Youth Sports: How To Inspire And Keep Your Coaches

In order for a youth sports organization to thrive, there has to be the right coaching staff in place to inspire and cultivate a positive and educational experience. Coaches, just like players, and any member of an organization need to feel inspired to provide their best work. If you are a sports admin, it’s essential that you foster a community that provides coaching education opportunities as well as inspiration to keep your staff engaged and retained.

Here are 10 ways you can inspire your coaching staff.

Coaching Education: Organizations all over the country find way to host coaching licenses, provide discounts for courses, and mentorship programs. Anyway you can figure out a way to provide an opportunity for your coaches to continue their career, the more engaged and professional your staff will be. Even if you can’t offer a coaching course through the club, compile dates of courses and hold meetings about the coaching professional pathway.

Motivational videos: Before the season kicks off, consider holding an all-staff meeting and showing a motivational video. There’s nothing quite like a movie that captures the emotion, hard work and commitment of a sports season. Highlight some of your coaches in the video, give shoutouts, and make it known that the success of the program starts with the coaches.

Provide updates: One way to keep your coaching staff engaged and inspired, is to frequently provide updates throughout the year. Many coaches go off and do their own thing with their teams, so try to figure out ways to collectively come together and remind everyone of the club’s mission and goals. Many coaches will feel inspired by having a communal goal as an organization.

Celebrate the wins: This doesn’t mean throwing a party every time one of the coach’s teams take home a win, but it does mean celebrating publicly big seasons and moments accomplished by your coaching staff. Say one of your coaches has an undefeated season, use that and acknowledge the success in an email, newsletter or social media blast. This will not only make the coach feel seen and appreciated, but it will also serve as motivation for the other coaches.

Curriculum building: Including your coaching staff in any curriculum building is a way to involve and inspire them. Chances are your coaches have a lot of insight surrounding their specific age group, so lean into them when you are building out programs. Even if they don’t draw out the entire curriculum, ask them for their input!

Goal setting: Just like coaches work with players on goal-setting, it’s essential that league and club administrators work with coaches on their goals as well. Set time before the year and at the end of the year to initially set coaching goals and then revisit them. In order to develop as a coach there has to be certain benchmarks. By helping coaches establish attainable and long-term goals it sets the foundation for the team’s success.

Give back: Most coaches get into coaching because they had someone or knew someone who went the extra mile for them. Find ways to give back to your local community and involve the coaches. Look for organizations where your staff can volunteer! When coaches are in situations that are centered around volunteer work and giving back in a way different than their day-to-do, chances are high they will feel like the work they are doing is bigger than just the sport itself. Using TeamSnap to Manage Volunteers

Recognition: A little recognition goes a long way. Find creative ways to thank your coaching staff throughout the season. You can even hold mid-season and end-of-season awards as a way to thank, but also appreciate selective staff members. Incentivize the day with a gift card or nice gift.

Prioritize health: This doesn’t just mean allowing your staff to take holidays and breaks, but it means setting a standard at the very beginning that their health, mental and physical must come first. A coach can’t be a coach unless they are in full health. Be transparent at the beginning about how much you care about your staff and foster an environment that’s healthy from the start. Learn about TeamSnap’s health check feature.

TeamSnap can help: TeamSnap can inspire your coaches because they will know they are in good hands by this organizational tool. Familiarize your staff with the app and walk them through it so they are masters. Once they get the hang of it, the opportunities for education are endless. TeamSnap has a Coaches’ Corner designed specifically for coaches. Check it out for resources, skills and drills, webinars, and more.

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