Coaching Youth Sports and the Characteristics that make a Great Coach: Part 1

To everyone of you who have ever took the initiative, put in the hard work, and put in the many hours volunteering your time and resources, in order to get involved in helping our young men and women in youth sports, I would like to say thank you.

The following is the first of a three part series that contains a list of characteristics which the coaches at Simply Youth Basketball believe to be of the most importance when trying to determine what it is that makes a great coach. This list has no particular order in terms of one being more valuable than the other, as we truly feel that each is an asset and is of equal importance. It is our sincere hope to help youth coaches everywhere be the best that they can be, and in so doing, to help our young people be their best too!

For many of us the job of being put in a position of authority of others children, and the responsibility that comes with this to teach them the necessary skills they need, is very often a daunting and scary task.

But it is a task that we take willingly and bravely nonetheless.

What makes a great coach great? It is a mixture of many things. We are going to look into some of the characteristics and qualities that are part of the make-up of a successful coach. When I use the word successful, in no way am I referring strictly to it in the sense of the number of wins or losses a coach has. Being a great coach, especially at the youth level is so much more than this. I firmly believe in the concept or teaching our kids to strive to win, but not at any cost. Wins, in my opinion, are only an outward result, and do not represent the overall good that a coach has accomplished in a child’s life. So what is it you ask?

A great coach must:

Be patient

We all know that our young people, just by their nature, are high maintenance. And we also expect them to have times where they are inattentive or distracted. There are times where their minds seem to be in a whole other world from the present. And if we were honest with ourselves, especially us men who were once boys, we would have to admit that we have been there too. So to allow us to be able to keep some semblance of sanity, and continue to help them, we must learn to be patient. If we don’t then our time as a coach will become a miserable exercise in futility, and we will find that our tenure in this position will be an unpleasant one. Will we want to pull our hair out sometimes? Yes! Will there be times when a new coach throws their hands up in the air ready to call it quits? Of Course! But does it have to stay this way? Not at all! We only have to realize that it takes a lot to keep children interested, and occupied in today’s society, and learn the ways which are best to do this. Tips on how best accomplish this include: Keeping them busy, making sure they have some fun, and earning their respect so that they will desire to listen.

Care for their players

Any coach who is worth anything must possess this trait. If a coach does not have a genuine concern and interest in the lives and issues that face the players in his/her care, then they should surely find something else to occupy their time. They do not need to be coaching! Kids are gifted with a much keener sense of honesty and decency than we adults do. What this means is that they are able to smell a rat from a mile away. And if they ever believe that this is you, then you will get very little from them. And on that note we will move on.

Show fairness

Many leagues throughout the country require that players on youth teams get a specific amount of playing time in each game. And this is a noble deed. But there are a lot of leagues which are very competitive, which do not have these requirements. What does a coach do in this situation? Plainly put, they do the best they can. Most of us want every player on our teams to play as much as possible. But this doesn’t always happen. So what is the answer? First, a coach must make every effort to play their second and third strings every chance they get. A coach in this position must let it be known up front that it is possible that not every child will get an equal amount of playing time. That way there is no blame later down the road. Also, they must help the kids understand that they will do their best to make this happen, and that in the case that it does not in a particular game, that he/she will make up for it at the first available opportunity. One season there were no dominant teams in our community. It just so happened that this was an odd year where every game seemed to be very close, and one team could beat another on any given day. What this made for was a lot of close games. I found myself torn between winning, which was expected of us, and trying to play all fifteen of my players. It was really bothering me. So I went to an older man who had been involved in sports at all levels for years and told him my dilemma, asking him for advice. His words to me were, “These kids understand more than the coaches or their parents give them credit for. It is the parents who can’t figure it out.” He went on, “These kids know who needs to be out there on that court in those situations, of course they all want to play, but they know what the goal is, and they know who the best players are.” This gave me some peace anyway.

Never show favoritism to a player because of their talent or ability, or lack thereof. If a player is good and does wrong, he/she should suffer the same consequences as your less talented players. Yes…even if it means losing a game! And likewise, if a player that is not so good does something wrong, he/she should also face the same consequence as anyone else. They should never be given special treatment because of their inexperience, inability, or out of pity. Pity in this form is a breeding ground for failure. Each and every child from the least to the greatest should be held to the same standard. No exceptions. This is right and fair, and if you follow this advice, though you may seem hard at times, you will gain your teams respect. This brings us to our next must do, which is totally dependent on your caring and fairness.

Demand respect

A coach whose players do not respect him/her will never get to see the maximum results that their team can achieve. Why? The answer is nothing more than if a group of young people do not respect the authority of their leader, and find them trustworthy, then they will not put forth their best effort. Although respect for authority in anything should be a common teaching for today’s children, how can one give this to someone who is wholly undeserving. Therefore a coach must earn his/her teams respect. If the young people know that you care, and are fair, and have come to respect you, there is nothing that you ask of them that they will not be willing to do.

In Part 2 of Characteristics of a Great Coach we will be looking at four more noteworthy qualities that all great coaches possess. Enjoy!