Coaching Youth Sports
If you have a child, you should consider coaching a Youth Sports team. Almost anyone can coach a team for young children. My husband and I are in our second year of coaching our son's Instructional level Little League team.
At the instructional level, many of the skills needed for coaching are good parenting skills. If you are a parent, and if you have any other experience teaching, instructing, counseling, or caring for children, you probably have most of the skills needed for coaching. In addition, you will need organizational and people skills. You will probably also need to attend some meetings or trainings sponsored by the league (whether baseball, soccer, cheering, etc.) which will provide you with basic rules regarding the sport and safety issues.
It is best if you can team up with your spouse, or another parent, to share the coaching responsibilities. Most likely you will each have your own skills and knowledge-base that you can contribute to the effort. In addition, you will want to recruit volunteers from among the team members' parents. We have been very lucky to have a consistent base of at least three or four parents who have helped us on a regular basis.
Depending upon your athleticism and level of coaching skill, you may or may not want to continue coaching as your child progresses in his or her sport. Often your league will provide training for you if you wish to continue coaching.
Just as being directly involved in your child's education has been shown to improve their success, being directly involved in your child's sports team will help them to succeed as well. The benefits to you are fresh air, exercise, more family time, and community involvement.
If you cannot commit the time involved to be a 'Coach', you can always volunteer to help your child's coaches, whether on the field, or on the bench. It will benefit your child, the other players, and the coaches will certainly appreciate your assistance. For more information on coaching visit www.nays.org.