Why Do We Coach Kids? Article

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Why Do We Coach Kids?

Everyone coaching children is faced with unique challenges. Look at the children on your team and realize that they are growing in a world with little or no physical exercise. Then search your reasons for engaging in the time and energy that you spend to coach kids.

Author: Michael Clapier

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I had a great Saturday last weekend watching a high school track meet. Kelly Poppinga, NFL linebacker for the Miami Dolphins was sitting with us. His wife is a former runner at our school and the current coach for our distance squad.

I asked Kelly what it was like growing up in little league since he obviously did something right. Poppinga was a starter at BYU and is now preparing for his second season in the NFL.

He had two unique experiences that most kids will never share; he was the youngest of three boys and grew up in a small western town.

Rough physical play was normal for him. Both of his older brothers play in the NFL and outdoor play was standard rather than the exception. More than once, Kelly’s mom went looking for him and his playmates at dusk, because her boys were not home yet. She generally found them wandering through the hills outside of Evanston, Wyoming.

Most of the kids that we coach are more sedentary than physical and yet we, as coaches, fail to accept the reality of their lack of physical play. Coaching today’s young athlete necessitates that we consider their level of physical capacity, accept it rather than scorn it, and work with the kid to develop better physicality.

I am no longer surprised at the decreasing number of children who grew up in conditions anything like those of Kelly and the Poppinga boys.

But then the odds of any of the kids that we coach become professionals in any sport are slim to none.

According to Andrew W. Miracle Jr. and C. Roger Ree’s 1994 book Lessons of the Locker Room, only 4 of every 100,000 white males, 2 of every 100,000 black males, and 3 of every one million Hispanic males will achieve professional status in any sport.

I always maintain that the reason for sports among our children is not to prepare them for professional careers. A scholarship in college will be available to very few kids.

• 90 percent of the kids on your t-ball team will not play high school baseball let alone pay their way through college.

• According to one report less than 5% of high school football players continue playing at the college level and most of those will not complete their four years of eligibility.

The reason for kids’ involvement in sport is much more than a college or professional career. I welcome the conversation and enjoy the articulation of what it means for kids and their futures when they are engaged in a quality program that is mentored by a competent and well meaning adult. It is a dialogue that I always welcome even on a sunny spring day at a high school track meet.

About Author

Michael Clapier is a coach, sports official, media producer and author. In "Coaching Young Couch Potatoes" he explores the challenges of today's young athlete and offers effective methods to coach kids. His current blog http://www.wrestlingtrainingmedia.com introduces foundational messages for the development of core muscles groups in young athletes.

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