Is yelling in anger needed when coaching kids?
Do we need to scream to motivate kids to become better athletes?
Yelling is not coaching!!!
Coaching is teaching and this is often misunderstood by youth coaches. Our players deserve to be taught the game.
You cannot emphasize enough that yelling in anger does NOTHING for building your young athlete’s ability to play better.
Most coaches that yell in anger have difficulties in getting their point across to a young, inexperienced and sometimes lackadaisical athlete.
The type of play many young athletes perform infuriates the coach because that is not how he or she played the game or how they were coached to play the game.
The problem with this is that many young players do not have the emotional or intellectual ability yet to understand that the coach wants them to do better.
Instead the athlete feels inadequate and they feel like they cannot improve.
Kids take yelling to heart.
Once they feel that anger towards them many kids have difficulty in rebounding their self-worth to the point that they want to do better.
Many of the coaches that yell probably had the same thing happen to them when they were young athletes.
They feel it is ok to be coaching kids like this because it happened to them and they “turned out okay”.
This method of coaching kids may work for some but most kids don’t understand why coaches are yelling.
Scaring or intimidating a child into performing better is not generally successful and typically the athlete would perform much better if they were being taught what they were doing wrong.
Check out the following article to learn different viewpoints on why this is not the best method to help young athletes become better athletes but more importantly better people.
Sports are a fun tool for young athletes to learn about life and how to be better prepared for what life throws at us when we get into the real world.
4 Key Elements for Coaching Kids
- WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE. Vulgarity should never be tolerated on the football field. If you’re a coach who is cursing around 10 year olds, then you have a problem and this role may not be best for you.
- FOCUS ON EFFORT. Are you fixated with winning? So much so that it drives you to anger when your team loses? In youth football, wins and losses aren’t as important as developing respect for your teammates, coaches, parents, opponents and for the game itself.
- DON’T REPEAT HISTORY. If you had a coach who coached angry and therefore feel it is OK because you turned out fine, it’s not. You are yelling angrily at children. That’s not turning out OK. Think “KIDS FIRST”!
- SEPARATE HOME, WORK AND FIELD. Issues at home or work transpose to the football field. When you’re on the field it’s about football, forget all else.
It’s not easy for many adults to separate their past and what is going on in their lives off the field. However, it is vital to remember that coaches will impact many, many lives!!
One bad coach that tells a child something negative may run that athlete away from the sport.
This same child may be going through a tough time in their lives.
That child may need some sympathy as opposed to screaming to help them through a difficult time.
You never know, that child may develop into the next all star in their high school or even college if they are given the proper coaching and support.
It is a HUGE shame that many kids end up leaving sports due to one coach that feels yelling in anger at their athletes is the way to make them better.
Unfortunately the pressure to win in youth sports has never been greater. Many parents expect, even demand, success in their young child’s lives.
The focus should be on teaching and developing young athletes not on wins and losses.
More importantly, when coaching kids, the focus should also be on developing great leaders and great members of a community.
We can do that when we are coaching kids.
Remember very few people remember a 6th grade state championship but everyone remembers how they were treated as a young athlete by their coach.
Be the type of coach that is remembered for building up and making an athlete feel valued and appreciated for their effort and growth.
Even those athletes that do not improve at all during this particular season may end up improving greatly in future seasons, provided they do not quit.
Keep kids involved in sports and help them have fun!!!
That’s what sports should be all about… fun.
Work Hard, Play Big!
Coach Glenn
