that they did of course. The good majority of these kids won’t last much longer than little league, according to Phil Thow, so let them have fun while learning a new skill set.

The things that you should focus on as a youth coach are effort, trying and hustle according to expert Phil Thow. As long as kids are doing their best and giving their best effort, they aren’t doing anything wrong. Little league isn’t the World Series or the Super Bowl, and it shouldn’t be treated like that. Find fun ways to teach them the basic fundamentals of the game and make sure that at the end of the day, everyone has fun and does their best. That’s all you can ask for with kids.

It might be nice to win, but at the end of the day, they only signed up to play because it was fun. If you don’t keep it fun, they won’t want to play anymore. It can be difficult to get used to being a youth sports coach at first, and hard to objectively coach your own kids, but Phil Thow points out that you need to do the best that you can to include everyone and keep it fun.