By Tim Bradbury, Director of Coaching, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
Good coaches are holistic coaches.
They see the players they are trying to teach not simply as young athletes, but as people. In fact, they see them as people first and players second.
They care about the development of the whole person and recognize an important reality: while very few of the young players we coach will become professional athletes, every one of them will become an adult. They will become colleagues, friends, partners, parents, leaders and members of society.
Once a coach truly understands this, coaching becomes about far more than teaching technique and tactics. It becomes something much more significant.
It becomes the responsibility of leading and developing people.
COACHING IS LEADERSHIP
One could argue that, with all the influences and distractions surrounding young people today, the ability to be an effective leader of people may be every bit as important as having a deep knowledge of the game.
Young people are constantly receiving messages about what success looks like and what behaviors are acceptable. At times, those messages can suggest that winning, status, money or personal gain matter more than honesty, responsibility and respect.
Sports are certainly not immune.
Players see professional athletes cheat to gain an advantage. They see adults abuse officials. They see coaches manipulate rules in pursuit of results. They see public figures behave poorly while continuing to receive attention, admiration and rewards.
Against that background, the youth coach has an enormous opportunity — and responsibility.
What are we teaching through the environment we create?
Because whether we recognize it or not, our players are watching us.
They notice how we respond when we lose.
They notice how we treat referees.
They notice whether we keep our promises.
They notice how we speak to the strongest player and how we treat the player who is struggling.
They notice whether our behavior changes when winning is at stake.
In other words, our values are not what we put on a poster. Our values are what our players repeatedly see us do.
DO COACHES UNDERSTAND THEIR RESPONSIBILITY?
When teaching coaching courses, I am often concerned when topics such as Leading the Player, Leading the Team, ethics, values and morality in sport are introduced.
The concern is not that coaches disagree with their importance. Rather, it is that many have never really stopped to consider the enormous responsibility they have as a role model, teacher and leader.
We spend countless hours discussing formations, techniques, tactics, session design and game models.
Perhaps we should spend a little more time asking:
What kind of people are we helping to develop?
So, to be very specific and to the point:
Every youth coach should have an acute awareness of the core values that provide the foundation for everything they do with their team and players.
Those values should be carefully considered.
They should be genuinely believed.
They should be regularly discussed.
Most importantly, they should be lived.
Core values should influence how you coach, communicate, make decisions, respond to mistakes, manage conflict, select teams, deal with parents and behave on game day.
If they do not influence your actions, they are not really core values.
A CHALLENGE FOR EVERY YOUTH COACH
Take a blank piece of paper and list the five core values that you believe underpin the way you coach.
Then, alongside each value, identify at least three specific behaviors or actions that demonstrate how that value comes alive within your team.
For example:
CORE VALUE: HONESTY
1. Lead by example.
If I make a mistake, I acknowledge it. If I miss a session or fail to deliver something I promised, I explain why and take responsibility.
2. Have candid but caring conversations.
When speaking with players, I tell them the truth about their development while communicating with sensitivity, empathy and respect.
3. We do not cheat to win.
We do not dive, deliberately deceive officials or compromise our standards simply because doing so might help us win a game.
Now do the same with your other four values.
Perhaps yours are respect, commitment, courage, honesty and humility.
Perhaps they are ambition, dignity, unity, responsibility and resilience.
The particular words matter less than whether they genuinely guide your behavior.
The critical question is:
Can your players actually see those values in the way you coach?
AND WHAT ABOUT PARENTS?
There is another important part of this conversation.
The values at the heart of a youth team cannot belong only to the coach. If we genuinely believe in the player–parent–coach partnership, then parents must understand and support the values that define the team’s environment.
So, I would challenge every soccer parent to ask:
What are the core values of my child’s team?
Can you name them?
Do you know what they look like in practice?
Does your behavior on the sideline reinforce them?
If the team promotes respect, what happens when a referee makes a decision against your child?
If the team promotes resilience, what happens when your child is substituted?
If the team promotes honesty, what happens when winning requires doing something that conflicts with that value?
And perhaps the most important question for coaches and parents alike:
Are the values we claim to believe in still our values when the score is 1–1 with five minutes remaining?
Because that is when values really matter.
Core values should never simply be words printed on a website, displayed on a locker room wall or included in a club handbook.
They should be visible in our actions.
And if the young people we coach leave us as better players but not better people, perhaps we need to question what we really mean when we talk about player development.
With over 100,000 youth soccer players––both boys and girls––and more than 25,000 volunteers, the non-profit Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border, east of Route 81. ENYYSA encourages the healthy development of youth players, coaches, referees and administrators. All levels of soccer are offered––from intramural, travel team and premier players as well as Children With Special Needs. No child who wants to play soccer is turned away. ENYYSA is a proud member of US Soccer and US Youth Soccer. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/