Should volunteer coaches go through training to coach the youth in recreational leagues? YES

Statement of Problem

My research question concerns youth sports and what I have witnessed in the youth sports world. Should volunteer coaches go through training to coach the youth in recreational leagues? This impacts youth at all levels and concerns everyone in the sports community for various reasons. Reasons include safety, skill set, social and emotional, and sportsmanship. I have been coaching in the recreational youth sports community since 2003. I have firsthand witnessed volunteer coaches berate referees and officials, belittle children on their playing skills, and not know how to teach basic skills in the sport that they are coaching. 

Review of the Literature

The vast majority of youth sport programs in the United States relies primarily on parent volunteers to serve as coaches. Unfortunately, most of these volunteer coaches have not received formal training to prepare them adequately for the role of youth sport coach. To exacerbate the issue, according to the popular media, parents and other adults can commit belligerent and even violent acts around, and often resulting from, poorly managed youth sport events. (Wiersma, & Sherman, 2005)

The majority of volunteer coaches are not trained in First Aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), and Automated External Defibrillator (AED), along with any coaching certifications. When volunteer coaches sign up, they just provide their name, address, phone number, date of birth, and any relation to a child on the team. Nothing about qualifications or training. The organization requires a coach to complete a state background check and child abuse clearances. Once the coach has those in their hand, they give them to the league they are in. No additional training is needed. Just pass the background check and child abuse. So where is the safety for the players and coaches? 

Teaching certain skill sets requires the proper knowledge and skills of the coaches. Without the proper knowledge and skills, the players are in danger of injuries and being instructed incorrectly. Most coaches do not receive formal training or education when it comes to coaching youth sports; it is not because it is not out there for them to take, it is because it is not required by the recreational league that they are volunteering for. Volunteer coaches are quickly faced with aspects of youth sports that they were largely unprepared to handle, such as negative parental involvement (McCallister et al., 2000), as well as developmentally appropriate coaching practices (Libman, 1998). If volunteers are to be prepared for their roles as youth sport coaches, the sponsoring organizations have an obligation to require preparatory training (Libman, 1998 and Wiersma, & Sherman, 2005).

In addition, the lack of training of volunteer coaches has impacted youth sports on a national level. In the Little League World Series for softball, a team from South Snohomish, WA, was found to have purposely given less than their best effort in a game, in order to eliminate a potential competitor from the semifinals. Far too often these days, inadequately trained coaches are making decisions that compromise the integrity of the game in order to “earn” a trophy. This happens when winning becomes more important than playing the game the right way, and outcomes are more important than development. This happens when coaches do not realize the tremendous power they have to influence lives and be positive role models, and results take precedence over coaching and teaching. (O'Sullivan, 2015). 

Youth sports are known to help children grow emotionally and socially. They are faced with successes and failures, build self-esteem, boost confidence, create core memories, and so much more. However, if you have a coach who has never coached before and is frustrated with attempting to coach, the coach will take out their anger and frustration on the players, which leads to a negative impact on the children. Many parents can not handle their own child melting down, let alone an entire team. If they received training on coaching, they would have a better grip on the emotional and social aspects of coaching. (Newman, Lower-Hoppe, Burch & Paluta 2021)

Everything discussed so far, leads to sportsmanship. Parents, families, and players do not respect coaches like they used to. Everyone has their own agendas and is significantly more critical of their coaches’ every move than ever before. On can see this in national news with the Little League World Series, local football associations, and youth club teams. The second a parent disagrees with one thing on the court, they throw a tantrum, and then the coach gets involved. The opposing teams’ coach races over and has words with the other coach, then a brawl breaks out. It is a storybook and one that should not be written. Therefore, should volunteer coaches go through training to coach the youth in recreational leagues?

Methodology

Based on the research collected, the findings show that volunteer coaches are not properly trained in youth softball. The observations demonstrate the lack of mechanic skills knowledge. Proving that a volunteer coaches training program needs to be created in order for youth to be given a fair chance at sports and not get hurt while playing. Many recreational youth sports leagues are put together because there is a need for the youth to play sports. However, when the youth leagues are put together, they do not have the proper training behind them to make them one hundred precent successful. 

We are assuming that our volunteer coaches have the heart to do good. However, they just are not trained properly to coach the youth. We see this in the poor mechanics of throwing, batting, fielding, and agility. If we taught the coaches the basics of the skills, and how to coach the youth, we would see more success in the leagues. 

Population and Sample

The population will be recreation council in small towns of 5,000 people per census. This is a small-town, mom-and-pop place, and a blue-collar area. Littlestown Baseball for Youth INC, located in Littlestown, PA, in Adams County. They provide youth baseball and softball and offer clinics for the youth. The sample will be from the girl’s softball teams, with eighty families. These eighty families are active in the Littlestown Baseball for Youth INC, and other local sports. This is will allow for a solid foundation of information. 

Research Design

Ethnography research will be used during this sampling. This research method was chosen because it will allow for observation, interviewing, participation, and making interpretations of the coaching skills. Information or data will be collected by observation and interviewing the eighty families. This will be an informative way to collect the data. 

Data

The data will consist of skills being taught and demonstrated, along with the players and parents experiences in the leagues. Data will be collected by observation and interviewing the participants in the league. A forms document will be emailed out to the participants, asking a variety of questions, to assist with the observations. While that is being completed, the researcher will attend local games, practices, council meetings, and clinics, grading the coaching on the following: effective communication with the players, knowledge of the sport, teaching proper mechanics in throwing, batting, fielding, pitching, and knowledge of basic first aid. The grading scale will be one through five, five being excellent and one being poor.

Data Collection

The researcher will send out an forms document to the eighty families that are participating and then the form will then be converted into a spreadsheet to compare data. The data will be organized in the spreadsheet for easy comparison. 

Instruments

A questionnaire, computer access, clipboard, printed grade sheets, red pen, and email addresses of the families.

Reliability and Validity of the Instruments

Created own questions for the questionnaire, there is no previous data to compare. Reliability is the consistency in the results needed for the data. Validity is measure the accuracy of the data based on what is collected. 

Reliability and Validity of the Methodology

The researcher could encounter hostile coaches and program coordinators. The families could not complete the questionnaire. The observation portion could be the only data collected. This could offset the data collected and not be accurate to support what is needed. 

Data Analysis

Comparing the data to the literature will help discover the disconnect with volunteer coaches and the training that is needed. The research will also show if the families are content with the current programs that are being offered and if their children are getting the proper skills coached. 

Anticipated Findings

First, the purpose of this research was to see the lack of knowledge of volunteer coaches and how the recreational leagues have left down the youth. Without the volunteer coaches being properly trained, the risks are high. These risks include but are not limited to the youth players being injured, the volunteer coaches getting hurt, disgruntled parents, and the lack of sports knowledge needed. It is anticipated that if the recreational leagues continue to do a disservice to the youth, the youth will no longer play sports or travel elsewhere to get the coaching that they want or need. 

The researcher will study the data, and create a simple coaching program. The program will help get the coaches up to speed on proper mechanics, how to coach girls, provide first aid training, and help the coaches create practice plans. Volunteer coaches are needed to make the recreational youth leagues run. Without them, there would be no youth sports. 

Personal and Professional Implications

Recreational youth leagues run on volunteers, these volunteers at times do not know what they have gotten themselves in for. This is where the league directors should come in and help guide them with coaching tactics, training and support. There are plenty of free online classes to teach coaches proper skills and techniques to not get the youth players injured.  I have personally seen firsthand, where volunteer coaches are not trained, and players get seriously injured. It is imperative that all coaches, volunteer or professional, receive the proper training to coach. In the youth recreational world, more youth quit sports in the middle school age group. This can be due to a number of things, but it should not be because of volunteer coaches. With proper guidance from youth directors to our volunteer coaches, the experiences for our youth will be phenomenal. 

References

Busser & Carruthers (2010) Youth sport volunteer coach motivation, Managing Leisure, 15:1-2,    128-139, DOI: 10.1080/13606710903448210

Coaches. (n.d.). Howard County Recreation & Parks Sports. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.hcrpsports.org/coaches

Christensen, K. M., Raposa, E. B., Hagler, M. A., Erickson, L., & Rhodes, J. E. (2019). Role of athletic coach mentors in promoting youth academic success: Evidence from the Add Health national longitudinal study. Applied Developmental Science, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2019.1582344

Harman & Doherty (2019) Psychological contract in the volunteer youth sport coach environment: the community sport club perspective, Managing Sport and Leisure, 24:5, 321-338, DOI: 10.1080/23750472.2019.1645615

Little League (n.d.). About Little League Softball. https://www.littleleague.org/play-little-league/softball/about/

Newman, Lower-Hoppe, Burch & Paluta (2021) Advancing positive youth development-focused coach education: contextual factors of youth sport and youth sport leader perceptions, Managing Sport and Leisure, 26:4, 326-340, DOI: 10.1080/23750472.2020.1766760 

O'Sullivan, J. (2015, August 29). Do We Have a Coaching Problem? Changing The Game Project. https://changingthegameproject.com/the-solution-to-our-coaching-problem/

Wiersma, L. D., & Sherman, C. P. (2005). Volunteer Youth Sport Coaches’ Perspectives of Coaching Education/Certification and Parental Codes of Conduct. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 76(3), 324-338. https://doi.org/09/06/2005