r/CoachingYouthSports

Sorry this is gonna be part rant, part vent and part kinda looking for advice.

Started coaching youth sports about 5 years ago. Started with a bunch of dads coaching our sons in youth football.

We were part of the youth program that fed into a high school that annually competed for championships. The team has a few dudes on D1 rosters and 3 current starters in the NFL.

Now what made this made program so good was the total buy in by everyone from the 8u all the way up to the high school.

The high school provided the playbook (scaled down accordingly for younger teams) and provided oversight and quality control for the youth program. We took that same playbook, and that same system and built on it every year so that when “the dads” handed off players to the high school coaches it was a seamless transition and a culture had already been established.

Players got 4,5,6 years of development. Positional training, EDDs, etc and actually understood the game.

Last year we moved across the country and now live in a town where the football team is absolutely horrendous. I’m talking HS football team having a parade down main street for winning one game a season.

We played youth ball last year, and it was just the Wild West of dudes screaming at kids and making them run into each other as hard as they could… zero fundamentals just backyard ball. I wrote it off as just a bad experience with the youth league.

We wrapped up spring practice earlier this year for the middle school level and now we’re into our regular season practices and it’s basically the exact same thing. They brought in new coaches at the HS and he hand picked the MS coach so they could be on the same page. Both who were supposed to have had great success at their previous roles in another state.

So far there has been ZERO development. Handful of returners getting 100% of the reps for everything, no EDDs, half the kids have never played a down of football and can’t get in a stance, but let’s jump right to coverages, blocking assignments, etc.

I’ve been sitting back quietly observing (volunteer assistant coach atm) but all I ever hear is “I’ve been doing this 30 years” blah blah blah.

I feel like anyone can field 11 athletes with some skill and win a game or two… but that’s not coaching imo. It’s no wonder this town is perennially bad at football.

Gotta go do other things now, so end of rant.

For some families it happens gradually. For others, it's the first travel tournament, the first tryout, or the first conversation about college.

Was there a moment when you thought, "Wow... this just got serious."

What was it?

Assisted in 8u, just assisted 10u all stars and now managing 12u for the first time. Any and all tips are welcome!

Any recommendations for ball storage? Need something preferably lockable, can roll, and ideally hold 20-30 water polo balls (approximately the size of volleyballs and basketballs)
Everything is so expensive and either has no reviews or sponsored reviews. I’d hate to buy something and it immediately fall apart 😕

I coach in an u21's league where there isn't much parity among the teams and point differential matters as a tiebreak in head-to-head games. It's late in our season and we had a game where we had to win by 11+ points to win the tiebreak (and get to the same record as them, 12-7) giving us the best chance to make the playoffs. There's only 3 games to go before the playoffs.

We talked about it during the week and decided we had to press a lot on defense, but it didn't work and we lost by 14. Credit to the other team they played really well and hit some big time shots; but my team didn't perform nearly as well as we normally would. Does anyone have some thoughts on how to approach a game like this? Is there a way of discussing having to win by a point differential without negatively effecting the psychology of the team?

For those of you who coach privately or run an academy/club — I'm curious how you handle the non-tennis side of things. Scheduling sessions, keeping track of who's paid and who owes, managing packages or memberships, communicating with parents, all of it.

How do you keep it all organized, and what part drives you the craziest? Curious whether people have found something that works or are just muddling through.

Genuinely curious how people manage this, since it feels like the part of coaching nobody talks about.

I’ve coached basketball for a while now, and something still surprises me. Parents spend thousands on team fees, private skills sessions, shooting coaches and extra games. But almost nobody ever asks, “Who’s teaching my kid how to actually run?”

We assume kids naturally learn to sprint, decelerate, change direction and land safely. Most don’t. They just get older and stronger while repeating the same movement patterns.

I’ve seen kids who suddenly looked “more athletic” after a few weeks of working on sprint mechanics and deceleration. Not because they got fitter. Not because they lifted weights. They just started moving differently.

It makes me wonder if youth sports have this backwards. We spend years teaching sport-specific skills. Very little time teaching the movement those skills are built on.

I'm wondering what other coaches have seen...

Is movement quality something that’s overlooked, or am I paying attention to the wrong thing?

I shared a shorter X thread a few days ago, but heres a more detailed written out blog post on the topic.

Everyone talks about practices and games but what ends up eating the most time during the season? Parent communication, scheduling, attendance, paperwork, something else?

My 17 year old daughter does shot put and discus for her highschool. Today she told me her coach gave her pre workout. I felt uncomfortable about it and I asked her what the brand and name was and its “Muscle Sport Thermogenic Fat Burner pre workout.” I don’t think any teacher should be giving a kid a random thing like pre workout that’s loaded with gnarly chemicals. Maybe I’d feel different if the parents were notified. I’m thinking about going to the principal once school is back in and raising hell about it. Just curious if I’m overreacting.

My question is for the coaches I guess, is this something that’d you’d condone or condemn?

Parents of kids 4-10 yrs old. Do you have interest in your kids joining a non competitive sports league with a giving back activity incorporated into the season. Could be a food donation, planting flowers/trees, education activity. The idea is to teach kids about giving back in a fun way and keeping them active.

Would appreciate any thoughts or feedback!

Ciao a tutti, sono un ragazzo di 22 anni, che ambisce a diventare preparatore atletico. Sto per laurearmi in scienze motorie con un percorso che però a livello di praticità sul campo mi ha dato poco nonostante mi laureerò con circa 103(con tesi inerente alla multi direzionalità e richieste fisiche nel calcio). Il prossimo anno frequenterò la magistrale in scienze e tecniche dello sport(LM 68) e pensavo nel mentre di prepararmi per il CSCS. Ora sto lavorando per una palestra della mia zona(piccolina) e svolgerò dei camping estivi con delle scuole calcio. Il prossimo anno, inoltre, ho intenzione di cominciare a fare contenuti informativi/pratici sui social. Avete qualche consiglio/parere/opinione per riuscire a raggiungere un po' quello che è il mio sogno, ovvero di diventare un buon preparatore atletico di sport di squadra e seguire atleti anche in maniera singola, magari in futuro aprendo uno studio tutto mio. Inoltre, consigliate il CSCS per riuscire a formarsi bene? Grazie mille🫶🏻

If you haven’t checked out her book, Karen is spot on about so many things.

Every year around representative trial season, I hear parents talking about shooting percentages, handles and athleticism. Those things obviously matter. But after coaching for years, I think a lot of people miss what coaches actually remember.

It’s usually not the highlight play. It’s the habits. The kid who sprints between every drill. The player who talks on defence without being asked. The athlete who gets scored on, nods, and gets straight into the next possession instead of looking frustrated. The player who applies coaching feedback the very next rep. Those are the things that make coaches think: “I’d love to coach this kid for the next 12 months.”

I’ve seen players make representative teams without being the most talented because they were incredibly coachable. I’ve also seen talented players miss out because their body language, effort or attitude raised too many questions.

Curious if other coaches have seen the same thing.

What’s one “small” habit that immediately makes a player stand out to you during a representative trial?

Need advice - we currently live in a place where the "dad-coach bottleneck" at the 10U–14U age groups is exhausting. The issue isn't necessarily all dad coaches themselves (some are excellent), but where we are, roster spots, exposure opportunities, and event selections are influenced by relationships instead of performance. Its very apparent. For example, one of these big PG tournaments had a tryout and about 8 kids were incredible - but, the dads picked their sons and their friends and shockingly didn't win one game out of the 6 they played in another state.

My husband is active duty military and can pick our next move (this will be our last before retirement) - this wont be a decision based fully on baseball but we spend so much time there and with these people, it definitely will play into it.

Are there any areas with PAID coaches, high level teams, and a great environment where parents aren't comparing their kid to everyone else's kids. And, if they are, they are able to keep it in their head and not talk to the other parents about it.