Suggestions for Team Coaching Junior Athletes
1. Treat all Junior athletes with respect-no condescending attitudes please!
2. Do use common sense in dealing with discipline issues.
3. Do use your captains. Personally I liked choosing my own captains because I had a good idea of who would lead and who would follow.
4. Do not ignore poor behavior. Address it immediately.
5, Do use your rule-book if you have to.
6. Do choose your battles to fight wisely.
7. Do meet with the team and go over rules they may not know, local venue rules and issues, and try to head off problems before they occur.
8. Do work with hydration, nutrition, and other issues with kids.
9. Do work with parents. Isolating parents is a bad idea. They know their children better than you.
10. Do listen with an open, non-judgmental mind when talking to a young athlete.
11. Beware of the drama! Sometimes small problems become major issues in the mind of a young, tired athlete!
12. Do be the adult in the room. Do not lose your temper or let words of anger get to you.
13. Try to make it as fun as possible. Let other juniors lead the meetings. Do not be all about you-make it about the team!
14. Do use team building tricks like a secret handshake etc.
15. If you are coaching other private coaches athletes-communicate with them as much as possible and even ask for help if you have to.
16. Keep meetings at a minimum. I liked one meeting before competition, and one maybe during on a quiet evening or morning. The goal is to win matches and represent your country in the best possible manner!
17. Do create a hierarchy for coaching assignments. Too many coaches or voices in an emotionally charged match is not a good thing.
18. Speaking of 17, I always tried to use personal coaches, or parental coaches if they were available by allowing them to sit next to me but not allowing them to speak to the athlete if it was detrimental to that athlete’s performance, This has to be done on a case by case basis.
It is a great honor to work with kids. Safe sport training, and other tools of training are super-important. Make sure you are trained professionally and act professionally! Tell your team, Have fun-it is a game!!