Make It Fun
The most important thing you can do for youth athletes is to make the sports fun. This will make them more likely to pay attention and learn and to stick with the sport. Nobody wants to play a sport that isn’t fun. Find a way to coach in a creative way and do little games and challenges to make practices more fun as well.
Teach The Basics
All new athletes should learn the basics of a sport before they learn anything else. Once they have mastered the basics, they can learn harder and more difficult skills and tricks and improve more and more each season. The younger an athlete is when he learns the basics, the better he will become as he grows older and continues to play.
Give Praise
When young children are learning to play soccer or any sport, they are often self-conscious and wonder if they are doing it right. Make sure you aren’t only offering criticism during your time as a coach, but also lots of praise when an athlete gets it right or does something well.
Brandon Steven finds that coaching youth sports is fun and rewarding. He encourages his children to stay active and hopes that by coaching them he can help motivate them to try new things and succeed.
