Changing the culture of youth sports
By Travis Chaney For the Messenger-Inquirer
People often discuss the culture of youth sports and how it needs to change. If you have been reading this column, you hopefully see this as my mission. But before we talk about changing the youth sports culture, let's clearly define the word culture as it pertains to youth sports.
Culture represents the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of a youth sports organization. Culture includes a youth sports organization's expectations, experiences, philosophy and values that hold it together, and is expressed in its self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world (i.e. parents, players) and future expectations. It is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid.
Culture is shown in the ways the youth sports organization conducts its business and treats its parents, players and the community in which it operates. Internally, the youth sports culture is revealed in the extent to which freedom is allowed in decision-making, developing new ideas and personal expression. Culture also expresses itself in how power and information flow through the organization's hierarchy, and how committed board members and volunteers are towards collective objectives.
What is the current culture in youth sports? One writer, Jonathan Mahler, says our youth sports culture is "sick" and very much broken. Mahler justifies this term by pointing out that 21 states have created specific laws addressing assaults on officials. He goes on to say the conventional diagnosis of the illness has it backward: the problem isn't that we take youth sports too seriously. It's that we don't take them seriously enough. As a result, we're producing bad citizens and bad athletes.
From Mahler's perspective, kids haven't been taught to respect the games they're playing. Parents haven't been told to stop interfering and let the coaches do their job.
One of our local high school football coaches recently shared survey results from the NFL Director of Player Development, who polled 2,200 high school football coaches across the nation. The results revealed the following information from the coaches:
Two-thirds say the current culture doesn't support the values they are trying to instill in players
Sixty percent say they can't find enough qualified coaches
Seventy-five percent say there is either too much or not enough parental involvement
The most universal concern from the above data is that the current culture doesn't support the values coaches are trying to teach players that apply to life beyond the football field. I believe this could be said about any sport, not just football.
Too much or not enough parental involvement is easy to explain. The "too much" stems from parents not supporting the coach, therefore causing trouble for the coach and the team with parental disruptions. The "not enough" relates directly to parents not caring enough to properly support their kids in football and in school.
Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL player, pastor and founder of Coach for America, has devoted his life to fighting adult-centric behavior and making youth sports and coaching a positive experience for children. In a recent interview Joe said, "My belief is that while youth sports originated to train, nurture and guide children into adulthood, many programs/coaches are using them to meet the needs of adults at the expense of kids. Sports should be a tool to help children become whole and healthy adults who can build relationships and contribute as citizens, but the social contract between adults protecting and providing for the needs of children [instead of their own needs] is broken."
In order to restore the youth sports contract between adults and children so that adults are providing for children's needs instead of their own, we must take youth sports more seriously. Contrary to what most adults think, taking youth sports more seriously doesn't mean a stronger emphasis on winning,.
In order to get more serious, youth sports board members need to clearly define the culture of their organizations. Mission statements need to be written (or rewritten) stating the organization's purpose in serving kids. Boards needs to articulate the values, expectations and principles of the organizations so that adults understand what guidelines to follow. Once the mission and expectations are designed around kids, every policy and action needs to be tested against these important items. If a bylaw, rule and/or guideline is disconnected to serving kids, it must go. If adults don't follow the mission statement, then they need to be reprimanded and their behaviors need to be corrected.
Board members should also be bold enough to let adults go who consistently give "black eyes" to youth sports with their adult-centered behavior. It's the right thing to do.
One mentor of mine told me it's one thing to talk about the values you represent. It's another thing to live and model them. Adults need to live and model the values that serve the children the best.
There are several quality individuals leading and participating in youth sports with a Kidcentric attitude in our community. To restore the youth sports contract that is currently broken, we need more adults who are willing to model kid-focused leadership and emphasize serving children. The kids in our community deserve the best youth sports culture we can provide.
By Travis Chaney For the Messenger-Inquirer
People often discuss the culture of youth sports and how it needs to change. If you have been reading this column, you hopefully see this as my mission. But before we talk about changing the youth sports culture, let's clearly define the word culture as it pertains to youth sports.
Culture represents the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of a youth sports organization. Culture includes a youth sports organization's expectations, experiences, philosophy and values that hold it together, and is expressed in its self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world (i.e. parents, players) and future expectations. It is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid.
Culture is shown in the ways the youth sports organization conducts its business and treats its parents, players and the community in which it operates. Internally, the youth sports culture is revealed in the extent to which freedom is allowed in decision-making, developing new ideas and personal expression. Culture also expresses itself in how power and information flow through the organization's hierarchy, and how committed board members and volunteers are towards collective objectives.
What is the current culture in youth sports? One writer, Jonathan Mahler, says our youth sports culture is "sick" and very much broken. Mahler justifies this term by pointing out that 21 states have created specific laws addressing assaults on officials. He goes on to say the conventional diagnosis of the illness has it backward: the problem isn't that we take youth sports too seriously. It's that we don't take them seriously enough. As a result, we're producing bad citizens and bad athletes.
From Mahler's perspective, kids haven't been taught to respect the games they're playing. Parents haven't been told to stop interfering and let the coaches do their job.
One of our local high school football coaches recently shared survey results from the NFL Director of Player Development, who polled 2,200 high school football coaches across the nation. The results revealed the following information from the coaches:
Two-thirds say the current culture doesn't support the values they are trying to instill in players
Sixty percent say they can't find enough qualified coaches
Seventy-five percent say there is either too much or not enough parental involvement
The most universal concern from the above data is that the current culture doesn't support the values coaches are trying to teach players that apply to life beyond the football field. I believe this could be said about any sport, not just football.
Too much or not enough parental involvement is easy to explain. The "too much" stems from parents not supporting the coach, therefore causing trouble for the coach and the team with parental disruptions. The "not enough" relates directly to parents not caring enough to properly support their kids in football and in school.
Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL player, pastor and founder of Coach for America, has devoted his life to fighting adult-centric behavior and making youth sports and coaching a positive experience for children. In a recent interview Joe said, "My belief is that while youth sports originated to train, nurture and guide children into adulthood, many programs/coaches are using them to meet the needs of adults at the expense of kids. Sports should be a tool to help children become whole and healthy adults who can build relationships and contribute as citizens, but the social contract between adults protecting and providing for the needs of children [instead of their own needs] is broken."
In order to restore the youth sports contract between adults and children so that adults are providing for children's needs instead of their own, we must take youth sports more seriously. Contrary to what most adults think, taking youth sports more seriously doesn't mean a stronger emphasis on winning,.
In order to get more serious, youth sports board members need to clearly define the culture of their organizations. Mission statements need to be written (or rewritten) stating the organization's purpose in serving kids. Boards needs to articulate the values, expectations and principles of the organizations so that adults understand what guidelines to follow. Once the mission and expectations are designed around kids, every policy and action needs to be tested against these important items. If a bylaw, rule and/or guideline is disconnected to serving kids, it must go. If adults don't follow the mission statement, then they need to be reprimanded and their behaviors need to be corrected.
Board members should also be bold enough to let adults go who consistently give "black eyes" to youth sports with their adult-centered behavior. It's the right thing to do.
One mentor of mine told me it's one thing to talk about the values you represent. It's another thing to live and model them. Adults need to live and model the values that serve the children the best.
There are several quality individuals leading and participating in youth sports with a Kidcentric attitude in our community. To restore the youth sports contract that is currently broken, we need more adults who are willing to model kid-focused leadership and emphasize serving children. The kids in our community deserve the best youth sports culture we can provide.
Good team members are needed on and off the field
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published Mondays in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
September 13, 2014
By Travis Chaney
What does it take to be a good team member? Finding and maintaining quality team members for the workforce is a top priority for most businesses. The positive traits companies look for in an employee are being taught in sports every day. On the flip side, the harmful characteristics business don't want in their organizations are being instilled in sports participation every day, too.
As adults, we can easily get caught up in the excitement of watching our kids compete in sports without taking advantage of the valuable insights and teaching moments that reach far beyond the playing field. The messaging, beliefs and behaviors taught in sports carry on with a child all the way through adulthood.
Grownups should pay more attention to the philosophies and belief patterns being formed in youth sports than the actual physical activity of sports. Don't get me wrong – you should cheer loudly when your child does something really good on the field. Conversely, when there is a teachable moment in a game, emphasize this instance as much as the applause for performing well in the game.
What are some of the negative lessons a child can learn from adults? When a parent blames a loss on the coach or other players on the team, a child is learning very quickly not to accept any responsibility for a negative outcome. The truth is that every person on the team shares the responsibility for the outcome of a game – win or lose. Teaching kids not to accept their role in a loss only sets them up for failure later on in life when adversity occurs.
What happens to people in the business world who continue to "pass the buck" when errors occur in their own job or department? This behavior will eventually catch up to them and result in little to no advancement or even in termination. As adults, we should be teaching our kids to take responsibility for their own behavior and contributions to both positive and negative outcomes rather than letting them immediately blame others at the first sign of trouble.
At the same time, in a winning situation we should be teaching how all teammates contributed to the win. Focusing solely on what one child did to contribute without mention of teammates places him or her on a path to become an individual.
One of the oldest clichés in sports holds true here: "There is no ‘I' in team." In the workforce, no one likes to be around the people who think and act only for themselves with no consideration of their colleagues. Yet you can see this type of behavior show up on the sidelines of sporting events every weekend as parents teach their kids to focus only on their performance with no consideration for others.
Adults should be asking their children questions like these after practices and games:
Did you do your job today and follow through on what the coach asked you to do?
What did you do really well and have the most fun with?
What are some things you can improve on?
How did you contribute to the team?
What can you do to help the team meet its goals?
What did you sacrifice (i.e. do something you didn't want to do) in order to help the team?
Parents can use the answers they get to help shape their child's character as they teach them how to exhibit the qualities of a good team member. This is the kind of parenting that makes a positive, long-lasting impression on a child.
If an individual wishes to benefit from being on a team, he or she must first learn to give to the team. This is not the same as giving back. Giving back insinuates that you got something in return for the act of giving. Giving should be giving for giving's sake with no expectation of gaining something in return.
Successful teams and coaches develop each player and in turn, expect the player to respond by doing their part to help develop the team. Individual sacrifices on behalf of the team are just as much a part of the team environment as the team's accommodation of the individual. This philosophy translates effectively in avenues outside of sports, as well.
Coaches and parents need to teach kids to help their other teammates. A team is like a village. Players need to work at it together in order to maximize the village (team) potential. Kids don't need to be taught by grownups to be the "village idiot" by acting disrespectful, whining, complaining, moaning and taking a selfish approach to the game.
At some point, kids' athletic careers will be over. Aside from the memories, they will absorb exactly what adults teach them – this will bleed over to everything else they do. Parents should take a more proactive role in teaching life lessons through their kid's youth sports environment. This will aid in their own legacy as they strive to produce responsible adults who care as much about the people around them as they do themselves.
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published Mondays in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
September 13, 2014
By Travis Chaney
What does it take to be a good team member? Finding and maintaining quality team members for the workforce is a top priority for most businesses. The positive traits companies look for in an employee are being taught in sports every day. On the flip side, the harmful characteristics business don't want in their organizations are being instilled in sports participation every day, too.
As adults, we can easily get caught up in the excitement of watching our kids compete in sports without taking advantage of the valuable insights and teaching moments that reach far beyond the playing field. The messaging, beliefs and behaviors taught in sports carry on with a child all the way through adulthood.
Grownups should pay more attention to the philosophies and belief patterns being formed in youth sports than the actual physical activity of sports. Don't get me wrong – you should cheer loudly when your child does something really good on the field. Conversely, when there is a teachable moment in a game, emphasize this instance as much as the applause for performing well in the game.
What are some of the negative lessons a child can learn from adults? When a parent blames a loss on the coach or other players on the team, a child is learning very quickly not to accept any responsibility for a negative outcome. The truth is that every person on the team shares the responsibility for the outcome of a game – win or lose. Teaching kids not to accept their role in a loss only sets them up for failure later on in life when adversity occurs.
What happens to people in the business world who continue to "pass the buck" when errors occur in their own job or department? This behavior will eventually catch up to them and result in little to no advancement or even in termination. As adults, we should be teaching our kids to take responsibility for their own behavior and contributions to both positive and negative outcomes rather than letting them immediately blame others at the first sign of trouble.
At the same time, in a winning situation we should be teaching how all teammates contributed to the win. Focusing solely on what one child did to contribute without mention of teammates places him or her on a path to become an individual.
One of the oldest clichés in sports holds true here: "There is no ‘I' in team." In the workforce, no one likes to be around the people who think and act only for themselves with no consideration of their colleagues. Yet you can see this type of behavior show up on the sidelines of sporting events every weekend as parents teach their kids to focus only on their performance with no consideration for others.
Adults should be asking their children questions like these after practices and games:
Did you do your job today and follow through on what the coach asked you to do?
What did you do really well and have the most fun with?
What are some things you can improve on?
How did you contribute to the team?
What can you do to help the team meet its goals?
What did you sacrifice (i.e. do something you didn't want to do) in order to help the team?
Parents can use the answers they get to help shape their child's character as they teach them how to exhibit the qualities of a good team member. This is the kind of parenting that makes a positive, long-lasting impression on a child.
If an individual wishes to benefit from being on a team, he or she must first learn to give to the team. This is not the same as giving back. Giving back insinuates that you got something in return for the act of giving. Giving should be giving for giving's sake with no expectation of gaining something in return.
Successful teams and coaches develop each player and in turn, expect the player to respond by doing their part to help develop the team. Individual sacrifices on behalf of the team are just as much a part of the team environment as the team's accommodation of the individual. This philosophy translates effectively in avenues outside of sports, as well.
Coaches and parents need to teach kids to help their other teammates. A team is like a village. Players need to work at it together in order to maximize the village (team) potential. Kids don't need to be taught by grownups to be the "village idiot" by acting disrespectful, whining, complaining, moaning and taking a selfish approach to the game.
At some point, kids' athletic careers will be over. Aside from the memories, they will absorb exactly what adults teach them – this will bleed over to everything else they do. Parents should take a more proactive role in teaching life lessons through their kid's youth sports environment. This will aid in their own legacy as they strive to produce responsible adults who care as much about the people around them as they do themselves.
Hail to the Team Mom in youth sports
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
August 18, 2014
By Travis Chaney
Team moms hold important responsibilities, and I want to call attention to these often-unnoticed sports heroes. I declare today to be National Team Mom Day. By the way, if you are a dad who plays the role of team parent (the politically correct term), this newly created holiday is for you, too. Gift shops are going to explode with an overrun of selling cards, gifts and customized balloons to honor these special ladies (after everyone catches on, of course).
Seriously though, team moms may never score the winning run, block a game-winning shot or make that game-saving tackle, but they are practice-driving, snack-delivering, practice-organizing, uniform-washing, reminder-sending and picture-taking moms that deserve a tremendous amount of credit for their dedication to their team.
Team moms play a significant role in keeping every sports family together — they have become an integral part of the culture of sports. In a college athletic program, these leaders would be considered the Director of Operations. As a volunteer coach, I rely heavily on them to help run the team off the field, which allows my coaches and me to dedicate as much energy as possible to coaching the kids.
The Director of Operations organizes the snack schedule (first things first!), collects money for team parties, gathers coaches gifts, handles photo day, runs the fundraising efforts, coordinates volunteers for concessions and working the gate, assists in facilitating communication among the families, and even occasionally keeps stats and calls scores into the newspaper. Team moms often advocate for their coaches, the sport and the team they support, all while breaking in new sports families.
When it comes to playing the Director of Operations, I encourage team moms to divide responsibilities among each of the families on the team, with the team mom in charge of ensuring each of the critical tasks gets done. This approach takes the pressure of doing everything herself off the team mom. Sharing responsibilities creates an environment where everyone takes a little ownership in the administration of the team. This creates a sense of "team" and gives each family more of a vested interest in a season.
Another valuable role of the team mom that can be delegated or shared by other parents is making the experience in the stands upbeat and full of encouragement for all the kids participating in a game. Creating a positive youth sports culture involves not only the coaches and athletes, but also parents and fans. That's where team moms come in. One of their jobs is to spread the good word to parents and fans on the sidelines about maintaining a positive, infectious attitude while ensuring everyone is cheering for both sides.
One local league values team moms so much they offer training by having a Team Mom Coordinator on their board. This valuable resource is the "go to" person for the entire league of team moms to ensure all of the league requirements are completed by each team.
One national organization, USA Football, agrees with me about the vital position team moms play in youth sports. USA Football will select 100 outstanding football team moms from across the country and award them a Team Mom t-shirt, cooler bag, game day accessory kit and a $20 gift card from a national pharmacy chain. Ten finalists will be selected by an online vote to compete for the Team Mom of the Year Award, which includes a $5,000 equipment grant, a $500 spa gift certificate and a Team Mom of the Year jersey. Each of the 10 finalists also will receive a $1,000 equipment grant as well as a $100 gift card from a national sports store chain.
All these contributions by the team mom simply make the coach's job easier. Freeing up the coach's time to plan a practice, handle pre-game warm ups and post-game talks can only benefit the players. Rather than handling the operational logistics of a team, the coach can actually coach. Coaches coaching more should produce better results for the kids in the area of learning fundamentals, building team chemistry and generating fun.
There are not many things that can make a youth sports coach job any easier than a great team mom. Considering my declaration for National Team Mom Day was given on such short notice, I am extending this holiday over the next week so everyone involved can give praise and thanks for these often-forgotten heroes. I am so grateful for all of the team moms who volunteer in every sport to help provide an exceptional on-the-field experience for kids.
August 18, 2014
By Travis Chaney
Team moms hold important responsibilities, and I want to call attention to these often-unnoticed sports heroes. I declare today to be National Team Mom Day. By the way, if you are a dad who plays the role of team parent (the politically correct term), this newly created holiday is for you, too. Gift shops are going to explode with an overrun of selling cards, gifts and customized balloons to honor these special ladies (after everyone catches on, of course).
Seriously though, team moms may never score the winning run, block a game-winning shot or make that game-saving tackle, but they are practice-driving, snack-delivering, practice-organizing, uniform-washing, reminder-sending and picture-taking moms that deserve a tremendous amount of credit for their dedication to their team.
Team moms play a significant role in keeping every sports family together — they have become an integral part of the culture of sports. In a college athletic program, these leaders would be considered the Director of Operations. As a volunteer coach, I rely heavily on them to help run the team off the field, which allows my coaches and me to dedicate as much energy as possible to coaching the kids.
The Director of Operations organizes the snack schedule (first things first!), collects money for team parties, gathers coaches gifts, handles photo day, runs the fundraising efforts, coordinates volunteers for concessions and working the gate, assists in facilitating communication among the families, and even occasionally keeps stats and calls scores into the newspaper. Team moms often advocate for their coaches, the sport and the team they support, all while breaking in new sports families.
When it comes to playing the Director of Operations, I encourage team moms to divide responsibilities among each of the families on the team, with the team mom in charge of ensuring each of the critical tasks gets done. This approach takes the pressure of doing everything herself off the team mom. Sharing responsibilities creates an environment where everyone takes a little ownership in the administration of the team. This creates a sense of "team" and gives each family more of a vested interest in a season.
Another valuable role of the team mom that can be delegated or shared by other parents is making the experience in the stands upbeat and full of encouragement for all the kids participating in a game. Creating a positive youth sports culture involves not only the coaches and athletes, but also parents and fans. That's where team moms come in. One of their jobs is to spread the good word to parents and fans on the sidelines about maintaining a positive, infectious attitude while ensuring everyone is cheering for both sides.
One local league values team moms so much they offer training by having a Team Mom Coordinator on their board. This valuable resource is the "go to" person for the entire league of team moms to ensure all of the league requirements are completed by each team.
One national organization, USA Football, agrees with me about the vital position team moms play in youth sports. USA Football will select 100 outstanding football team moms from across the country and award them a Team Mom t-shirt, cooler bag, game day accessory kit and a $20 gift card from a national pharmacy chain. Ten finalists will be selected by an online vote to compete for the Team Mom of the Year Award, which includes a $5,000 equipment grant, a $500 spa gift certificate and a Team Mom of the Year jersey. Each of the 10 finalists also will receive a $1,000 equipment grant as well as a $100 gift card from a national sports store chain.
All these contributions by the team mom simply make the coach's job easier. Freeing up the coach's time to plan a practice, handle pre-game warm ups and post-game talks can only benefit the players. Rather than handling the operational logistics of a team, the coach can actually coach. Coaches coaching more should produce better results for the kids in the area of learning fundamentals, building team chemistry and generating fun.
There are not many things that can make a youth sports coach job any easier than a great team mom. Considering my declaration for National Team Mom Day was given on such short notice, I am extending this holiday over the next week so everyone involved can give praise and thanks for these often-forgotten heroes. I am so grateful for all of the team moms who volunteer in every sport to help provide an exceptional on-the-field experience for kids.
Why do I write this column?
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
August 4, 2014
By Travis Chaney
After almost every article I write, people will send emails, post on Facebook and stop me where I work out to discuss the content. I enjoy hearing the feedback and carrying on the discussion with others beyond the written page. After all, one of my primary missions with this column is to start conversations about enhancing youth sports in our community. I am grateful to the Messenger-Inquirer for allowing me this space to keep the dialogue going.
Many of you ask why I write these articles. The formation of Kidcentric Sports a few years back really started as a selfish journey that continues through this column. I didn’t like the type of coach I was becoming as I coached my son in flag football. I found myself taking coaching and winning too seriously. My wife first brought this to my attention, and discussions with others validated her observation. I saw a lot of bad relationships between fathers and sons due to a misguided view of sports from adults. My relationship with my son (and now my daughter) means too much to me to allow sports to become a divider instead of a uniter. I decided to lay out a path to become a different coach even though I didn’t know what that meant at the time. I just knew I didn’t want to be that dad who was always upset with his son because the son didn’t meet unrealistic expectations about winning and performing at a high level at all times.
I began a learning journey of reading many books, watching a lot of videos, and initiating thought-provoking discussions with coaches who modeled the outlook I wanted. The learning moved from theory to action to results as my coaching expanded to baseball, soccer and basketball. I quickly found that focusing on fun and fundamentals while building friendships and relationships made for a much more enjoyable experience for everyone – including me. A nice byproduct to this new methodology is that it also helps players win on the scoreboard. More importantly, kids continue to sign up from one season to the next.
So why do I write these articles? First, to remind me of what is important from a kid’s perspective and to help me coach in a manner that strengthens my relationship with my own kids. Ask any parent who has coached their kid and they will tell you it can get difficult at times. I want to avoid that as much as possible. Second, I strive to provide a positive memorable experience for all kids in youth sports.
I wish I could tell you that I have mastered everything that I recommend through this column. The truth is I have failed at times, and I will fail in the future. Life teaches us that perfection is difficult and unrealistic, but the times I fail to meet my own expectations present tremendous learning opportunities. Growth in any endeavor doesn’t come without failure, along with the discomfort tied to change.
For example I love winning and don’t like to lose. Even though I place little emphasis on winning a game with the players and parents, it doesn’t mean I don’t prepare kids to win on the field and don’t get upset when our teams lose.
What this youth sports journey continues to teach me is how to learn from losing and failure. Life will not always cooperate with us, and the better we get at handling adversity, the better we will be as humans.
Youth sports also teaches me to pay close attention to the meaningful victories beyond the scoreboard. For example, when a kid returns to play the next season because he had an awesome experience, when a kid performs better in the classroom due to my encouragement, when a kid does something athletically he has never done before due to a lot of focused practice time, and when a father cheers his son instead of berating him for his performance on the field due to my influence – all of these matter more now than any victory. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to say that.
People have made the observation that I am an expert in youth sports. I am flattered and humbled by these comments, but I am quick to point out that I am no expert. After working in the consulting business for almost 20 years in my professional life, I know what it takes to be properly labeled an expert. Playing a volunteer coach 400 hours per year for the last five years doesn’t give me the breadth and depth to even begin to call myself an expert.
What I do have is a passion to help kids succeed by using the platform of sports to teach valuable life lessons. Setting up high expectations for everyone to follow (including me) in youth sports is not always easy. My intention is to continue to get better with every practice and game while learning as much from my mistakes as I do from the successes.
Learning and growing as a parent is a top priority for me, and being a youth coach is an extension of parenting. Writing this column helps me chart out the course I want to follow to achieve my very personal objectives. Along the way, if I can help a few folks reframe their view of sports to be more Kidcentric, then I will feel even better about my mission.
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
August 4, 2014
By Travis Chaney
After almost every article I write, people will send emails, post on Facebook and stop me where I work out to discuss the content. I enjoy hearing the feedback and carrying on the discussion with others beyond the written page. After all, one of my primary missions with this column is to start conversations about enhancing youth sports in our community. I am grateful to the Messenger-Inquirer for allowing me this space to keep the dialogue going.
Many of you ask why I write these articles. The formation of Kidcentric Sports a few years back really started as a selfish journey that continues through this column. I didn’t like the type of coach I was becoming as I coached my son in flag football. I found myself taking coaching and winning too seriously. My wife first brought this to my attention, and discussions with others validated her observation. I saw a lot of bad relationships between fathers and sons due to a misguided view of sports from adults. My relationship with my son (and now my daughter) means too much to me to allow sports to become a divider instead of a uniter. I decided to lay out a path to become a different coach even though I didn’t know what that meant at the time. I just knew I didn’t want to be that dad who was always upset with his son because the son didn’t meet unrealistic expectations about winning and performing at a high level at all times.
I began a learning journey of reading many books, watching a lot of videos, and initiating thought-provoking discussions with coaches who modeled the outlook I wanted. The learning moved from theory to action to results as my coaching expanded to baseball, soccer and basketball. I quickly found that focusing on fun and fundamentals while building friendships and relationships made for a much more enjoyable experience for everyone – including me. A nice byproduct to this new methodology is that it also helps players win on the scoreboard. More importantly, kids continue to sign up from one season to the next.
So why do I write these articles? First, to remind me of what is important from a kid’s perspective and to help me coach in a manner that strengthens my relationship with my own kids. Ask any parent who has coached their kid and they will tell you it can get difficult at times. I want to avoid that as much as possible. Second, I strive to provide a positive memorable experience for all kids in youth sports.
I wish I could tell you that I have mastered everything that I recommend through this column. The truth is I have failed at times, and I will fail in the future. Life teaches us that perfection is difficult and unrealistic, but the times I fail to meet my own expectations present tremendous learning opportunities. Growth in any endeavor doesn’t come without failure, along with the discomfort tied to change.
For example I love winning and don’t like to lose. Even though I place little emphasis on winning a game with the players and parents, it doesn’t mean I don’t prepare kids to win on the field and don’t get upset when our teams lose.
What this youth sports journey continues to teach me is how to learn from losing and failure. Life will not always cooperate with us, and the better we get at handling adversity, the better we will be as humans.
Youth sports also teaches me to pay close attention to the meaningful victories beyond the scoreboard. For example, when a kid returns to play the next season because he had an awesome experience, when a kid performs better in the classroom due to my encouragement, when a kid does something athletically he has never done before due to a lot of focused practice time, and when a father cheers his son instead of berating him for his performance on the field due to my influence – all of these matter more now than any victory. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to say that.
People have made the observation that I am an expert in youth sports. I am flattered and humbled by these comments, but I am quick to point out that I am no expert. After working in the consulting business for almost 20 years in my professional life, I know what it takes to be properly labeled an expert. Playing a volunteer coach 400 hours per year for the last five years doesn’t give me the breadth and depth to even begin to call myself an expert.
What I do have is a passion to help kids succeed by using the platform of sports to teach valuable life lessons. Setting up high expectations for everyone to follow (including me) in youth sports is not always easy. My intention is to continue to get better with every practice and game while learning as much from my mistakes as I do from the successes.
Learning and growing as a parent is a top priority for me, and being a youth coach is an extension of parenting. Writing this column helps me chart out the course I want to follow to achieve my very personal objectives. Along the way, if I can help a few folks reframe their view of sports to be more Kidcentric, then I will feel even better about my mission.
Being happy in youth sports comes down to a choice
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
July 21, 2014
By Travis Chaney
Everyday life and the business world have both taught me there are countless choices in life. In fact, we can often get very confused with the many choices available. What pundit to listen to, who to follow politically, which show to watch, what station to listen to, what team to call your favorite, and the selections go on and on.
I present to you one choice that really matters: Do you want to be happy or not? Once you make the choice to be happy, your path through life becomes clearer. In life, what you choose is what you get. Choosing to employ a positive attitude and focusing on being happy is a choice we have every day no matter the events and circumstances.
The objective is to be happy without qualifying it. For example, in youth sports you can’t say “Of course I want to be happy, but not if …”
Be careful not to qualify happiness by starting with the statement “I will be happy when …”
In other words, choose to be happy about your kid’s team and individual performance no matter the outcome. Winning is a luxury in youth sports, and more importantly, winning is a secondary goal compared to the primary objectives of having fun, learning fundamentals, being a part of a team and making new friends. Besides, what are you going to do until the things happen that will cause happiness? Be miserable?
When it comes to sports, too many people tie their happiness to the outcomes of sporting events and/or individual performances. Look at the mayhem the Brazil National Soccer team caused with its own fans by losing 7-1 to Germany and then falling to the Dutch in the World Cup. Who knows how long it will be before Brazil soccer fans return to a state of happiness – it doesn’t appear to be anytime soon, and their happiness will only be tied to winning. Brazilian fans are firmly entrenched in applying conditional happiness with their national soccer team.
The sting of a tough loss can linger for a while, and as athletes progress to elite and professional levels, winning and losing takes on a new meaning. Players get paid based on their performance. Coaches keep or lose their jobs based on their team’s won-loss record.
But in youth sports, which continues to head down the destructive path of professionalization, volunteer coaches and parents desperately need to practice unconditional happiness. Parents often act like their kids are collecting a paycheck for playing. Some coaches think their won-loss record from season to season serves as an audition for a ticket to a paid coaching gig. When we buy the best equipment, spend excess dollars on uniforms and hire coaches and trainers for 8-year olds, the pressure to win and perform mounts very early. There is a notion that if a kid looks and trains like a professional athlete, his or her skill set should match that of a professional. This unrealistic outlook ends up hurting kids when parents expect more out of children than their age and maturity will allow. Children are not miniature adults. Taking systems designed for adults and simply shrinking them down to apply to children is not healthy for their development.
My suspicion is most sane adults would agree with the differentiation between professional and youth sports. Yet, why do our actions toward kids in youth sports so often match our expectations for professional athletes?
Did you win? What was the score? What place did you get? Did you make the All-Star team? Are you trying for a scholarship? The Olympics? These are the questions that many well-meaning adults ask kids playing sports.
If adults want to walk the talk about their kids truly being kids in youth sports, it really comes down to answering this question:
Do you want to be happy from this point forward regardless of what happens with your kid’s teams and individual play?
Practicing unconditional happiness doesn’t mean kids will escape setbacks, losing streaks, slumps, bad breaks, poor coaching and not-so-talented teams in their sports career. Life will not always cooperate with them in sports and, for that matter, any other endeavor. Practicing unconditional happiness also doesn’t mean you won’t feel for your kids when sports don’t produce the desired results.
For kids, the purpose of participating in sports is to enjoy and learn from their experiences. When parents and coaches neglect this outlook, kids lose. Kids learn from the modeled behavior of adults. If a parent consistently illustrates they can’t let losses or bad performances go, kids will adopt the same unhealthy philosophy.
When parents and coaches approach sports in a state of happiness, their hearts will be open to build stronger relationships with kids, and their minds will be open to all of the learning opportunities sports can offer. Adults should stop trying to turn their kids into professionals at an early age. Putting unconditional happiness into play means you won’t let the outcome of a game or performance affect your behavior toward kids in a negative way. Practicing unconditional happiness means you will set proper expectations for your kids based on what they want out of sports – not you. Choose to be happy!
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
July 21, 2014
By Travis Chaney
Everyday life and the business world have both taught me there are countless choices in life. In fact, we can often get very confused with the many choices available. What pundit to listen to, who to follow politically, which show to watch, what station to listen to, what team to call your favorite, and the selections go on and on.
I present to you one choice that really matters: Do you want to be happy or not? Once you make the choice to be happy, your path through life becomes clearer. In life, what you choose is what you get. Choosing to employ a positive attitude and focusing on being happy is a choice we have every day no matter the events and circumstances.
The objective is to be happy without qualifying it. For example, in youth sports you can’t say “Of course I want to be happy, but not if …”
- My kid strikes out more than once
- My kid fouls out of the game
- My kid doesn’t score
- My kid’s team finishes below .500
Be careful not to qualify happiness by starting with the statement “I will be happy when …”
- My kid’s team wins a championship
- My kid goes 4-4 at the plate
- My kid scores three goals in a game
- My kid grabs 10 rebounds per game
In other words, choose to be happy about your kid’s team and individual performance no matter the outcome. Winning is a luxury in youth sports, and more importantly, winning is a secondary goal compared to the primary objectives of having fun, learning fundamentals, being a part of a team and making new friends. Besides, what are you going to do until the things happen that will cause happiness? Be miserable?
When it comes to sports, too many people tie their happiness to the outcomes of sporting events and/or individual performances. Look at the mayhem the Brazil National Soccer team caused with its own fans by losing 7-1 to Germany and then falling to the Dutch in the World Cup. Who knows how long it will be before Brazil soccer fans return to a state of happiness – it doesn’t appear to be anytime soon, and their happiness will only be tied to winning. Brazilian fans are firmly entrenched in applying conditional happiness with their national soccer team.
The sting of a tough loss can linger for a while, and as athletes progress to elite and professional levels, winning and losing takes on a new meaning. Players get paid based on their performance. Coaches keep or lose their jobs based on their team’s won-loss record.
But in youth sports, which continues to head down the destructive path of professionalization, volunteer coaches and parents desperately need to practice unconditional happiness. Parents often act like their kids are collecting a paycheck for playing. Some coaches think their won-loss record from season to season serves as an audition for a ticket to a paid coaching gig. When we buy the best equipment, spend excess dollars on uniforms and hire coaches and trainers for 8-year olds, the pressure to win and perform mounts very early. There is a notion that if a kid looks and trains like a professional athlete, his or her skill set should match that of a professional. This unrealistic outlook ends up hurting kids when parents expect more out of children than their age and maturity will allow. Children are not miniature adults. Taking systems designed for adults and simply shrinking them down to apply to children is not healthy for their development.
My suspicion is most sane adults would agree with the differentiation between professional and youth sports. Yet, why do our actions toward kids in youth sports so often match our expectations for professional athletes?
Did you win? What was the score? What place did you get? Did you make the All-Star team? Are you trying for a scholarship? The Olympics? These are the questions that many well-meaning adults ask kids playing sports.
If adults want to walk the talk about their kids truly being kids in youth sports, it really comes down to answering this question:
Do you want to be happy from this point forward regardless of what happens with your kid’s teams and individual play?
Practicing unconditional happiness doesn’t mean kids will escape setbacks, losing streaks, slumps, bad breaks, poor coaching and not-so-talented teams in their sports career. Life will not always cooperate with them in sports and, for that matter, any other endeavor. Practicing unconditional happiness also doesn’t mean you won’t feel for your kids when sports don’t produce the desired results.
For kids, the purpose of participating in sports is to enjoy and learn from their experiences. When parents and coaches neglect this outlook, kids lose. Kids learn from the modeled behavior of adults. If a parent consistently illustrates they can’t let losses or bad performances go, kids will adopt the same unhealthy philosophy.
When parents and coaches approach sports in a state of happiness, their hearts will be open to build stronger relationships with kids, and their minds will be open to all of the learning opportunities sports can offer. Adults should stop trying to turn their kids into professionals at an early age. Putting unconditional happiness into play means you won’t let the outcome of a game or performance affect your behavior toward kids in a negative way. Practicing unconditional happiness means you will set proper expectations for your kids based on what they want out of sports – not you. Choose to be happy!
Coaching best practices with Dale Pool
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
By Travis Chaney
Developing effective relationships with your players
Over the last several years I have been fortunate to meet and learn from several great coaches locally. One jewel of a coach is Dale Poole. In working with and getting to know Dale, I have learned some excellent coaching techniques and philosophies.
After being in the education business for more than 30 years (coaching kids in athletics and teaching in the classroom), Dale will tell you the most important thing a coach can do is build positive relationships with players. Even if a coach could somehow know all there is to know about a subject or sport, it wouldn’t amount to anything if he or she could not relate to the students or players on the team.
This kind of coaching approach is called transformational. Transformational coaches seek to build strong positive relationships with their charges and use their platform to transform players not just into good performers, but into better human beings.
Dale has been teaching his best practices to area coaches through Kidcentric Sports workshops. Here are just a few of his tips to help coaches build strong and positive relationships with players.
Tip #1: Be prepared for the practice or game
Plan your practice session well in advance and write it down in a form that you can easily read. Keep all of your practice plans in a three-ring binder for quick reference. This also provides proper documentation should something happen in the practice that is later called into question. Place a condensed version of your practice plan on a small index card that you can carry in your pocket during the practice.
Be physically ready and mentally sharp! Know yourself and do whatever it takes to be in top form both physically and mentally for your time with your players.
Arrive at practice early enough to get all of your equipment organized in such a way that your team can begin on time and there will be little down time during transition between activities. A prepared field with equipment shows the players that you are ready for them – their adrenaline will begin to flow with excitement at the thought of the action that is about to take place.
Tip #2: Greet your players as they arrive for practice or competition
Because you are well-prepared, you can relax and enjoy greeting and mixing with your players as they arrive. This is critical as it immediately shows your genuine affirmation for each player. Every player has a story, and you can hear bits and pieces of that story by listening to your players talk to each other before the practice begins. It’s like a physician checking the vital signs of his patient at the beginning of an office visit. With this information, you can begin to talk to individual players about things that interest them or that you might have in common. This is key in building positive relationships.
Tip #3 Value Every Child and Value the Whole Child
Unfortunately, the ‘winning is everything’ attitude has found its insidious way into all levels of sports and has spawned generations of transactional coaching which proclaim, “I will value you if you help me to win.” This ability to win is the only thing that a transactional coach values in the player.
A transformational coach values the child regardless of his or her ability to help the team win. Every child on the roster deserves the coach’s attention and value.
Not only do transformational coaches value each child, they value the whole child. Many players will have other interests that they are involved in besides the sport you are coaching. By getting to know your players, you will discover these other interests. By recognizing these interests positively, you affirm the whole child and not just the part of that child that plays your sport. This will help kids understand that you are interested in them as a person and not just as a player on your team.
Tip #4 Be Ever Present and In the Moment
During your practice sessions, be constantly moving around observing your players perform. Be quick to recognize when a player or group of players are doing something well and verbalize it to them. This is called positive reinforcement and is powerful in motivating players to perform this way again.
Of course, a coach must also point out to a player what he or she is doing wrong, as this is as much a part of learning as recognizing when they do something correctly. A player might have to experience a lot of failure in performance before he/she gets it right. A transformational coach understands that failure is as much a part of learning as getting it right.
Resist the urge to say something sarcastic or derogatory to the player who is misperforming. Try saying, “Do that again, except this time try to do it this way.” If you can, demonstrate the technique or tactic yourself in slow motion so that the player can see the performance done correctly. Sometimes you should ask a skilled player to demonstrate a skill, which puts that player in a leadership position while positively reinforcing how you feel about the player that needs help.
By being ever present and in the moment with your players, you will establish an environment where players will behave according to your rules.
These few principles will go a long way toward making you a transformational rather than a transactional coach. If this kind of coaching sounds appealing, please send me an email and we’ll help you discover more principles that will change your coaching for the better!
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
By Travis Chaney
Developing effective relationships with your players
Over the last several years I have been fortunate to meet and learn from several great coaches locally. One jewel of a coach is Dale Poole. In working with and getting to know Dale, I have learned some excellent coaching techniques and philosophies.
After being in the education business for more than 30 years (coaching kids in athletics and teaching in the classroom), Dale will tell you the most important thing a coach can do is build positive relationships with players. Even if a coach could somehow know all there is to know about a subject or sport, it wouldn’t amount to anything if he or she could not relate to the students or players on the team.
This kind of coaching approach is called transformational. Transformational coaches seek to build strong positive relationships with their charges and use their platform to transform players not just into good performers, but into better human beings.
Dale has been teaching his best practices to area coaches through Kidcentric Sports workshops. Here are just a few of his tips to help coaches build strong and positive relationships with players.
Tip #1: Be prepared for the practice or game
Plan your practice session well in advance and write it down in a form that you can easily read. Keep all of your practice plans in a three-ring binder for quick reference. This also provides proper documentation should something happen in the practice that is later called into question. Place a condensed version of your practice plan on a small index card that you can carry in your pocket during the practice.
Be physically ready and mentally sharp! Know yourself and do whatever it takes to be in top form both physically and mentally for your time with your players.
Arrive at practice early enough to get all of your equipment organized in such a way that your team can begin on time and there will be little down time during transition between activities. A prepared field with equipment shows the players that you are ready for them – their adrenaline will begin to flow with excitement at the thought of the action that is about to take place.
Tip #2: Greet your players as they arrive for practice or competition
Because you are well-prepared, you can relax and enjoy greeting and mixing with your players as they arrive. This is critical as it immediately shows your genuine affirmation for each player. Every player has a story, and you can hear bits and pieces of that story by listening to your players talk to each other before the practice begins. It’s like a physician checking the vital signs of his patient at the beginning of an office visit. With this information, you can begin to talk to individual players about things that interest them or that you might have in common. This is key in building positive relationships.
Tip #3 Value Every Child and Value the Whole Child
Unfortunately, the ‘winning is everything’ attitude has found its insidious way into all levels of sports and has spawned generations of transactional coaching which proclaim, “I will value you if you help me to win.” This ability to win is the only thing that a transactional coach values in the player.
A transformational coach values the child regardless of his or her ability to help the team win. Every child on the roster deserves the coach’s attention and value.
Not only do transformational coaches value each child, they value the whole child. Many players will have other interests that they are involved in besides the sport you are coaching. By getting to know your players, you will discover these other interests. By recognizing these interests positively, you affirm the whole child and not just the part of that child that plays your sport. This will help kids understand that you are interested in them as a person and not just as a player on your team.
Tip #4 Be Ever Present and In the Moment
During your practice sessions, be constantly moving around observing your players perform. Be quick to recognize when a player or group of players are doing something well and verbalize it to them. This is called positive reinforcement and is powerful in motivating players to perform this way again.
Of course, a coach must also point out to a player what he or she is doing wrong, as this is as much a part of learning as recognizing when they do something correctly. A player might have to experience a lot of failure in performance before he/she gets it right. A transformational coach understands that failure is as much a part of learning as getting it right.
Resist the urge to say something sarcastic or derogatory to the player who is misperforming. Try saying, “Do that again, except this time try to do it this way.” If you can, demonstrate the technique or tactic yourself in slow motion so that the player can see the performance done correctly. Sometimes you should ask a skilled player to demonstrate a skill, which puts that player in a leadership position while positively reinforcing how you feel about the player that needs help.
By being ever present and in the moment with your players, you will establish an environment where players will behave according to your rules.
These few principles will go a long way toward making you a transformational rather than a transactional coach. If this kind of coaching sounds appealing, please send me an email and we’ll help you discover more principles that will change your coaching for the better!
What kind of “over-coaching” do you do?
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
By Travis Chaney
I love my kids. It’s safe to say the majority of parents love their kids too. As parents, we do all kinds of things that show this love for our kids, but not all activities end up with a positive result. Some parents under the “umbrella of love” end up doing things that hurt their children’s growth. When love lacks toughness and overshadows the ability for kids to grow based on their own behavior (without parental interference), kids become sheltered from the learning process of growing up.
In youth sports, parents often want to over-coach their kids out of love. Even though they want the best for their kids’ performance, they often give a lot of unnecessary and untimely advice (i.e. over-coaching) cloaked under “care and concern.”
Youth coaches do the same thing when they coach kids poorly based on the philosophy “I’m doing best by the kid,” without realizing the vast gap between intention and actual behavior. In other words, I can say all day that my intention is only to help the kids. However, when my words and behavior don’t align with this philosophy, problems occur – especially for the kids.
Let’s examine some very common over-coaching methods that go on during a game situation.
Parents often think pulling their kid away from the team during a game to give advice is a good idea, but it’s a bad move on many fronts. The advice parents give often contradicts what the coaches want, which causes their kids to be confused: “Dad says one thing but Coach says another – what should I do?” A confused player will not perform very well.
During these ill-advised parent-player conversations, parents typically accentuate the negative. I have watched parents make sure their kids understand exactly what they are doing wrong from a technique standpoint to the point of making their kids cry. Causing kids to generate tears during a game because of unwanted coaching does not build their confidence. I have yet to see a player under the age of 10 fully recover from a butt chewing during the middle of a game by actually improving his or her performance.
Plus, the directions from parents on how to correct a technique are usually limited to verbal instructions, which are just one component in teaching kids. The best method is for the coach to demonstrate correct technique and then observe kids performing the correct action. Coaches should over-teach their kids to give them the repetitions they need to gain some level of mastery with a particular technique.
Most kids are not one-trial learners. That’s why it’s important to repeat instructions, use repeated “what if” scenarios (e.g., “There’s a man on first. The ball is hit to right field between first and second. Where does the right fielder throw the ball?”) and get the kids to practice, practice, practice and practice. Correcting techniques belongs at practice sessions with coaches – not on the sidelines of games by parents.
Kids respond to action, commotion and emotion. That’s why it’s important to use lots of animation when noticing positive behaviors. I wish adults would over-coach while giving praise for effort and results. Unfortunately, many coaches and parents tend to show more animation when players make mistakes.
I saw an example of this in a recent ballgame where the coach used humiliation in an effort to help a struggling pitcher. The pitcher walked several batters and physically showed signs of frustration. With every called ball, the pitcher and coach got a little more upset, while the coach became even more animated. After every pitch, he would over-coach by yelling out verbal corrections to point out what was wrong with the pitch or what needed to be done differently on the next pitch.
With the bases loaded and only one more run to give before the run rule for the inning would occur, the coach yelled out to the pitcher in a sarcastic tone with his hands in the air, “Why don’t you just walk this run in, too – you already walked in the other four?” This is not the type of animation or comment to help a 9-year old who is struggling on the mound. This isn’t just over-coaching – it’s poor coaching, which is a double whammy for the kid.
Kids remember specifics. When a kid performs well at a particular task, it’s important to acknowledge exactly what they did right. “Good game!” is less likely to register with a kid than “That’s the way to hit the cut-off man!” or “Nice bounce pass to Mary” or “Excellent down block on number 75.” Each time you give praise, look the kid in the eye with a big smile. Adults should get really good at over-coaching by giving praise when kids do specific things right.
Parents are better off letting kids work themselves out of jams while taking direction from someone else (i.e. the coach). Parents need to stay in the stands during games to give encouragement to their kids even when a miscue happens. When a player does something right (even the little things), parents and coaches should give smiling praise while acknowledging the specific technique their kids performed well. While this approach will take a concerted effort – it’s hard to let your kids work through their own struggles – in the long run, it will work to their benefit.
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
By Travis Chaney
I love my kids. It’s safe to say the majority of parents love their kids too. As parents, we do all kinds of things that show this love for our kids, but not all activities end up with a positive result. Some parents under the “umbrella of love” end up doing things that hurt their children’s growth. When love lacks toughness and overshadows the ability for kids to grow based on their own behavior (without parental interference), kids become sheltered from the learning process of growing up.
In youth sports, parents often want to over-coach their kids out of love. Even though they want the best for their kids’ performance, they often give a lot of unnecessary and untimely advice (i.e. over-coaching) cloaked under “care and concern.”
Youth coaches do the same thing when they coach kids poorly based on the philosophy “I’m doing best by the kid,” without realizing the vast gap between intention and actual behavior. In other words, I can say all day that my intention is only to help the kids. However, when my words and behavior don’t align with this philosophy, problems occur – especially for the kids.
Let’s examine some very common over-coaching methods that go on during a game situation.
Parents often think pulling their kid away from the team during a game to give advice is a good idea, but it’s a bad move on many fronts. The advice parents give often contradicts what the coaches want, which causes their kids to be confused: “Dad says one thing but Coach says another – what should I do?” A confused player will not perform very well.
During these ill-advised parent-player conversations, parents typically accentuate the negative. I have watched parents make sure their kids understand exactly what they are doing wrong from a technique standpoint to the point of making their kids cry. Causing kids to generate tears during a game because of unwanted coaching does not build their confidence. I have yet to see a player under the age of 10 fully recover from a butt chewing during the middle of a game by actually improving his or her performance.
Plus, the directions from parents on how to correct a technique are usually limited to verbal instructions, which are just one component in teaching kids. The best method is for the coach to demonstrate correct technique and then observe kids performing the correct action. Coaches should over-teach their kids to give them the repetitions they need to gain some level of mastery with a particular technique.
Most kids are not one-trial learners. That’s why it’s important to repeat instructions, use repeated “what if” scenarios (e.g., “There’s a man on first. The ball is hit to right field between first and second. Where does the right fielder throw the ball?”) and get the kids to practice, practice, practice and practice. Correcting techniques belongs at practice sessions with coaches – not on the sidelines of games by parents.
Kids respond to action, commotion and emotion. That’s why it’s important to use lots of animation when noticing positive behaviors. I wish adults would over-coach while giving praise for effort and results. Unfortunately, many coaches and parents tend to show more animation when players make mistakes.
I saw an example of this in a recent ballgame where the coach used humiliation in an effort to help a struggling pitcher. The pitcher walked several batters and physically showed signs of frustration. With every called ball, the pitcher and coach got a little more upset, while the coach became even more animated. After every pitch, he would over-coach by yelling out verbal corrections to point out what was wrong with the pitch or what needed to be done differently on the next pitch.
With the bases loaded and only one more run to give before the run rule for the inning would occur, the coach yelled out to the pitcher in a sarcastic tone with his hands in the air, “Why don’t you just walk this run in, too – you already walked in the other four?” This is not the type of animation or comment to help a 9-year old who is struggling on the mound. This isn’t just over-coaching – it’s poor coaching, which is a double whammy for the kid.
Kids remember specifics. When a kid performs well at a particular task, it’s important to acknowledge exactly what they did right. “Good game!” is less likely to register with a kid than “That’s the way to hit the cut-off man!” or “Nice bounce pass to Mary” or “Excellent down block on number 75.” Each time you give praise, look the kid in the eye with a big smile. Adults should get really good at over-coaching by giving praise when kids do specific things right.
Parents are better off letting kids work themselves out of jams while taking direction from someone else (i.e. the coach). Parents need to stay in the stands during games to give encouragement to their kids even when a miscue happens. When a player does something right (even the little things), parents and coaches should give smiling praise while acknowledging the specific technique their kids performed well. While this approach will take a concerted effort – it’s hard to let your kids work through their own struggles – in the long run, it will work to their benefit.
The Long Ride Home
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
By Travis Chaney
I came across a recent study conducted by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching LLC. Proactive Coaching is devoted to helping adults avoid being labeled as the “crazy youth sports nightmare parent.” Over the last three decades, the authors asked hundreds of college athletes about their worst memories of playing youth and high school sports. Their overwhelming response: the ride home from games with their parents.
The survey also asked the athletes what their parents said that made them feel great while amplifying their happiness during or after a game. The response that garnered the most votes: "I love to watch you play."
Immediately after a game, win or lose, kids want separation from the game. Unlike adults, kids can make a quick transition from being an athlete to their non-athlete life. With their maturity, adults can stay locked in a role long after an activity is gone. They replay things in their minds, think about “what if” scenarios, and analyze what to do differently going forward. Adults tend to remain focused too long on these issues, which prevents them from taking a future forward approach (i.e. adults have a hard time letting go). Kids would prefer if their parents transitioned from spectator – or in many instances from unsolicited coach – back to mom and dad as soon as possible right after a sporting contest.
Most parents probably don’t even know they are making the rides home from games miserable. They mean well, but can't help starting a conversation about the game before the sweat has dried on their child's uniform.
Grandparents are much more content than parents to simply enjoy watching a child play sports. A grandparent is more likely to offer a smile and a hug while saying "I love watching you play," and leaving it at that.
Meanwhile on the ride home a parent might blurt out …
“Why did you swing at that low pitch when we talked about laying off it?"
"Stay focused even when you are on the bench.”
"You didn’t hustle back to your position on defense.”
“You need to pay attention when the ball isn’t near you.”
"You would have won if the ref wouldn’t have missed that call.”
"Your coach didn't have the best team on the field when it mattered most.”
Even if there is an element of truth in any of the above statements, the young athlete doesn’t want to hear it immediately after the game. Comments that undermine teammates, the coach or even officials contradict the very values and lessons sports can teach a kid. It’s important to leave the instructional feedback to the coach.
It’s critical that parents let the child bring the game to them. If a parent senses a problem, it’s okay to inquire by asking questions. However, if a kid says everything is okay, parents should trust them and not push any further with questions and/or by exerting their negative opinions. Kids learn better when they seek out their own answers.
Sports are one of the few places in a child's life where a parent can say, “This is your thing – not mine." Athletics offer young people a safe place to take risks and deal with failure because the consequences aren’t fatal or permanent – it’s just a game. Kids usually don’t want or need a parent to rescue them when something goes wrong. Mistakes offer growth opportunities for kids if adults will allow the kids to learn on their own terms.
In order to ensure all successes and failures are solely the kids’ while maximizing the learning, parents need to release their children to the coaching staff and the game fully with no strings attached. Parents create trouble for themselves when the outcome of a game means more to them than to the child. If you as a parent are still frustrated by a loss when your child is already off playing with friends, remind yourself that it’s not your career, and you have zero control over the outcome.
Parents should be careful about treating their children differently after a game regardless of the outcome. When a parent’s behavior doesn’t match their intention, this sends mixed signals to children. "Many young athletes indicate that conversations with their parents after a game somehow make them feel as if their value as a person is tied to playing time or winning,” Brown says in the study. Do you want your child to think your love for them is tied to an athletic performance?
The discussion on the ride home can be about a song on the radio or where to get ice cream. By the time you pull into the driveway, the relationship ought to have transformed from keenly interested spectator and athlete back to parent and child with a line like, "We loved watching you play. … Now, how about that homework?"
Perceptions of referees needs to change for the better
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
January 20, 2014
By Travis Chaney
One of the toughest jobs in sports is a referee.
The position doesn't typically receive a lot of love from coaches or fans. We expect perfection on every call made and when this unrealistic expectation isn't met, we want to let them feel our frustration and anger.
Referees (and umpires) are often labeled as the enemy. In youth sports, the perception and role of referees needs to change for the better.
Youth sports is about teaching the fundamentals in a safe environment where kids play to have fun. Our goal as coach or parent is to encourage our kids to continue playing from sport to sport and season to season.
The role of referee needs to be expanded beyond calling the game to ensure the mission of youth sports succeeds. For this to happen, coaches and parents must change their behavior toward referees.
Youth leagues need to ensure referees know their expectations for communicating to coaches, players and parents. Youth league officials need to spell out for referees specifically how to handle highly emotional coaches and to set the boundaries on what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to sideline and dugout behavior.
These standards should be written with the kid's best interest in mind.
I would encourage youth league officials to set up a zero tolerance policy when it comes to unruly coaches and fans. For example, in sports like basketball or football, throw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct or give a coach a technical immediately when a coach acts inappropriately — no warnings, just eject them right away.
Referees will often issue too many warnings before handing out a technical foul or throwing a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct — which means the kids see the bad behavior for far too long. And when parents see coaches aggressively going after the refs over calls, it seems the parents suddenly feel empowered to begin adding their yelling and screaming in the same hostile manner.
What do I mean by coaches behaving poorly? I am not talking about a coach questioning what is perceived to be a blown call — if they need clarification, that's not a problem.
Referees need to also be empowered to regulate the treatment of kids by coaches. For example, when a referee witnesses a coach talking down to a player, yelling at a kid or grabbing a kid, the referee should call a penalty on the coach.
I remember coaching a baseball game out of town where the opposing coach pulled an 8-year-old kid over in the middle of an inning after he missed a ground ball and chewed him out in the most demeaning manor until he cried. The referee and league officials did nothing. That coach should have been thrown out of the game right then.
Parents need to remember that the quality of officiating can be directly proportional to the quality of play. In other words, don't expect professional-caliber officiating at your 8-year-old's game. Officials are sometimes instructed to call things differently at a youth game than they would at a higher competition level, for various reasons.
If coaches, parents and players are worried about the officials, then players aren't going to be engaged in the game. Coaches should tell their players the only one who gets to worry about the refs is the coach.
In reality, coaches shouldn't worry about refs at all. At all levels, there are games where teams have to overcome officiating that isn't up to par. The best way to do that is to have the kids concentrate on playing well by controlling what they can control.
Parents should not spend the car ride home blaming the officials, either. A blown call is a great setup to share a life lesson that is productive instead of teaching the kid to be a whiner.
If you're a coach, save your conflict with the officiating for a league meeting or some other time that isn't in the heat of the moment. The only times I've complained about referees is when player safety is threatened. If that's the case, consider placing a call to league officials and ask that they address it.
The best practice is to send your complaint in writing and to copy the local parks department (assuming the league is affiliated with one of them). If you handle conflicts in this way, the conversations are more likely to be respectful and rational, and lead to far more progress than if you throw an embarrassing fit and interrupt your child's game.
Referees also need to not let their own actions during the heat of competition create situations where further conflict can arise.
Youth sports need referees to take on bigger roles by helping monitor and regulate coach and parent behavior.
Coaches and parents need to remember that even though the score is kept in youth league games, who wins and loses does not matter. What matters is the child's improvement.
Is your child a better player on the last day than the first? How much better? Did your child learn what it means to be a good teammate? Did your child enjoy the experience? These are the questions that should be asked instead of "Hey REF! ARE YOU BLIND?"
January 20, 2014
By Travis Chaney
One of the toughest jobs in sports is a referee.
The position doesn't typically receive a lot of love from coaches or fans. We expect perfection on every call made and when this unrealistic expectation isn't met, we want to let them feel our frustration and anger.
Referees (and umpires) are often labeled as the enemy. In youth sports, the perception and role of referees needs to change for the better.
Youth sports is about teaching the fundamentals in a safe environment where kids play to have fun. Our goal as coach or parent is to encourage our kids to continue playing from sport to sport and season to season.
The role of referee needs to be expanded beyond calling the game to ensure the mission of youth sports succeeds. For this to happen, coaches and parents must change their behavior toward referees.
Youth leagues need to ensure referees know their expectations for communicating to coaches, players and parents. Youth league officials need to spell out for referees specifically how to handle highly emotional coaches and to set the boundaries on what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to sideline and dugout behavior.
These standards should be written with the kid's best interest in mind.
I would encourage youth league officials to set up a zero tolerance policy when it comes to unruly coaches and fans. For example, in sports like basketball or football, throw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct or give a coach a technical immediately when a coach acts inappropriately — no warnings, just eject them right away.
Referees will often issue too many warnings before handing out a technical foul or throwing a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct — which means the kids see the bad behavior for far too long. And when parents see coaches aggressively going after the refs over calls, it seems the parents suddenly feel empowered to begin adding their yelling and screaming in the same hostile manner.
What do I mean by coaches behaving poorly? I am not talking about a coach questioning what is perceived to be a blown call — if they need clarification, that's not a problem.
Referees need to also be empowered to regulate the treatment of kids by coaches. For example, when a referee witnesses a coach talking down to a player, yelling at a kid or grabbing a kid, the referee should call a penalty on the coach.
I remember coaching a baseball game out of town where the opposing coach pulled an 8-year-old kid over in the middle of an inning after he missed a ground ball and chewed him out in the most demeaning manor until he cried. The referee and league officials did nothing. That coach should have been thrown out of the game right then.
Parents need to remember that the quality of officiating can be directly proportional to the quality of play. In other words, don't expect professional-caliber officiating at your 8-year-old's game. Officials are sometimes instructed to call things differently at a youth game than they would at a higher competition level, for various reasons.
If coaches, parents and players are worried about the officials, then players aren't going to be engaged in the game. Coaches should tell their players the only one who gets to worry about the refs is the coach.
In reality, coaches shouldn't worry about refs at all. At all levels, there are games where teams have to overcome officiating that isn't up to par. The best way to do that is to have the kids concentrate on playing well by controlling what they can control.
Parents should not spend the car ride home blaming the officials, either. A blown call is a great setup to share a life lesson that is productive instead of teaching the kid to be a whiner.
If you're a coach, save your conflict with the officiating for a league meeting or some other time that isn't in the heat of the moment. The only times I've complained about referees is when player safety is threatened. If that's the case, consider placing a call to league officials and ask that they address it.
The best practice is to send your complaint in writing and to copy the local parks department (assuming the league is affiliated with one of them). If you handle conflicts in this way, the conversations are more likely to be respectful and rational, and lead to far more progress than if you throw an embarrassing fit and interrupt your child's game.
Referees also need to not let their own actions during the heat of competition create situations where further conflict can arise.
Youth sports need referees to take on bigger roles by helping monitor and regulate coach and parent behavior.
Coaches and parents need to remember that even though the score is kept in youth league games, who wins and loses does not matter. What matters is the child's improvement.
Is your child a better player on the last day than the first? How much better? Did your child learn what it means to be a good teammate? Did your child enjoy the experience? These are the questions that should be asked instead of "Hey REF! ARE YOU BLIND?"
Much to be learned from the sport of football
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
January 20, 2014
By Travis Chaney
The game of football continues to receive less than positive criticism.
The negative press about concussions and the risk of injury at the professional level paints a false picture of the game being played at the youth and high school level.
The size, speed, athleticism, and collision factors at the pro level make the comparison of pro football and football at the high school level or less an irrelevant point.
Are there risks with the football? Of course. But children have a greater chance of drowning from swimming and suffering a traumatic injury from riding a bicycle than they do getting harmed seriously from playing football. Yet, our children ride their bikes daily and swim every summer.
By not allowing children to play sports like football, parents run a greater risk of their sons not learning important lessons transferable to life. Football offers more than just the physical attributes and fundamentals of blocking, running and tackling.
I played organized football from third grade through four years at the collegiate level. At an early age the game of football taught me so much about life and now I feel the responsibility lies on me to pass on the lessons from this great game to today's young players.
Bill Curry, former Packers great and collegiate coach, often mentions what his high school coach taught him that is summarized by this one phrase: Football is just life marked off in 100 yards. Within those 100 yards lies many lessons consisting of teamwork, discipline, perseverance and commitment.
Teamwork.
When you're a part of a football team (sometimes with up to 90 other players at the high school level), understanding an individual role and that of teammates is critical. Learning to be a part of something bigger than oneself sets young athletes up for success later on in family, organizational and work settings.
Not too many people succeed in life on their own and those that do are typically lonely, greedy and may not make it to heaven. Being a part of team teaches players how to trust others to complete their job in order for everyone to succeed.
Discipline.
Discipline is a trait found in successful people no matter the profession. Football requires the player to follow rules and work hard. As players get older they will be evaluated through coaches and peers through practice and game film. The evaluation process that goes on with football allows for growth, accountability and provides a measurement and reward for discipline.
This is like life, where if we chose to improve and grow, we have to take responsibility for that growth, and surround ourselves with people who can help. Every single play requires discipline from each individual player who must do their job while playing within the many rules of the game.
Commitment.
Attending all of the functions and activities involved with football requires a high commitment level. More importantly, the commitment to others (coaches, teammates, parents, school or league) supersedes just showing up at all of the activities.
With 11 players on offense and defense, no other sport has this many players on the field at once executing individual assignments with a collective goal on every play. Players must be committed to one another in order to succeed. Employers constantly search for employees who are committed to their mission and to their fellow employees. Individual sports don't offer that same opportunity.
Perseverance.
This is what separates football from all other sports. Life is not always fair. In one play, a player could make a tackle for a loss. The next play could result in the offense responding by double teaming that same player knocking him down flat on his back. Whether a kid does something spectacular or gets knocked down, every play requires a response physically, emotionally and mentally like no other sport.
Every play is a one-on-one competition with the other player on the other side of the ball. Players fight adversity every snap of the ball. There is usually not very much time to recover in between plays which teaches kids to jump right back into the game. Born in each play is the opportunity for kids to learn the value of perseverance.
As children cross over to adults they will quickly learn that to succeed in any endeavor they need to bounce back from failure, to turn losing lessons into victories, and to not quit when life doesn't cooperate. Without perseverance, feebleness and quitting easy will consume an individual denying them the ability to learn independence and personal responsibility. Teaching children to embrace adversity at a young age prepares them for the difficulties that lie ahead throughout their entire adulthood.
I would encourage parents to look deeper into the subject of football to become another teacher to help raise their young sons. Other team sports offer life lessons but not at the same intensity level. Football is the most challenging team sport physically, emotionally and mentally. As the great Vince Lombardi stated, "Football is like life, it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”
January 20, 2014
By Travis Chaney
The game of football continues to receive less than positive criticism.
The negative press about concussions and the risk of injury at the professional level paints a false picture of the game being played at the youth and high school level.
The size, speed, athleticism, and collision factors at the pro level make the comparison of pro football and football at the high school level or less an irrelevant point.
Are there risks with the football? Of course. But children have a greater chance of drowning from swimming and suffering a traumatic injury from riding a bicycle than they do getting harmed seriously from playing football. Yet, our children ride their bikes daily and swim every summer.
By not allowing children to play sports like football, parents run a greater risk of their sons not learning important lessons transferable to life. Football offers more than just the physical attributes and fundamentals of blocking, running and tackling.
I played organized football from third grade through four years at the collegiate level. At an early age the game of football taught me so much about life and now I feel the responsibility lies on me to pass on the lessons from this great game to today's young players.
Bill Curry, former Packers great and collegiate coach, often mentions what his high school coach taught him that is summarized by this one phrase: Football is just life marked off in 100 yards. Within those 100 yards lies many lessons consisting of teamwork, discipline, perseverance and commitment.
Teamwork.
When you're a part of a football team (sometimes with up to 90 other players at the high school level), understanding an individual role and that of teammates is critical. Learning to be a part of something bigger than oneself sets young athletes up for success later on in family, organizational and work settings.
Not too many people succeed in life on their own and those that do are typically lonely, greedy and may not make it to heaven. Being a part of team teaches players how to trust others to complete their job in order for everyone to succeed.
Discipline.
Discipline is a trait found in successful people no matter the profession. Football requires the player to follow rules and work hard. As players get older they will be evaluated through coaches and peers through practice and game film. The evaluation process that goes on with football allows for growth, accountability and provides a measurement and reward for discipline.
This is like life, where if we chose to improve and grow, we have to take responsibility for that growth, and surround ourselves with people who can help. Every single play requires discipline from each individual player who must do their job while playing within the many rules of the game.
Commitment.
Attending all of the functions and activities involved with football requires a high commitment level. More importantly, the commitment to others (coaches, teammates, parents, school or league) supersedes just showing up at all of the activities.
With 11 players on offense and defense, no other sport has this many players on the field at once executing individual assignments with a collective goal on every play. Players must be committed to one another in order to succeed. Employers constantly search for employees who are committed to their mission and to their fellow employees. Individual sports don't offer that same opportunity.
Perseverance.
This is what separates football from all other sports. Life is not always fair. In one play, a player could make a tackle for a loss. The next play could result in the offense responding by double teaming that same player knocking him down flat on his back. Whether a kid does something spectacular or gets knocked down, every play requires a response physically, emotionally and mentally like no other sport.
Every play is a one-on-one competition with the other player on the other side of the ball. Players fight adversity every snap of the ball. There is usually not very much time to recover in between plays which teaches kids to jump right back into the game. Born in each play is the opportunity for kids to learn the value of perseverance.
As children cross over to adults they will quickly learn that to succeed in any endeavor they need to bounce back from failure, to turn losing lessons into victories, and to not quit when life doesn't cooperate. Without perseverance, feebleness and quitting easy will consume an individual denying them the ability to learn independence and personal responsibility. Teaching children to embrace adversity at a young age prepares them for the difficulties that lie ahead throughout their entire adulthood.
I would encourage parents to look deeper into the subject of football to become another teacher to help raise their young sons. Other team sports offer life lessons but not at the same intensity level. Football is the most challenging team sport physically, emotionally and mentally. As the great Vince Lombardi stated, "Football is like life, it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”
Participation vs. Winning in youth sports
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
October 21, 2013
By Travis Chaney
The fall season is winding down as league champions are being determined for youth sports everywhere.
Who will win trophies and for what?
Trophies are a lot like bonuses in the business world – they should be earned for achieving something above and beyond the norm.
Yet trophies in youth sports for participation are becoming more and more the standard.
One argument for participation trophies is that every kid needs to be recognized for what they have achieved.
What lessons are being taught to our children by giving out rewards just for showing up for practices, playing games and fulfilling a commitment made up front for playing an entire season?
Since when did just showing up become an achievement?
In school kids don’t earn a higher grade for just showing up. Try pleading with a teacher about increasing a student’s grade for just being there. A teacher will tell you what the student does inside and outside of the classroom determines the grade.
In the business world an employee doesn’t obtain a raise or earn a bonus for just showing up. Employers concern themselves with the performance when at work not just being at work.
Advocates for participation trophies also state that parents can use the trophies or awards to entice their kids to play sports. But if we examine the motives for kids playing sports the research shows kids play to have fun, meet new friends, to be a part of a team and to learn new skills.
I have yet to come across a child that has shared with me the main reason they are playing sports is to get a trophy.
Self-esteem is not something that parents, coaches or teachers can give. It’s something that kids earn when they are allowed to compete, fail, learn from the failure and make improvements. Athletics teach kids to be resilient and to accept challenges.
They learn they don’t have to be afraid to make mistakes because a miscue is not the end of the world – only the beginning of the learning process that may end with overcoming a challenge.
Teaching kids how to lose gracefully is just as important as learning how to win graciously and it’s easier to learn this at a younger age than an older one.
Life doesn’t always cooperate with us and things don’t always go our way. The sooner kids learn how to roll with life’s disappointments, the better they will be able to cope as adults.
Giving trophies to top teams rewards excellence. At the same time it presents the opportunity to teach the other teams how to deal with the disappointment of not winning – while creating motivation to improve next time.
What’s the compromise?
Leagues should encourage their coaches to give recognition to each child based on how they contribute to the team during the season.
Coaches should recognize players throughout the season with rewards like Outstanding Teammate, Best Blocker, Offensive Player of the Game, Defensive Player of the Game, Most Improved Player, Most Valuable Player, Greatest Effort and Sportsmanship.
A coach can find many different awards specific to the skill sets of each sport. These awards can be given after each game, at the end of practices or at team social functions. Printed certificates or stickers are appropriate symbols for these rewards.
The most important thing is for coaches to take the time to say something special about each player in front of the team on many different occasions throughout the season.
Kids love this approach because a coach takes the time to make each kid feel special in public with their own words. To a kid, those words mean more than any trophy.
Youth leagues should also adopt policies that give out trophies for the regular season champion, playoff champion and to the players that make All Star teams.
Trophies should be about accomplishments, not rewards that carry no substance and directly conflict with the way the world works outside of sports.
When we acknowledge everyone equally for participating, we aren’t properly saluting those that worked extra hard and we’re sending a conflicting message that true achievement isn’t valued.
Sports are about competition. Competition is not a bad thing.
Participation trophies, while making everyone feel good, only serve to send a message to children that contradicts with the reality of life.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Youth sports no place to rehabilitate criminals
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
September 30, 2013
By Travis Chaney
The City of Owensboro Parks Department recently passed rules and regulations for local youth leagues which contract with the City to utilize city owned facilities.
City leaders are taking the right step by moving toward the current Daviess County Parks Department policies to require volunteer and coach screening for youth leagues using their facilities.
The Daviess County policy requires all leagues using their playground facilities to screen volunteers through the parks department in the beginning of each season.
The Owensboro Parks Department policy asks the leagues to screen volunteers, but does not require any reporting on those checks unless the city elects to do a random audit or when a complaint comes in about a specific volunteer.
Despite the differences in guidelines between the two parks departments, the City’s move to establish a volunteer screening policy meant to protect children signifies a progressive move.
DUI offenders, felons, sex offenders and domestic violence criminals are not needed in youth sports as coaches, umpires or board members.
One of every three girls and one of every six boys will be victims of sexual abuse by the time they are 18. One of the places that children are vulnerable is in youth sports. Employing background checks is a great first start to prevent sexual abuse.
Another step leagues can take is to institute a “two adult” rule to protect both the child and the coach. Simply put, two adults must be with the children at all practices, games and other team activities. If the opportunity for inappropriate behavior never exists then inappropriate behavior cannot happen or be alleged.
I love a good comeback story. And I think adults should have the opportunity to redeem themselves when they get off track.
Churches, community and governmental agencies, counselors and the court system offer the best places to rehabilitate lawbreakers – not our youth leagues.
Without policies to screen volunteers, parents might not be aware of who is actually interacting with their most precious assets – their children – until there is a problem with the volunteer.
The disqualifier policies are fair and just, considering each offense allows for a time limit after which the coach or official can be accepted – with the exception of sexual crimes and violent felony offenses which do not and should not ever allow for acceptance.
I recommend all youth leagues adopt a policy to run national background checks on every coach, referee and volunteer that works with the children in their program. A national check utilizes the National Criminal and Sex Offender Database covering all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.
State and local checks may not show information about a person who has moved from state to state. If the person had a problem in Illinois it might not show up on a check in Kentucky. The $20 or so fee per screening is a worthwhile investment for a comprehensive background check.
Even with new policies in place, parents should take personal responsibility to ensure their children are being coached by the right volunteers. And be aware that not all local leagues are affiliated with our local parks departments and subject to background check rules.
Every parent should request the following from each league or youth sports organization their child participates in: volunteer disqualifier policies, codes of conduct for coaches, policies on selecting coaches, which background check service is being used (is it state or national?) and the protocol for reporting problems with coaches.
And parents, while you are making sure you are better informed about who is working with your child, consider volunteering yourself!
Non-profit organizations barely survive or thrive based on the size of their volunteer base. Youth sports leagues need more volunteers with integrity, a focus on safety and desire to place children first.
The City of Owensboro and Daviess County Parks Departments should be applauded for standing up for kids with their background check policies and procedures.
It is my sincere hope that each youth league in our community is held accountable to honoring these rules to ensure our children work only with quality individuals.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
September 30, 2013
By Travis Chaney
The City of Owensboro Parks Department recently passed rules and regulations for local youth leagues which contract with the City to utilize city owned facilities.
City leaders are taking the right step by moving toward the current Daviess County Parks Department policies to require volunteer and coach screening for youth leagues using their facilities.
The Daviess County policy requires all leagues using their playground facilities to screen volunteers through the parks department in the beginning of each season.
The Owensboro Parks Department policy asks the leagues to screen volunteers, but does not require any reporting on those checks unless the city elects to do a random audit or when a complaint comes in about a specific volunteer.
Despite the differences in guidelines between the two parks departments, the City’s move to establish a volunteer screening policy meant to protect children signifies a progressive move.
DUI offenders, felons, sex offenders and domestic violence criminals are not needed in youth sports as coaches, umpires or board members.
One of every three girls and one of every six boys will be victims of sexual abuse by the time they are 18. One of the places that children are vulnerable is in youth sports. Employing background checks is a great first start to prevent sexual abuse.
Another step leagues can take is to institute a “two adult” rule to protect both the child and the coach. Simply put, two adults must be with the children at all practices, games and other team activities. If the opportunity for inappropriate behavior never exists then inappropriate behavior cannot happen or be alleged.
I love a good comeback story. And I think adults should have the opportunity to redeem themselves when they get off track.
Churches, community and governmental agencies, counselors and the court system offer the best places to rehabilitate lawbreakers – not our youth leagues.
Without policies to screen volunteers, parents might not be aware of who is actually interacting with their most precious assets – their children – until there is a problem with the volunteer.
The disqualifier policies are fair and just, considering each offense allows for a time limit after which the coach or official can be accepted – with the exception of sexual crimes and violent felony offenses which do not and should not ever allow for acceptance.
I recommend all youth leagues adopt a policy to run national background checks on every coach, referee and volunteer that works with the children in their program. A national check utilizes the National Criminal and Sex Offender Database covering all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.
State and local checks may not show information about a person who has moved from state to state. If the person had a problem in Illinois it might not show up on a check in Kentucky. The $20 or so fee per screening is a worthwhile investment for a comprehensive background check.
Even with new policies in place, parents should take personal responsibility to ensure their children are being coached by the right volunteers. And be aware that not all local leagues are affiliated with our local parks departments and subject to background check rules.
Every parent should request the following from each league or youth sports organization their child participates in: volunteer disqualifier policies, codes of conduct for coaches, policies on selecting coaches, which background check service is being used (is it state or national?) and the protocol for reporting problems with coaches.
And parents, while you are making sure you are better informed about who is working with your child, consider volunteering yourself!
Non-profit organizations barely survive or thrive based on the size of their volunteer base. Youth sports leagues need more volunteers with integrity, a focus on safety and desire to place children first.
The City of Owensboro and Daviess County Parks Departments should be applauded for standing up for kids with their background check policies and procedures.
It is my sincere hope that each youth league in our community is held accountable to honoring these rules to ensure our children work only with quality individuals.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Choosing one team offers most value
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
September 23, 2013
By Travis Chaney
What lessons are we teaching our kids by signing them up to play on multiple teams and sports during the same season?
During the fall I meet some kids who are playing on multiple soccer teams or even playing both football and fall baseball at the same time.
During some spring seasons, I have met young athletes playing on multiple baseball, softball and soccer teams. One spring I saw one child who was playing on two teams in the same sport plus one team in another!
Where is loyalty, commitment and teamwork being taught in these scenarios? There is no way these multiple team athletes can ever learn to put the team first.
There will always be scheduling conflicts around practices and games when a child is on multiple sports teams during one season. At the very least, one or both teams will suffer because the child is not fully committed to either one.
Recreational leagues are typically the ones who are placed at the lowest priority and are shown the least amount of loyalty.
One summer my son was fortunate enough to be chosen on an All Star baseball team by one of the local recreational leagues. One day before the state tournament a parent informed the head coach that he wanted his son to play in a travel ball team tournament that weekend instead because it “was a better offer.”
This parent broke a commitment he made to the team up front for his son to play the entire All Star season. This parent actually had his son playing the same sport in two recreational leagues and on two travel teams that season.
Allowing kids to play on multiple teams at the same time teaches them to place individuality above doing what is best for the team. This undermines the most important values sports can teach kids: Loyalty, Commitment and Teamwork.
I learned quickly as a youth coach that if I knew a kid was going to play in two sports or for multiple teams at the same time I would try not to pick them on teams I coach even if they were above average in the talent category.
These kids won’t show up at all of the practices and will miss some games due to the conflict their parents place them in. My heart goes out to the kid in this situation because it was the parent who signed the kid up for multiple teams – not the kid.
In my experience, the parents who do this to their kids often feel strongly that coaches should be more flexible (and forgiving) by adopting their individualistic philosophies. That is just unrealistic and unfair to the other players who make the commitment to one team.
Another objection of participating in various sports at the same time comes down to obtaining enough rest for the young athlete. Even if the sports are different, the muscle fatigue accumulates as the days and weeks pass. A young athlete could be more susceptible to both overuse and traumatic injuries if the player does too much in one season.
Parents should also worry that the more hours per week or month a kid practices and plays, the more likely the kid will burn out due to lack of enjoyment and pressure from parents and coaches to perform.
These young athletes also need time to be just a kid outside of sports too. How is this possible with every night of the week and every weekend filled with formalized sports?
Just to be clear, I am not advocating against kids playing multiple sports. In fact I am a huge proponent of kids playing a variety of sports – just not at the same time.
Each sport offers new challenges and growth opportunities. Each sport develops different skills, muscles, abilities and even mindsets – all leading the young student-athlete to become a better and more complete competitor.
Different sports allow exposure to multiple coaching styles and the opportunity to make more friends.
Experiment with your kids by allowing them to sample different sports to help them figure out which activities they enjoy best. Do this by rotating the sports your kids play each season. Or sign them up for short-term clinics and camps during the summer or on weekends.
Avoid signing your kids up to play simultaneously on different teams. Don’t step on the important values playing one sport at a time offers.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
September 23, 2013
By Travis Chaney
What lessons are we teaching our kids by signing them up to play on multiple teams and sports during the same season?
During the fall I meet some kids who are playing on multiple soccer teams or even playing both football and fall baseball at the same time.
During some spring seasons, I have met young athletes playing on multiple baseball, softball and soccer teams. One spring I saw one child who was playing on two teams in the same sport plus one team in another!
Where is loyalty, commitment and teamwork being taught in these scenarios? There is no way these multiple team athletes can ever learn to put the team first.
There will always be scheduling conflicts around practices and games when a child is on multiple sports teams during one season. At the very least, one or both teams will suffer because the child is not fully committed to either one.
Recreational leagues are typically the ones who are placed at the lowest priority and are shown the least amount of loyalty.
One summer my son was fortunate enough to be chosen on an All Star baseball team by one of the local recreational leagues. One day before the state tournament a parent informed the head coach that he wanted his son to play in a travel ball team tournament that weekend instead because it “was a better offer.”
This parent broke a commitment he made to the team up front for his son to play the entire All Star season. This parent actually had his son playing the same sport in two recreational leagues and on two travel teams that season.
Allowing kids to play on multiple teams at the same time teaches them to place individuality above doing what is best for the team. This undermines the most important values sports can teach kids: Loyalty, Commitment and Teamwork.
I learned quickly as a youth coach that if I knew a kid was going to play in two sports or for multiple teams at the same time I would try not to pick them on teams I coach even if they were above average in the talent category.
These kids won’t show up at all of the practices and will miss some games due to the conflict their parents place them in. My heart goes out to the kid in this situation because it was the parent who signed the kid up for multiple teams – not the kid.
In my experience, the parents who do this to their kids often feel strongly that coaches should be more flexible (and forgiving) by adopting their individualistic philosophies. That is just unrealistic and unfair to the other players who make the commitment to one team.
Another objection of participating in various sports at the same time comes down to obtaining enough rest for the young athlete. Even if the sports are different, the muscle fatigue accumulates as the days and weeks pass. A young athlete could be more susceptible to both overuse and traumatic injuries if the player does too much in one season.
Parents should also worry that the more hours per week or month a kid practices and plays, the more likely the kid will burn out due to lack of enjoyment and pressure from parents and coaches to perform.
These young athletes also need time to be just a kid outside of sports too. How is this possible with every night of the week and every weekend filled with formalized sports?
Just to be clear, I am not advocating against kids playing multiple sports. In fact I am a huge proponent of kids playing a variety of sports – just not at the same time.
Each sport offers new challenges and growth opportunities. Each sport develops different skills, muscles, abilities and even mindsets – all leading the young student-athlete to become a better and more complete competitor.
Different sports allow exposure to multiple coaching styles and the opportunity to make more friends.
Experiment with your kids by allowing them to sample different sports to help them figure out which activities they enjoy best. Do this by rotating the sports your kids play each season. Or sign them up for short-term clinics and camps during the summer or on weekends.
Avoid signing your kids up to play simultaneously on different teams. Don’t step on the important values playing one sport at a time offers.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Bring back fun into the backyard
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
September 16, 2013
By Travis Chaney
As a youth coach I get the same question from parents all the time: “Is there anything we need to work on at home to help our child get better?”
My usual response is “No – just encourage them to play and have fun while at home.”
This response is typically tough for parents. As parents we want to help our children in almost all facets of their life including getting better at hitting, throwing, kicking, shooting and catching when it comes to playing sports.
Often times our intentions are trumped by the wrong behaviors and can end up working against building excitement.
Our primary objective should be to help young athletes develop a passion for sports so they will continue playing year to year.
When my son was younger and I was just learning how to coach I made the mistake of thinking our backyard was only for practice. I would run him through a series of drills to help him learn various skills.
From my son’s perspective, fun and amusement were absent from our early sessions. The backyard looked like a well-run practice but was noticeably lacking in spontaneity – full of too much instruction from me.
I quickly noticed that the time he wanted to spend with me “practicing” started to diminish. Why? He wasn’t having fun.
Sensing I was doing something wrong I reached out to a good friend of mine who coached his two sons through multiple sports.
As I explained my frustration, he asked an important question. He wanted to know if I was letting my son play the way he wanted to play at home or if I was driving it like a regimented practice.
Of course I was holding a practice, but I wasn’t clear about the difference.
He said my son’s enjoyment is based on how we play together. If he is determining how we spend the time, it becomes play. If I am dictating how we play together, that is practice.
He advised me to save the coaching for designated practice times with the team. He said when we are at home in the back yard I should always let my son choose what he wants to play and how he plays it.
I put my friend’s advice into motion. I stopped informing my son we are going out to practice baseball, football or basketball. Instead, I asked him if he wanted to play – and when he didn’t, I didn’t force him or start an argument about the need to practice.
When he said he wanted to play, I let him choose the sport or activity. When he chose to play basketball, if he wanted me to make passes to him so he could shoot that is what we did.
The more I let my son choose what he wanted to do, the more he wanted to go outside. Eventually he began asking me to go outside to play.
Within weeks of embracing this strategy, my son was asking me what I wanted to do when we would play together. I was able to use these opportunities to sneak in a few drills to help him with the basic fundamentals of each sport.
Based on more advice from my good friend, I turned the drills into games and competitions to keep my son engaged.
I also asked my son’s advice on how to make the drills fun and he helped me make them interesting. For example, my son taught me the game of “Jackpot” that he learned at school from his friends.
Before each activity you assign an imaginary award to each activity – the assigner is the “Jacker” – and if you caught the ball, made a basket, or hit the target you won whatever prize the Jacker called out.
We would play “3 in a row” where he would do an activity correct three times in a row and win an imaginary prize that he would choose.
I also learned to flip the roles with my son where he became the dad/coach and I became the son/player. After an activity I would have him teach it to me and coach me on how to do it.
He really enjoys the opportunity to tell me what to do and we certainly laugh a lot more now.
Now it seems obvious, but I had to have another adult clue me in on how to teach my son about sports fundamentals without dropping the fun. My hope is that sharing this story will inspire other parents to bring the fun back into the back yard.
The best thing parents can do to help children get better at sports is to let them play around with them at home on their own terms. Take off your coach and parent hat and put on your kid hat to make at-home play more enjoyable from the child’s point of view.
The more kids love to play at home, the more engaged they will be in the formal practices and games.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Youth recreational leagues need to step up their game
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
September 9, 2013
By Travis Chaney
When I first started to coach in local youth leagues, I turned to each league to ask for resources and support to help coach the kids. The typical answers ranged from “we don’t have any” and “you will figure it out” – all the way to “good luck but we can’t help you.”
I learned quickly that asking questions on what to do frustrates league officials so I did my best to figure things out on my own.
In talking with other youth sports coaches over several years, I heard many similar stories about the first couple of years of coaching.
Kidcentric Sports, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating coaches, parents and youth league leadership, was born out of these conversations.
Most leagues throw coaches into the youth sports fire with little to no training on the fundamentals of the particular sport, how to deal with parents, how to relate to children or how the league plans to evaluate them. This approach leads to kids getting burned and promising, energetic new coaches not coming back.
What do local recreational youth leagues need to do to enhance the youth sports experience and step up their game?
First, youth leagues should provide training for coaches, parents and players.
Teach coaches the fundamentals of the sport, how to teach the fundamentals and how to measure the development of each player. With all the free resources available or online training available for as low as $20 per coach through credible organizations, the core fundamentals for players can be easily defined.
Codes of Conduct for all parties involved must be explained, signed and enforced. Define what is acceptable and what is not for coaches, players, parents and spectators. And monitor behavior and apply consequences when codes are broken even when close friends of board members are involved.
I saw Daviess County High School Basketball Coach Pat Hume model my ideal of youth league leadership last year for the Panther Developmental Basketball League.
The league budgeted and paid for all of the coaches to go through online training, provided training for parents and held a clinic for league coaches to review the fundamentals he wanted taught to the players.
A mandatory parent meeting at the beginning of the season was held to review league rules, announce teams and educate parents on how to support their kids on and off the court. At the end of the season Coach Hume sent a survey to parents and coaches asking for feedback on coaches and the season.
The results were overwhelmingly positive but also gave Coach Hume several implementable suggestions to enhance the experience for the kids for this upcoming season.
This is a great example of the kind of leadership we need in all local youth sports.
Second, youth leagues should create a situation where everyone receives the same amount of playing time.
If a league is associated with a national organization like Little League and Cal Ripken for baseball or American Youth Football, minimum play rules are built into the agreement of affiliation. These minimum play rules should be just that – a minimum. Go farther and strive for even play, rather than the minimum especially for kids the age of 10 and under.
The argument against even playing time typically rests in the area of competitiveness – coaches want to be more competitive by playing their best players more and playing lesser developed players less. Coaches with the personal goal of winning a league championship and being named coach of the All Star team argue most against even playing time.
What league officials fail to realize is by helping the lesser developed kids get more playing time they are making the teams more competitive while also bolstering the retention rate for the league overall. The kids who are at the greatest risk of quitting or not returning the next season are the ones receiving less playing time.
And remember – all kids mature and develop at different rates.
What happens next season when the child who didn’t get to play is more coordinated, stronger, has grown 6 inches, gained 25 pounds and become the ideal of what the coach wants? They are unlikely to return to the league – or any sport – because they had a bad experience.
Even playing time equals fun for kids. Fun means a good experience they want to repeat.
I applaud those who step up to volunteer hours and hours of precious time to serve on these boards to make youth sports available for the children of our community.
And then I ask those same volunteers to consider looking to the future and implementing policies to keep more kids playing sports longer.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
September 9, 2013
By Travis Chaney
When I first started to coach in local youth leagues, I turned to each league to ask for resources and support to help coach the kids. The typical answers ranged from “we don’t have any” and “you will figure it out” – all the way to “good luck but we can’t help you.”
I learned quickly that asking questions on what to do frustrates league officials so I did my best to figure things out on my own.
In talking with other youth sports coaches over several years, I heard many similar stories about the first couple of years of coaching.
Kidcentric Sports, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating coaches, parents and youth league leadership, was born out of these conversations.
Most leagues throw coaches into the youth sports fire with little to no training on the fundamentals of the particular sport, how to deal with parents, how to relate to children or how the league plans to evaluate them. This approach leads to kids getting burned and promising, energetic new coaches not coming back.
What do local recreational youth leagues need to do to enhance the youth sports experience and step up their game?
First, youth leagues should provide training for coaches, parents and players.
Teach coaches the fundamentals of the sport, how to teach the fundamentals and how to measure the development of each player. With all the free resources available or online training available for as low as $20 per coach through credible organizations, the core fundamentals for players can be easily defined.
Codes of Conduct for all parties involved must be explained, signed and enforced. Define what is acceptable and what is not for coaches, players, parents and spectators. And monitor behavior and apply consequences when codes are broken even when close friends of board members are involved.
I saw Daviess County High School Basketball Coach Pat Hume model my ideal of youth league leadership last year for the Panther Developmental Basketball League.
The league budgeted and paid for all of the coaches to go through online training, provided training for parents and held a clinic for league coaches to review the fundamentals he wanted taught to the players.
A mandatory parent meeting at the beginning of the season was held to review league rules, announce teams and educate parents on how to support their kids on and off the court. At the end of the season Coach Hume sent a survey to parents and coaches asking for feedback on coaches and the season.
The results were overwhelmingly positive but also gave Coach Hume several implementable suggestions to enhance the experience for the kids for this upcoming season.
This is a great example of the kind of leadership we need in all local youth sports.
Second, youth leagues should create a situation where everyone receives the same amount of playing time.
If a league is associated with a national organization like Little League and Cal Ripken for baseball or American Youth Football, minimum play rules are built into the agreement of affiliation. These minimum play rules should be just that – a minimum. Go farther and strive for even play, rather than the minimum especially for kids the age of 10 and under.
The argument against even playing time typically rests in the area of competitiveness – coaches want to be more competitive by playing their best players more and playing lesser developed players less. Coaches with the personal goal of winning a league championship and being named coach of the All Star team argue most against even playing time.
What league officials fail to realize is by helping the lesser developed kids get more playing time they are making the teams more competitive while also bolstering the retention rate for the league overall. The kids who are at the greatest risk of quitting or not returning the next season are the ones receiving less playing time.
And remember – all kids mature and develop at different rates.
What happens next season when the child who didn’t get to play is more coordinated, stronger, has grown 6 inches, gained 25 pounds and become the ideal of what the coach wants? They are unlikely to return to the league – or any sport – because they had a bad experience.
Even playing time equals fun for kids. Fun means a good experience they want to repeat.
I applaud those who step up to volunteer hours and hours of precious time to serve on these boards to make youth sports available for the children of our community.
And then I ask those same volunteers to consider looking to the future and implementing policies to keep more kids playing sports longer.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Unconditional love is needed in youth sports
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
September 2, 2013
By Travis Chaney
What kind of message are parents sending to kids when they offer rewards for results related to youth sports?
If you spend much time around youth sports, you may have heard this phrase said by a parent to a child: “If you do this (insert sports related outcome), you will get this (insert prize) after the game.” The activities typically rewarded are mostly results based like scoring or winning.
For a child who isn’t necessarily athletically gifted – but is playing to learn, have fun and make friends – the message may not be the right one. The prizes dangled in front of kids range from money, toys and downloads on some type of device all the way to eating at a favorite restaurant after the game. Every time a parent engages in this activity the message to the child is clear: I love you conditionally and the conditions are based on how well you perform statistically in a game.
I remember one baseball game where an 8-year-old girl was extremely disappointed after a game because she didn’t get a hit. This young ball player was just learning the game. She brought a smile to every game, was coachable and gave great effort.
From a talent and skill perspective, this player had not developed as fast as the other players. For this particular player, making contact at the plate was a huge victory. This kid would even smile when she struck out as she hustled back to the dugout.
At the end of the game, I heard her crying in the parking lot. And I overheard the mother tell her daughter they were not going to her favorite place to eat because she didn’t get a hit. This parent’s perspective and reward system was way off base.
Even if a player is more advanced you need to be careful about rewards. If a batter hits a hard line drive right at the shortstop and is out, this kid should be rewarded for effort because he hit the ball hard even though it will show up as an official out.
As with all goals, some aspects can be controlled, some can be influenced and some can’t be controlled at all. In sports a beginning player can control attitude, effort, focus, choices made during play and whether or not to be coachable.
A player can influence their performance based on preparation and additional practice while also influencing teammates with the execution of what they have control over.
A player can’t control how other players play, how coaches coach or calls by referees. I have seen kids alter their play in a negative way because of the pressure applied by parents offering prizes for hits, goals, touchdowns and baskets. I have seen these same kids feel disappointed and eventually disenchanted with sports when they don’t win the prize offered by their relatives (grandparents practice this technique as much as parents).
What should you praise and reward in youth sports? Only what a child can control.
Before each game or practice set goals with your child around carrying a positive attitude, how quickly they bounce back from a mistake, how well they listen and do what the coaches say, getting along with their teammates and staying focused while engaged in play.
Play fun games with your kids to help them focus on what they can control. A year ago my 9-year-old son was having a focus problem on the football field. As I aired my frustration to my wife, she came up with a brilliant idea. She made the suggestion of conducting a water balloon fight after each football game with the division of ammunition based on his effort.
The rules were simple: for every play he gave full effort he would get one water balloon to throw at me and for every play he failed to give full effort I would get a water balloon to throw at him. We did this for the final four games of the season and the typical effort score measured by water balloons was: Son 40, Dad 5. My family had so much fun with this game that my son even gave his younger sister some of his water balloons to throw at me.
Parents need to show their kids they love them no matter what happens on the field.
Prizes aren’t needed as an incentive to play better. In fact, they place extra pressure on young athletes to perform while setting them up for failure when they are tied to situations they can’t control.
Help kids focus and set goals on what they can control in youth sports – parents and kids will be much happier.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Kids Need Encouragement – Not Coaching from the Stands
This is one of a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney being published each Monday in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
August 26, 2013
By Travis Chaney
Let’s conduct an experiment. You are the volunteer.
Imagine game situations in baseball (any sport would do) where adults are playing and their kids are the spectators. The goal of this experiment is to help parents understand what it is like to be coached from the stands by their kids.
The first segment is adults at the plate.
Several kids are standing behind home plate yelling out instructions (the “back stopper” parent coach) very loudly and at a rapid pace, “Hey dad! Elbow up, swing level, watch the ball, take a step with your front foot, bat off your shoulder, don’t swing too early, don’t swing too late!”
Next, the adults are in the field.
From the bleachers, the kids stand up and start yelling instructions before and during the play, “Hey mom! Quit playing in the grass, stop kicking the dirt, play is at first, no the play is at second, keep your butt down on a ground ball, don’t hold the ball if it comes to you – make a decision quickly, hit the first baseman in the chest or at least where he can catch it, throw over the top, outfield get it to second!”
The final part of the experiment involves allowing the kids to shout derogatory comments at the umpires.
The above “experiment” happens every night and on the weekends – only with the roles being reversed. Coaching and commenting from the bleachers by adults is a big problem in youth sports.
What is your role as the parent of a child participating in youth sports?
It’s simple: be a positive role model.
Treat the practices and games like it is a classroom – respect the classroom. During a math lesson at school you wouldn’t yell out at your kid about how to solve the problem, so don’t tell them how to shoot the basketball at practices or games.
Parents should only make positive, encouraging comments to the players on BOTH teams. Making mistakes is a part of the learning process, so don’t criticize; kids improve faster through positive reinforcement. Focus on fun and participation rather than losing and winning. Leave the coaching to the coaches.
Parents must keep their emotions in check at all times. Research shows that kids are embarrassed by their parents when they yell excessively, complain about referees openly or confront their coaches.
Your children learn from your words and actions. Don’t bombard coaches with accusations, complaints and other negative comments during practices or games, no matter how frustrated you are. If you have an issue with a coach, call the coach to set up a time to speak to them in a calm manner.
What are you teaching your children when you lose your cool in front of everybody? You are teaching your kids that in an adverse situation it is acceptable to allow your emotions to spur negative behavior.
Perhaps the best opportunity for parents to affect their child’s youth sports experience comes immediately AFTER the game or practice. Do your kids a favor and resist the urge to insert yourself as a coach on the drive home.
Instead of making observations, criticisms and giving opinions about what you saw, ask questions and refrain from passing judgment.
Ask questions like: Did you have fun? Did you play well? Do you feel as though you improved a skill today? What was your favorite part of practice/the game? What did the coach say you needed to work on? Is there anything you are having difficulty with?
Let your child tell you about their experience. Getting them to talk about the sport they are playing will help build greater enthusiasm toward sports in general.
It’s important that parents be aware of the emotional damage they can do to their children when they engage in name calling, making fun or putting someone down, yelling and saying things that hurt feelings. Parents also need to be aware of how inappropriate it is to condone win-at-all-cost mentalities, unsportsmanlike behaviors and inequities in playing time.
Most of all, parents should be offering encouragement and positive reinforcement to the kids. Any extra coaching from the sidelines will confuse and possibly embarrass the kids and will definitely frustrate the coach.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
No place for the ‘win at all costs’ coach in youth sports
This is the second in a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney to be published in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
August 19, 2013
By Travis Chaney
Winning.
Who doesn’t enjoy winning?
The reality is that in each youth sports contest there is a winner and a loser as it relates to the final score.
Coaches who are Kidcentric focus on the victories within the game based on the individual development of each player and collectively as a team. There are valuable lessons in both victory and defeat. For those adults involved in youth sports focusing solely on the winning score miss the point entirely of measuring the individual development for each kid.
These “win at all cost” coaches (WAACC) kill the spirit of most children they coach due to their over emphasis on winning based on the scoreboard.
Let me throw out a disclaimer right up front.
Travis Chaney loves to win.
From competing in sports as a player, coaching a team that wins, playing cards (you can ask my mother-in-law about this one), to competing against peers in the business world, I love to win.
In youth sports it took me a while to figure out what winning means as it relates to the kids winning outside of the final score. I can remember feeling frustrated, annoyed and irritated every time we lost when I first started coaching my son’s sports teams.
Once I learned to see winning in terms of what is beneficial to the child, I quickly adapted my methods and reframed my definition of winning. I am definitely not perfect, and I still make mistakes, but my philosophy and intentions are in alignment with what is best for kids.
What does winning mean in youth sports?
Coaches should be measured first and foremost on how many kids they retain from the beginning of the season. A player that stays a full season is a great measurement of the quality of coaching. Coaches who keep their players from beginning to end are doing their job.
We must examine what the coach did during the season to retain the players. Kidcentric coaches typically go above and beyond the playing rules to make sure every child receives adequate playing time no matter their talent level. Kidcentric coaches spread their coaching skills across all players – not just focusing on their own child or the best kids.
These coaches measure the individual development of skills and fundamentals for each kid from game to game and from the beginning of the season until the end. These coaches place winning and losing into proper perspective teaching kids not to get overly excited about winning and to handle losing with grace and composure.
What about the WAACC?
These coaches treat kids like a transaction – getting the most of each kid to purely add another notch in their own victory belt. They carry an “it’s all about me” attitude where they can tell you exactly how many games and championships they have won.
These coaches start off the season by informing parents that if they don’t win the championship this year it will be the fault of the kids – not theirs – because they know how to win. These coaches gloat after a victory, full of pride in themselves not in their players. Win or lose you will read cruel posts on their Facebook page making fun of players and opposing coaches.
These coaches complain about mandatory play rules and often find ways to run off newer or less talented players so they can play their best players with smaller squad sizes.
An example: A youth football team typically starts off the season with 21 or 22 kids. The WAACC will purposely run off the smaller and less experienced kids to get their squad size down to 16 or 17 players by the end of the season. Chasing kids off allows their best players to get more playing time in each game and gives these coaches a distinct advantage over the teams with larger squads.
The WAACC will purposely place their best hard hitting kids against the smaller kids during practices in the beginning of the season so the smaller kids will quit.
I get that football is not for every child. However, if you place a larger more experienced and aggressive kid against a smaller less experienced child without utilizing a progressive teaching model to prepare the smaller child for contact, the smaller kid is destined to quit that team and never return to football.
How can we get rid of the WAACCs?
It starts with each youth league. Youth leagues need to set the proper expectations with coaches and parents about winning.
I recently witnessed one local youth sports league which shared with their coaches and parents that winning is at the bottom of the criteria that coaches will be evaluated on at the end of the season. This league is emphasizing retention, adhering to the playing rules, safety and evaluations by the parents and players at the end of the season to provide feedback on the coaches.
Leagues must implement a monitoring system where board members or trusted coaches can mentor and monitor coaches to ensure the fundamentals are being taught in a positive environment.
League officials need to stop protecting their coaching buddies when there are complaints and start implementing consequences for coaches that break rules. And they need to implement mandatory clinics and online training to properly coach coaches.
The strongest line of defense against the WAACC has to be the parents. An observant parent will be able to spot when their child is being “mentored” by someone who doesn’t truly have their child’s interests at heart.
The parent must hold the youth league accountable if they have volunteers who are Adultcentric rather than Kidcentric. If they don’t, the culture of the league will never improve.
And if the league does not value the opinions of the parents who support them, and refuses to shift to a Kidcentric model, I hope parents will be strong enough to walk away and seek a better youth sports experience for their child.
There are many different ways to measure winning in youth sports besides just focusing on the final score. If leagues and coaches don’t change their philosophies on winning, the current trend in youth sports of losing kids (research from the National Association of Youth Sports shows that 70% of kids by the time they turn 13 quit all organized youth sports) will continue.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
August 19, 2013
By Travis Chaney
Winning.
Who doesn’t enjoy winning?
The reality is that in each youth sports contest there is a winner and a loser as it relates to the final score.
Coaches who are Kidcentric focus on the victories within the game based on the individual development of each player and collectively as a team. There are valuable lessons in both victory and defeat. For those adults involved in youth sports focusing solely on the winning score miss the point entirely of measuring the individual development for each kid.
These “win at all cost” coaches (WAACC) kill the spirit of most children they coach due to their over emphasis on winning based on the scoreboard.
Let me throw out a disclaimer right up front.
Travis Chaney loves to win.
From competing in sports as a player, coaching a team that wins, playing cards (you can ask my mother-in-law about this one), to competing against peers in the business world, I love to win.
In youth sports it took me a while to figure out what winning means as it relates to the kids winning outside of the final score. I can remember feeling frustrated, annoyed and irritated every time we lost when I first started coaching my son’s sports teams.
Once I learned to see winning in terms of what is beneficial to the child, I quickly adapted my methods and reframed my definition of winning. I am definitely not perfect, and I still make mistakes, but my philosophy and intentions are in alignment with what is best for kids.
What does winning mean in youth sports?
Coaches should be measured first and foremost on how many kids they retain from the beginning of the season. A player that stays a full season is a great measurement of the quality of coaching. Coaches who keep their players from beginning to end are doing their job.
We must examine what the coach did during the season to retain the players. Kidcentric coaches typically go above and beyond the playing rules to make sure every child receives adequate playing time no matter their talent level. Kidcentric coaches spread their coaching skills across all players – not just focusing on their own child or the best kids.
These coaches measure the individual development of skills and fundamentals for each kid from game to game and from the beginning of the season until the end. These coaches place winning and losing into proper perspective teaching kids not to get overly excited about winning and to handle losing with grace and composure.
What about the WAACC?
These coaches treat kids like a transaction – getting the most of each kid to purely add another notch in their own victory belt. They carry an “it’s all about me” attitude where they can tell you exactly how many games and championships they have won.
These coaches start off the season by informing parents that if they don’t win the championship this year it will be the fault of the kids – not theirs – because they know how to win. These coaches gloat after a victory, full of pride in themselves not in their players. Win or lose you will read cruel posts on their Facebook page making fun of players and opposing coaches.
These coaches complain about mandatory play rules and often find ways to run off newer or less talented players so they can play their best players with smaller squad sizes.
An example: A youth football team typically starts off the season with 21 or 22 kids. The WAACC will purposely run off the smaller and less experienced kids to get their squad size down to 16 or 17 players by the end of the season. Chasing kids off allows their best players to get more playing time in each game and gives these coaches a distinct advantage over the teams with larger squads.
The WAACC will purposely place their best hard hitting kids against the smaller kids during practices in the beginning of the season so the smaller kids will quit.
I get that football is not for every child. However, if you place a larger more experienced and aggressive kid against a smaller less experienced child without utilizing a progressive teaching model to prepare the smaller child for contact, the smaller kid is destined to quit that team and never return to football.
How can we get rid of the WAACCs?
It starts with each youth league. Youth leagues need to set the proper expectations with coaches and parents about winning.
I recently witnessed one local youth sports league which shared with their coaches and parents that winning is at the bottom of the criteria that coaches will be evaluated on at the end of the season. This league is emphasizing retention, adhering to the playing rules, safety and evaluations by the parents and players at the end of the season to provide feedback on the coaches.
Leagues must implement a monitoring system where board members or trusted coaches can mentor and monitor coaches to ensure the fundamentals are being taught in a positive environment.
League officials need to stop protecting their coaching buddies when there are complaints and start implementing consequences for coaches that break rules. And they need to implement mandatory clinics and online training to properly coach coaches.
The strongest line of defense against the WAACC has to be the parents. An observant parent will be able to spot when their child is being “mentored” by someone who doesn’t truly have their child’s interests at heart.
The parent must hold the youth league accountable if they have volunteers who are Adultcentric rather than Kidcentric. If they don’t, the culture of the league will never improve.
And if the league does not value the opinions of the parents who support them, and refuses to shift to a Kidcentric model, I hope parents will be strong enough to walk away and seek a better youth sports experience for their child.
There are many different ways to measure winning in youth sports besides just focusing on the final score. If leagues and coaches don’t change their philosophies on winning, the current trend in youth sports of losing kids (research from the National Association of Youth Sports shows that 70% of kids by the time they turn 13 quit all organized youth sports) will continue.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Adults striking out in Youth Sports
This is the first in a series of columns by Kidcentric Sports founder Travis Chaney to be published in the Owensboro, Ky., Messenger-Inquirer.
August 12, 2013
Three out of four families in America are involved in youth sports. Owensboro carries the distinct designation of Kentucky’s sports town yet we possess the same problems that cast a dark shadow on youth sports nationwide. Over the next several weeks the dark side of youth sports will be discussed along with solutions to bring the much needed light to our children.
First, we must start with the premise behind youth sports from a kid’s perspective. Research shows that kids do not play youth sports to win. In fact here is a list of the top reasons kids say they want to participate in sports.
• I want to have fun
• I want to do something I’m good at
• I want to be with friends and make new ones
• I want to get fit and stay in shape
• I want to learn new skills and improve on existing ones
• I want to play and participate as a member of a team
One study conducted by Michigan State University researchers Martha Ewing and Vern Seefeldt conducted in 1989 used a pool of 28,000 boys and girls from around the U.S. and asked the question: Why do you play sports?
The top answer then was “fun,” followed by “to do something I’m good at” and “to improve my skills.” Winning did not crack the top 10. This surprises many adults who value outcomes – winning – more than the experience of fun, friends and fitness. Winning could be called the dirtiest word in youth sports with all of the troubles the quest to victory causes.
When kids asked why they quit youth sports they responded with the following:
• I lost interest
• I was not having fun
• It took too much time
• Coach was a poor teacher
• Too much pressure
Asked what changes might get them involved in sports again, frequent responses included:
• If practices were more fun
• If I could play more
• If coaches understood players better
What these findings suggest is that the way our youth sports programs are organized and run fail to meet the needs of children – in other words, they are “adultcentric” rather than “kidcentric.”
What does this really boil down to? Adults cause the problems.
Yes, you the person who is reading this column. Yes, me the person who is writing this column.
We share in the creation and manifestation of the harms haunting youth sports. I am calling out our community to own these problems in an effort to implement sustainable solutions. The first solution is for all of us to answer this one question when it comes to your respective role (parent, coach, league board member, volunteer, etc.) in youth sports when faced with decisions for children: Will this benefit the kid?
In other words, think of the children first and leave the adult agenda out of the equation. If the answer is “yes, it will benefit the kid” then you should pursue it. If the answer is “no,” simply don’t engage in it.
Over the next several weeks we are going to explore topics like win-at-all-cost coaches, out of control parents, the failure of league responsibilities, local positions on youth sports, taking criminals off the playing fields and courts, the most disconnected phrase in youth sports “we are out here for the kids,” and my personal journey that led to the formation of Kidcentric Sports. I promise to not only cite the problems but to also offer viable solutions.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
August 12, 2013
Three out of four families in America are involved in youth sports. Owensboro carries the distinct designation of Kentucky’s sports town yet we possess the same problems that cast a dark shadow on youth sports nationwide. Over the next several weeks the dark side of youth sports will be discussed along with solutions to bring the much needed light to our children.
First, we must start with the premise behind youth sports from a kid’s perspective. Research shows that kids do not play youth sports to win. In fact here is a list of the top reasons kids say they want to participate in sports.
• I want to have fun
• I want to do something I’m good at
• I want to be with friends and make new ones
• I want to get fit and stay in shape
• I want to learn new skills and improve on existing ones
• I want to play and participate as a member of a team
One study conducted by Michigan State University researchers Martha Ewing and Vern Seefeldt conducted in 1989 used a pool of 28,000 boys and girls from around the U.S. and asked the question: Why do you play sports?
The top answer then was “fun,” followed by “to do something I’m good at” and “to improve my skills.” Winning did not crack the top 10. This surprises many adults who value outcomes – winning – more than the experience of fun, friends and fitness. Winning could be called the dirtiest word in youth sports with all of the troubles the quest to victory causes.
When kids asked why they quit youth sports they responded with the following:
• I lost interest
• I was not having fun
• It took too much time
• Coach was a poor teacher
• Too much pressure
Asked what changes might get them involved in sports again, frequent responses included:
• If practices were more fun
• If I could play more
• If coaches understood players better
What these findings suggest is that the way our youth sports programs are organized and run fail to meet the needs of children – in other words, they are “adultcentric” rather than “kidcentric.”
What does this really boil down to? Adults cause the problems.
Yes, you the person who is reading this column. Yes, me the person who is writing this column.
We share in the creation and manifestation of the harms haunting youth sports. I am calling out our community to own these problems in an effort to implement sustainable solutions. The first solution is for all of us to answer this one question when it comes to your respective role (parent, coach, league board member, volunteer, etc.) in youth sports when faced with decisions for children: Will this benefit the kid?
In other words, think of the children first and leave the adult agenda out of the equation. If the answer is “yes, it will benefit the kid” then you should pursue it. If the answer is “no,” simply don’t engage in it.
Over the next several weeks we are going to explore topics like win-at-all-cost coaches, out of control parents, the failure of league responsibilities, local positions on youth sports, taking criminals off the playing fields and courts, the most disconnected phrase in youth sports “we are out here for the kids,” and my personal journey that led to the formation of Kidcentric Sports. I promise to not only cite the problems but to also offer viable solutions.
Travis Chaney is president and co-founder of Kidcentric Sports and currently serves as a board member for Kids Football League.
Kidcentric Sports League Partner KFL Honors Tom Watson at Benefit Dinner
May 11, 2013
On Saturday, May 11, 2013, Kidcentric Sports League Partner Kids Football League honored our own community hero – Tom Watson. Tom’s leadership ripples across our small community and all the way across the country.
Tom Watson’s impact on our community, region and nation continues to show up in the character development of many young men. As a youth sports coach, he has dedicated his adult life to the children of Owensboro coaching baseball and football – from Little League, Babe Ruth League and Owensboro Catholic High baseball to collegiate Division II teams. It’s very common for Tom to run into former players he coached who take the time to thank him for the life lessons he taught them through sports.
In his first attempt for public office, Thomas H. Watson defeated incumbent Commissioner Al Mattingly, Jr., in the 2004 general election for the Office of Mayor of Owensboro. Mayor Watson served a four-year term (January 1, 2005 – December 31, 2008). Tom brought fiscal responsibility to Owensboro with his leadership.
Nationally, Tom is past president of the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) and continues to serve AOPA on the Committee on Veteran’s Affairs and its Government Relations Committee, advising national lawmakers on legislation pertaining to the specific needs of disabled individuals. He is a past member of the board of directors of the Kentucky League of Cities, serving on the Legislative Affairs Committee.
Tom is past chairman of the Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, past board member of Owensboro-Daviess County Industry, Inc., past chairman of the Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities, past chairman of the Wendell Foster Campus annual fund drive and a graduate of Leadership Owensboro.
In 1990, Tom received the Owensboro-Daviess County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the year award. In 1996, Tom was awarded the Mayor’s Award for Excellence for Personal Achievement, the Leadership Owensboro Alumni Award for Excellence in Healthcare and was chosen as a “Community Hero” by the United Way and was selected to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay for the 1996 Olympics.
There are many more achievements and accomplishments that can be listed. Tom did all of this while being married to Barbara, raising his two sons, and growing into the role of grandfather to seven grandchildren.
At the early age of 19, Tom overcame a life threatening injury that caused 12 broken ribs, four holes in his left lung, a dislocated shoulder, broken shoulder blade and collar bone, a fractured pelvis on the left side and a traumatic amputation of his right leg above the knee. Tom spent 77 days in the hospital battling an addiction to pain killers, fluid in the lungs, and fighting off infection. Tom rose from the physical destruction of losing his leg to become a positive light shining on the many people and organizations he touched with his passion to serve, teach and lead.
Thank you for helping Kids Football League and Kidcentric Sports celebrate this “mountain of a man” – Tom Watson!
May 11, 2013
On Saturday, May 11, 2013, Kidcentric Sports League Partner Kids Football League honored our own community hero – Tom Watson. Tom’s leadership ripples across our small community and all the way across the country.
Tom Watson’s impact on our community, region and nation continues to show up in the character development of many young men. As a youth sports coach, he has dedicated his adult life to the children of Owensboro coaching baseball and football – from Little League, Babe Ruth League and Owensboro Catholic High baseball to collegiate Division II teams. It’s very common for Tom to run into former players he coached who take the time to thank him for the life lessons he taught them through sports.
In his first attempt for public office, Thomas H. Watson defeated incumbent Commissioner Al Mattingly, Jr., in the 2004 general election for the Office of Mayor of Owensboro. Mayor Watson served a four-year term (January 1, 2005 – December 31, 2008). Tom brought fiscal responsibility to Owensboro with his leadership.
Nationally, Tom is past president of the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) and continues to serve AOPA on the Committee on Veteran’s Affairs and its Government Relations Committee, advising national lawmakers on legislation pertaining to the specific needs of disabled individuals. He is a past member of the board of directors of the Kentucky League of Cities, serving on the Legislative Affairs Committee.
Tom is past chairman of the Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, past board member of Owensboro-Daviess County Industry, Inc., past chairman of the Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities, past chairman of the Wendell Foster Campus annual fund drive and a graduate of Leadership Owensboro.
In 1990, Tom received the Owensboro-Daviess County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the year award. In 1996, Tom was awarded the Mayor’s Award for Excellence for Personal Achievement, the Leadership Owensboro Alumni Award for Excellence in Healthcare and was chosen as a “Community Hero” by the United Way and was selected to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay for the 1996 Olympics.
There are many more achievements and accomplishments that can be listed. Tom did all of this while being married to Barbara, raising his two sons, and growing into the role of grandfather to seven grandchildren.
At the early age of 19, Tom overcame a life threatening injury that caused 12 broken ribs, four holes in his left lung, a dislocated shoulder, broken shoulder blade and collar bone, a fractured pelvis on the left side and a traumatic amputation of his right leg above the knee. Tom spent 77 days in the hospital battling an addiction to pain killers, fluid in the lungs, and fighting off infection. Tom rose from the physical destruction of losing his leg to become a positive light shining on the many people and organizations he touched with his passion to serve, teach and lead.
Thank you for helping Kids Football League and Kidcentric Sports celebrate this “mountain of a man” – Tom Watson!
Kidcentric Sports Announces 2013 Partnership with New Kids Football League
March 27, 2013
Kidcentric Sports has announced a new partner league for 2013. The newly formed Greater Daviess County Youth Gridiron League - also know by the name Kids Football
League or KFL - will partner with Kidcentric Sports for training of coaches and parents for their first season. Other partners for the new league include the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the NFL, USA Football, American Youth Football (AYF) and American Youth Cheer (AYC). Click here for more information about Kids Football League.
Online registration for KFL is now open, click here to register!
Kidcentric Sports has announced a new partner league for 2013. The newly formed Greater Daviess County Youth Gridiron League - also know by the name Kids Football
League or KFL - will partner with Kidcentric Sports for training of coaches and parents for their first season. Other partners for the new league include the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the NFL, USA Football, American Youth Football (AYF) and American Youth Cheer (AYC). Click here for more information about Kids Football League.
Online registration for KFL is now open, click here to register!
Help for Youth Football Coaches in the Ohio Valley and Beyond
By Dave Cisar in his March 6, 2013, Winning Youth Football eNewsletter
Every issue of this newsletter we will be highlighting a program that may be able to help you reach your goals as a youth football coach. Travis Chaney from Owensboro, Kentucky may be someone that fits the bill for you.
Travis is so passionate about the importance of a positive youth sports experience that he and his wife Christy formed Kidcentric Sports in 2011. Kidcentric Sports is a non-profit organization partnering with local youth sports organizations to create an extraordinary, positive, bonding and memorable youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives. "Through my family's involvement in local youth sports, I noticed some adults think it is all about winning - when it should really be all about creating fun for the kids and teaching them the fundamentals of their sport," Travis said. "Adults ruin the fun of the game for the children in their personal pursuit of the win. Through Kidcentric Sports we seek to give kids a better sports experience by educating adults on what their role should be in youth sports." A study conducted by Michigan State University in the 1990s showed that the top reason both boys and girls participate in non-school sports is to have fun. "Winning did not even make it into the top 5 reasons the kids gave," Travis said.
To accomplish its primary goal of engaging more kids in sports and kids playing longer, Kidcentric Sports created a local board made up of parents, coaches, school sports officials and former athletes. The board is affiliated with the National Alliance for Youth Sports to offer educational opportunities for coaches, parents and youth leagues on how to transfer life skills to sports and sports lessons to life. They have also brought national figures in to offer training and bring attention to their mission. So far, they have hosted John Mozeliak, General Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals; Jeff Berry, a former Owensboro resident and baseball agent for CAA sports; Trevor Moawad, director of IMG Performance Institute, and Joe Ehrmann, former college football All-American, NFL player and founder of Coach for America.
For more information about Kidcentric Sports and what they are accomplishing in Owensboro, visit their website at: http://www.kidcentric-sports.com/
I've spoken with Travis and know his passion for developing young people. He is one of us, his youth football team won the Owensboro Daviess County Youth Football
League last year using the Winning Youth Football system. If you are in his neck of the woods, connect with him, he is a very successful businessman, manager and
coach.
Please remember to e-mail me at coachdave@winningyouthfootball.com if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Dave Cisar
Winning Youth Football
Every issue of this newsletter we will be highlighting a program that may be able to help you reach your goals as a youth football coach. Travis Chaney from Owensboro, Kentucky may be someone that fits the bill for you.
Travis is so passionate about the importance of a positive youth sports experience that he and his wife Christy formed Kidcentric Sports in 2011. Kidcentric Sports is a non-profit organization partnering with local youth sports organizations to create an extraordinary, positive, bonding and memorable youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives. "Through my family's involvement in local youth sports, I noticed some adults think it is all about winning - when it should really be all about creating fun for the kids and teaching them the fundamentals of their sport," Travis said. "Adults ruin the fun of the game for the children in their personal pursuit of the win. Through Kidcentric Sports we seek to give kids a better sports experience by educating adults on what their role should be in youth sports." A study conducted by Michigan State University in the 1990s showed that the top reason both boys and girls participate in non-school sports is to have fun. "Winning did not even make it into the top 5 reasons the kids gave," Travis said.
To accomplish its primary goal of engaging more kids in sports and kids playing longer, Kidcentric Sports created a local board made up of parents, coaches, school sports officials and former athletes. The board is affiliated with the National Alliance for Youth Sports to offer educational opportunities for coaches, parents and youth leagues on how to transfer life skills to sports and sports lessons to life. They have also brought national figures in to offer training and bring attention to their mission. So far, they have hosted John Mozeliak, General Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals; Jeff Berry, a former Owensboro resident and baseball agent for CAA sports; Trevor Moawad, director of IMG Performance Institute, and Joe Ehrmann, former college football All-American, NFL player and founder of Coach for America.
For more information about Kidcentric Sports and what they are accomplishing in Owensboro, visit their website at: http://www.kidcentric-sports.com/
I've spoken with Travis and know his passion for developing young people. He is one of us, his youth football team won the Owensboro Daviess County Youth Football
League last year using the Winning Youth Football system. If you are in his neck of the woods, connect with him, he is a very successful businessman, manager and
coach.
Please remember to e-mail me at coachdave@winningyouthfootball.com if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Dave Cisar
Winning Youth Football
Kidcentric Sports Chosen One of Owensboro's Top 10 Sports Stories for 2011
Link to full article at messenger-inquirer.com: http://www.messenger-inquirer.com/articles/2012/01/01/sports/6032456.txt
Article Excerpt: Return of region tourney tops list
BY MARK MATHIS and Jake Jennings, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Sunday, January 1, 2012 12:29 AM CST
7. Kidcentric group forms
Owensboro business owner and entrepreneur Travis Chaney wanted to put together an organization that would help promote and enhance youth sports in Owensboro, that’s how Kidcentric Sports came into being.
The new non-profit organization wants to partner with local youth sports leagues to create a positive, bonding youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives.
Kidcentric wants to keep the focus on kids, their learning of the sport, character development and having fun. It also wants to boost participation and help youth leagues retain players from year to year.
Chaney has also enlisted the help of Tom Watson, Altaf Merchant, Nick Whiteside and John DeLacey to get the venture off the ground.
Kidcentric will be hosting a benefit dinner on Jan. 21 at The Hines Center. The featured guest is John Mozeliak, vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.
BY MARK MATHIS and Jake Jennings, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Sunday, January 1, 2012 12:29 AM CST
7. Kidcentric group forms
Owensboro business owner and entrepreneur Travis Chaney wanted to put together an organization that would help promote and enhance youth sports in Owensboro, that’s how Kidcentric Sports came into being.
The new non-profit organization wants to partner with local youth sports leagues to create a positive, bonding youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives.
Kidcentric wants to keep the focus on kids, their learning of the sport, character development and having fun. It also wants to boost participation and help youth leagues retain players from year to year.
Chaney has also enlisted the help of Tom Watson, Altaf Merchant, Nick Whiteside and John DeLacey to get the venture off the ground.
Kidcentric will be hosting a benefit dinner on Jan. 21 at The Hines Center. The featured guest is John Mozeliak, vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Cardinal's General Manager John Mozeliak and MLB Sports Agent Jeff Berry set to Speak in Owensboro at Benefit Event for Kidcentric Sports
St. Louis Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak will speak at a dinner benefit for Kidcentric Sports in Owensboro on Jan. 21, 2012.
November 21, 2011
John Mozeliak, vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, will be the featured guest at a benefit dinner for Kidcentric Sports on the evening of Jan. 21, 2012, at The Hines Center in Philpot.
Mozeliak will be joined by Jeff Berry, an Owensboro native who is a certified player agent with the Major League Baseball Players Association and currently serves as co-Head of Baseball for CAA Sports, a division of Creative Artists Agency.
Kidcentric Sports is a non-profit organization partnering with local youth sports organizations to create an extraordinary, positive, bonding and memorable youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives. Kidcentric Sports focuses on making sure the sports experience is all about the kids - their learning, character development, life skills transfer and enjoyment. Kidcentric Sports is also interested in boosting the overall participation in youth sports and helping leagues retain players from year to year.
To accomplish this long list of goals, Kidcentric Sports has affiliated with the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) to offer educational opportunities for coaches, parents and youth leagues on how to transfer life skills to sports and sports lessons to life. NAYS is America's leading advocate for positive and safe sports and activities for children. For more information on NAYS, please go to www.nays.org.
Kidcentric Sports is establishing a local NAYS chapter, so they are calling on area volunteers who share the vision of Kidcentric Sports to pass on their wisdom, passion and knowledge in providing a positive youth sports experience for children.
John Mozeliak, vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, will be the featured guest at a benefit dinner for Kidcentric Sports on the evening of Jan. 21, 2012, at The Hines Center in Philpot.
Mozeliak will be joined by Jeff Berry, an Owensboro native who is a certified player agent with the Major League Baseball Players Association and currently serves as co-Head of Baseball for CAA Sports, a division of Creative Artists Agency.
Kidcentric Sports is a non-profit organization partnering with local youth sports organizations to create an extraordinary, positive, bonding and memorable youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives. Kidcentric Sports focuses on making sure the sports experience is all about the kids - their learning, character development, life skills transfer and enjoyment. Kidcentric Sports is also interested in boosting the overall participation in youth sports and helping leagues retain players from year to year.
To accomplish this long list of goals, Kidcentric Sports has affiliated with the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) to offer educational opportunities for coaches, parents and youth leagues on how to transfer life skills to sports and sports lessons to life. NAYS is America's leading advocate for positive and safe sports and activities for children. For more information on NAYS, please go to www.nays.org.
Kidcentric Sports is establishing a local NAYS chapter, so they are calling on area volunteers who share the vision of Kidcentric Sports to pass on their wisdom, passion and knowledge in providing a positive youth sports experience for children.
From the sideline to the boardroom, IMG Performance Institute (IPI) Director, Trevor Moawad, has received world-wide recognition for his involvement in the field of mental conditioning and peak performance education. He motivates the motivated. In working with some of the best coaches and the most elite athletes, Moawad has coaxed the ultimate in production from some of the most respected names in the business. Youth-soccer-phenom, Freddy Adu states, “Trevor has a sense of empathy and knowledge that separates him from others in this area (mental conditioning). He takes unique or complex information and presents it is a way that directly relates to you. I have worked with him since I was 11 years old. The message of positive expectation has stayed the same – but the model of delivery has consistently evolved.” The clients Trevor Moawad has managed include University of Alabama, Florida State University, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and The US Soccer Federation to name a few. Moawad will be offering a variety of training classes in Owensboro on Jan. 21, 2012, prior to the benefit dinner. Before the dinner, Moawad will also participate in a panel discussion "Where Business Meets Sports" with Business Coach and Consultant Travis Chaney of Dynamic Directions and MLB Sports Agent Jeff Berry of CAA Sports, among others.
Kidcentric Sports Formed to Improve Local Youth Sports Experience
October 17, 2011
Travis Chaney vented one too many times to his wife about the negativity he was seeing in local youth sports. Christy Chaney finally just turned to him and asked, “Well, are you going to do anything about it?”
For Travis Chaney, Owensboro business owner and entrepreneur, that is the moment when the idea for Kidcentric Sports was born. “Through my family's involvement in youth sports, I have noticed that some adults think it is all about winning - when it should really be all about creating fun for the kids and teaching them the fundamentals of their sport,” Chaney said.
Chaney points to a large study conducted by Michigan State University in the 1990s. The study showed that the top reason both boys and girls participate in non-school sports is to have fun. “Winning did not even make it into the top 10 reasons they gave,” Chaney said. “Adults often ruin the fun of the game in pursuit of the win.”
Kidcentric Sports is a non-profit organization partnering with local youth sports organizations to create an extraordinary, positive, bonding and memorable youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives. Kidcentric Sports focuses on making sure the sports experience is all about the kids - their learning, character development, life skills transfer and enjoyment. Kidcentric Sports is also interested in boosting the overall participation in youth sports and helping leagues retain players from year to year.
To accomplish this long list of goals, Kidcentric Sports has affiliated with the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) to offer educational opportunities for coaches, parents and youth leagues on how to transfer life skills to sports and sports lessons to life. NAYS is America's leading advocate for positive and safe sports and activities for children. For more information on NAYS, please go to www.nays.org.
Kidcentric Sports is establishing a local NAYS chapter, so Chaney is also calling on area volunteers who share the vision of Kidcentric Sports to pass on their wisdom, passion and knowledge in providing a positive youth sports experience for children.
Chaney was aided in founding Kidcentric Sports by several local volunteers including former Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson, and former professional tennis player Altaf Merchant.
Tom Watson has been involved in local youth sports in every way imaginable since the late 1950s, filling the roles of athlete, coach, parent and youth league leader. “I am the first to admit I did a lot of things wrong when I was coaching,” Watson said. “I think it is extremely important for us to take a step back and work together to create a circle of parents, players, coaches, officials and board members with the goal of making each season so fun the kids want to come back and play the next year.”
Altaf Merchant was a professional tennis player in his native India and has been teaching and coaching tennis for nearly 20 years in India and the United States. “No matter how great of a coach you are, how knowledgeable you are, you only spend two hours a day with the kids at most,” Merchant said. “What is really going to shape that kid is what happens in the car after the game - what the parents have to say. For my most successful players, the positive attitude of the parents played a large role.”
If anyone is interested in getting involved with Kidcentric Sports as a volunteer, contact Travis Chaney at travischaney@dynamicdirections-d2.com .
Travis Chaney vented one too many times to his wife about the negativity he was seeing in local youth sports. Christy Chaney finally just turned to him and asked, “Well, are you going to do anything about it?”
For Travis Chaney, Owensboro business owner and entrepreneur, that is the moment when the idea for Kidcentric Sports was born. “Through my family's involvement in youth sports, I have noticed that some adults think it is all about winning - when it should really be all about creating fun for the kids and teaching them the fundamentals of their sport,” Chaney said.
Chaney points to a large study conducted by Michigan State University in the 1990s. The study showed that the top reason both boys and girls participate in non-school sports is to have fun. “Winning did not even make it into the top 10 reasons they gave,” Chaney said. “Adults often ruin the fun of the game in pursuit of the win.”
Kidcentric Sports is a non-profit organization partnering with local youth sports organizations to create an extraordinary, positive, bonding and memorable youth sports experience for athletes, parents, coaches and league representatives. Kidcentric Sports focuses on making sure the sports experience is all about the kids - their learning, character development, life skills transfer and enjoyment. Kidcentric Sports is also interested in boosting the overall participation in youth sports and helping leagues retain players from year to year.
To accomplish this long list of goals, Kidcentric Sports has affiliated with the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) to offer educational opportunities for coaches, parents and youth leagues on how to transfer life skills to sports and sports lessons to life. NAYS is America's leading advocate for positive and safe sports and activities for children. For more information on NAYS, please go to www.nays.org.
Kidcentric Sports is establishing a local NAYS chapter, so Chaney is also calling on area volunteers who share the vision of Kidcentric Sports to pass on their wisdom, passion and knowledge in providing a positive youth sports experience for children.
Chaney was aided in founding Kidcentric Sports by several local volunteers including former Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson, and former professional tennis player Altaf Merchant.
Tom Watson has been involved in local youth sports in every way imaginable since the late 1950s, filling the roles of athlete, coach, parent and youth league leader. “I am the first to admit I did a lot of things wrong when I was coaching,” Watson said. “I think it is extremely important for us to take a step back and work together to create a circle of parents, players, coaches, officials and board members with the goal of making each season so fun the kids want to come back and play the next year.”
Altaf Merchant was a professional tennis player in his native India and has been teaching and coaching tennis for nearly 20 years in India and the United States. “No matter how great of a coach you are, how knowledgeable you are, you only spend two hours a day with the kids at most,” Merchant said. “What is really going to shape that kid is what happens in the car after the game - what the parents have to say. For my most successful players, the positive attitude of the parents played a large role.”
If anyone is interested in getting involved with Kidcentric Sports as a volunteer, contact Travis Chaney at travischaney@dynamicdirections-d2.com .
