This past week, while I was in Japan, my friend Lucia Dow sent me a link to a New York Times article written by Daniel Bornstein that appeared in the October 20, 2011 online edition of the Times. The article, entitled The Power of Positive Coaching is a great read, and asks some really great questions for those of us involved in minor sports. Here’s the opening two paragraphs:
Imagine you’re coaching a big soccer game, against an undefeated team that has beaten your team in all your previous matches. Your 11-year-olds are playing well and are ahead. Then, in the closing minutes, the official makes a bad call that goes against you and, because of it, you lose. After the game, the parents of your players scream at the official. The kids are disappointed, looking up at you. What do you do?
Or you’re coaching tee-ball and one of your 5-year-old players has failed to get a hit so far. Now, he’s up again in a crucial situation and is nervous. All eyes are on him. His first swing misses high. The second misses low and knocks the ball off the tee. You call him over to offer some help. What do you say?
Mr. Bornstein has followed this up with a second article on Monday this week, entitled Moving Beyond the Cold War Coach. Here is the opening paragraph of this follow-up article:
Youth sports in the United States is a contradiction. In surveys, parents overwhelmingly say that youth sports should emphasize values like teamwork, honesty, discipline and fair play. But when adults are asked what values they think youth sports actually reinforce most, they say competitiveness and the importance of winning.
The article goes on to describe the efforts of the Positive Coaching Alliance in the United States to redefine the goals of minor sports in the United States.
The P.C.A. has worked with 1,700 youth sports organizations to train about 450,000 coaches, parents and youth sports leaders who reach some 4 million children. The organization provides teaching tools that help coaches redefine the idea of “winning” from something that is reflected on a scoreboard to something that is reflected in a child’s character.
These articles are well worth reading.