r/CoachingYouthSports

I dont know if this is the right place for this.

We are beggining to take attendance at my training. Pen and paper is slow and innificient. Is there an app that is simple and free to keep track of attendance?

All i need is-

Week-

Day if the week-

List of students that i can mark absent-

In yes or no.

History to look back weekly at attendance'

Is there anything like that people can link me to?

Well my 6th grader who says he now “loves lacrosse “ had his last game of the season today.

I think he touched the ball about 15 times this season . He ran around , didn’t seem to give a crazy intense effort but just sort of hung out. He has a very good team and he’s clearly one of the least talented guys on the team. After the game he asked to go get a “custom stick” at a Lacrosse store. I am at a loss. I cant fathom spending money like that when he’s sort of just coasting along.

I posted on this thread before about him not getting passes in games and a few boys on the team carrying his team. He seemed to get over it and was ok to just play the last few games in neutral.

I’m fine supporting him and he wants to go to lax camp but I’m just not seeing it. I was a baseball guy.

The title says most of it. I want to better understand very in depth things along the lines of:

• How a coach can teach athletes that EFFORT will have payoffs
• How a coach can teach the joy of improving your skills
• How a coach can teach athletes a desire to do well (the process) AND to win (the outcome)
• How a coach can teach athletes that they have an impact on how the game can go, it's not just up to luck or what their opponent does. We have some control/influence here.
• The psychology of competitiveness (it's a complex thing; competitiveness can exist in ways that are healthy and unhealthy; it can come down to comparing yourself to others or just to your past self; how much are people born with it vs it's in their genes; etc)
• How age can make an impact on the psychology of all this - middle schoolers will struggle more than high schoolers, but how can I work with that?
• What I'm NOT looking for is just a motivational talk/book that's directed at the reader/listener - I want something that explains HOW a coach can TEACH these skills/mindsets, and goes in depth.
• Also NOT looking for things like brushing off mistakes, having grit in tough circumstances, etc.
• Ultimately just teaching a desire to do well and improve when the athletes just seem casual and/or lazy.

Articles are too short to really cover the info I'm hoping to take in. Books, lectures, online courses, or other long form content are what I'm hoping for. But I'll take whatever I can get!

If you want to go a bit more in depth on my situation:

I coach volleyball - middle and high school. I just finished an 8th grade club volleyball season. Many players on the team gave off this vibe of just wanting to play the game, kind of recreationally. Some examples of the vibe they gave off:

• not really caring about making themselves better
• not showing much focus when being taught a new thing (talking, eyes wandering etc)
• not focusing on the point of the drill (improve footwork or other technique) and just passing/hitting the ball and clearly being bored with it
• Being bored with slower-paced, skill-development activities
• emotions in games seemed rather fun/chill, not intense or focused etc
• lots of just socializing, "here to hang out with my pals" type energy
• constantly forgetting things they've been told and needing reminders (whether it's technique, team expectations, how the drill works etc)

A lot of that is perhaps typical of that age, but that's partly my point. They haven't necessarily been taught the right mindset, and part of my job is to teach that to them. There are definitely players at that age that do have those competitive mentalities!

I run a youth sports training facility, and one thing I’ve noticed over the years is that the athletes who improve the fastest usually are NOT the most talented kids.

It’s the coachable ones.

The kid willing to:
- get corrected without getting embarrassed
- fail repeatedly without pouting
- focus on details
- ask questions
- keep showing up consistently

Those athletes almost always pass the “naturally gifted” kids eventually.

A lot of youth athletes today spend hours working on flashy stuff for social media, but struggle with:
- communication
- defensive effort
- footwork
- processing speed
- taking coaching

The older I get as a coach, the more I think coachability is becoming a superpower.

Curious if other coaches/parents have noticed the same thing.

I don't have kids and I don't coach kids either, but I am currently teaching a group of youth soccer players how to meditate, which made me write a post on my blog about meditation and how it affects athletes, so I want to share a small summary in case anyone is interested in teaching their young athletes this amazing skill.

A lot of athletes hear that meditation helps performance, but they still probably think meditation is only about being calm or it's only for mindfulness purposes.

Meditation trains critical skills for sports such as attention, awareness, emotional regulation, and the brain’s ability to notice experience without being immediately controlled by it. Meditation trains the athlete to notice what is happening inside without getting too emotionally involved, this way, attention can be directed towards a specific goal instead of emotional response.

Meditation helps train the ability to bring attention back and it helps emotional control because it creates more awareness before reaction. A lot of emotional reactions in sports are fast and meditation can help the athlete become aware of that process earlier.

So meditation is not only a relaxation tool, it is also a performance regulation tool.

Usually the kind of meditation that is simple and repeatable is the most useful for athletes. It does not have to be long, it just has to train something useful.

I coach a youth sports team that is kindergarteners through 2nd grade. Our program has teams ranging from Kindergarten through 8th grade (4 teams total). Our team (K-2) did very well this season and a decent part of that was one particular 1st grader. He's very athletic and arguably the best kid on our team. As such he also plays up for the 3rd/4th grade team. While that means that on occasion he has to choose which practice to go, I don't really mind that.

However, we have a tournament coming up and one of the rules of that tournament is that a child cannot play for multiple teams. If a child is found doing so, the entire PROGRAM will be disqualified.

Knowing that he plays for both teams, I reached out to his parents to explain the rules and ask which team he intended to play for. His parents intend to have him play for both. When I explained that he would be putting the entire program at risk and potentially disappointing the other 80 kids who have worked so hard to get here by not choosing, he went to our program director. The program director agreed with him that the risk of getting caught was low and to go ahead.

So now, I'm stuck in a really crappy position. I can't override my program director. I can't narc the kid out (that would just ensure that all the kids get screwed over), nor do I want to punish the kid for the actions of his parents (and more especially our director).

I feel like I just have to stay quiet and hope that he doesn't get caught. And even if he doesn't, all that's going to do is leave the parent and director saying "see, I told you it'd be fine". Meanwhile I'm having nightmares about having to tell all of these young kids and their parents 'Sorry, pack up and go home, the program decided that playing one kid for a few extra games was more important that all of you having a good time'

I don't know if I'm just ranting or legitimately looking for help, because I don't know if there's anything left for me to do.

I coach 2 different soccer teams. 1 team the parents are lovely, talk to me, help out when needed, interact and play with the kiddos. The other team the parents do not approach me. They don’t help me with anything. Multiple occasions I’ve heard kids say rude things about me (obviously they heard it from a parent) i am a very fun and interactive coach. Every kid on my team learned so much and progressed a great deal by the end of the season. The kids had a lot of fun being on my team. I have heard multiple kids say their parent will be coaching their team next year because we suck. Keep in mind this is our team’s first season playing (everyone new to the sport) while joining kids who have been playing for years! For being new we did amazing. Idk just curious if this is normal behavior? As a parent whose kid is coached by other parents I interacted with those coaches, thank them, help them when I see they’re carrying everything by themselves. Lol maybe I’m sensitive. At least I know I made sure those kids had a positive role model, and positive reinforcement in correcting them on the field. When they made a mistake I taught them how to fix it, and when they did great I told them I’m so proud of you see how all that hard work payed off. At least I know I won’t be the reason any of those kid end up hating the sport they tried!

I’ve signed up to be my daughter’s coach in the fall. It’s for 5 and 6 year old girls. Never coached before but she really wants me to do it. This is also her first time playing soccer outside of some little activities and drills she did last year. This time she’ll actually be in games. It’s for AYSO.

Anything I should know beforehand to get prepped for this? I’m super excited and a little nervous for some reason, haha.

I'm an assistant on an 8U softball rec team. The HC's kid is the best player on the team but she is obnoxious. To the point of where I probably won't be coaching with this group again. First of all, she just won't take instruction from me. If I tell/ask her to do something or stop doing something she just looks right through me.

She has a cannon for an arm. Most of the girls on the team can't catch well. When she is warming up she just guns it to the kid she's throwing with. Most of the time the other kid just lets it zip by her and spends the entire warmup

chasing balls. She does this in the field too. Just throws excessively hard from too close. She's going to hurt someone.

She tends to go off and do her own thing. If the coach gathers the team to speak, she goes off to get to mess with her bag or get water or gum. She intentionally sabotages drills. Sometimes she'll get in the way of the other girls on purpose while they're getting their reps, and act like they messed it up. The other day during BP she was playing 1B. Instead of rolling the balls back to the mound, she was throwing them out into the parking lot. It's just always something like that. She plays way too rough with the other girls and talks down to them.

Again, I can't say anything to her because she just ignores me. She's an only child. Her mom, who is active with the team too, and dad never correct her. I like coaching with them. I love this group of girls, and my daughter does too. I'm honestly at the point where I just don't want to deal with this kid and I'll probably ask to go to the other team in the fall.

Just venting, I guess, but I'm open to suggestions.

Hey everyone. I'm a swim coach and honestly have been less impressed with a majority of club swim programs these days than when I was a kid. I currently coach a rec team and don't see much of a point of my kids graduating to club teams until 7th or 8th grade at the earliest. What are your opinions on when kids should join club? And when I say join club, I mean actually commit to club. All the practices and competitions and everything. What age do kids need to start doing this at?

Our final practice is coming up and was wondering if anyone had any fun games or ideas for practice to go out on a high note.

I’m leaning towards some kind of game that’s not baseball related just to switch it up. But a fun low pressure baseball related game works too. Maybe getting a Wiffle Ball and bat?

Any ideas are welcome!

I am a new high school coach and this year we are running a middle school open bowl program to try and get our numbers up over the next few years. I have been bowling since I can remember so I struggle with the really green kids who have never picked up a ball. What do you think I should focus on first? I don’t want to overwhelm these kids but I also don’t want to bore them with the same drill for 2 hours.