Successful sports coaching: guidelines for adults in children's recreational activities.

The timid 9-year-old barely catches a pass before awkwardly launching the basketball from a distance far beyond his range. The ball falls short of the basket. The coaches from both teams start yelling. The blue team's coach is encouraged that his insecure player did not freeze after catching the ball: He stands up and claps. "Way to take the shot, Tony! Your form is getting better! You'll make it soon; keep working on getting closer in before you shoot." Tony smiles as his pace quickens down the court. To the rest of the team, the blue team's coach yells, "Don't forget to close up the holes, guys! Mark, Ben, you're really starting to keep your hands up on defense!" Mark and Ben exchange high fives. "Let's all remember - good, sharp passes. Keep playing hard, and don't worry about mistakes. We're doing great!" Meanwhile, the red team's coach is sending his own messages: "Stephen! For crying out loud, guard your man! He was wide open! How many times are you going to ruin everything?"

The red team brings the ball down the court. They can hear their coach screaming: "Run Play 1! Run Play I NOW!" This starts an awkward series of movements. One boy forgets where to go and starts his movement late. The boy with the ball trying to watch the action in front, remembers where the intended receiver is supposed to be and passes to that spot. Since the receiver is late, the ball is knocked out-of-bounds. The red team's coach calls a time-out. "Andy!" he screams in the face of his tired player, "we've gone over Play I a hundred times. Just who were you passing to, anyway? Get your head in this game or I'll bench you! Stephen, if you're not going to play defense, you can sit, too! You guys don't want to win! You're playing like babies! Get out there and run the plays right!"

Whether in sports, scouting, or other activities, adults can do much to help children develop their interests and their personal skills. Youth coaching is a good model of how we can maximize these opportunities. Most children want to succeed at their chosen activities. Budding athletes have dreams of glory - making the winning basket or scoring the winning goal. They feel that every move they make, right or wrong, is in the spotlight. When working with children, we have the opportunity to influence them when they are most vulnerable. As adults, we can keep competition in perspective while fostering positive self-perceptions and self-acceptance. We can support the development of character. We can nurture lifetime skills and appreciation of sports. In this way, coaching is enormously rewarding and satisfying.

The vast majority of youth coaches want to do good jobs. Typically, we are busy parents who volunteer to coach our child's team. In lacking good guidance or effective measures of coaching performance, however, we can cause harm. We can damage confidence and drive a wedge between children and the activities they love. It is easy to forget the developmental levels and limitations of the children on our teams. We may only look to the win-loss record as a measure of success. We can be lured into using negative reinforcement as a coaching technique - if my team is not winning, then I need to yell louder. We can be tempted to take over the decisionmaking, rather than fostering it in our team. The needs of the child can be lost for the sake of a winning record.

Sound advice on coaching methods for a variety of sports can be found. Most books and coaching clinics have been developed by former or current coaches. They are a good starting place for learning about drills and sport skills. They are, however, not enough. These books and clinics often offer advice that is not developmentally appropriate and that ignores children's special developmental needs. Children's needs extend far beyond the physical activity and the win-loss record. As youth coaches, we can greatly improve the benefits we provide to our young players by remembering the following guidelines:

* Appreciate developmental differences in children. Children differ from adults in physiological, motor, cognitive, and emotional capacities. These variations make a child's perspective and capabilities different from that of the coach. Children, for example, are less accurate in terms of anticipation (for instance, hitting a pitched ball) and in their control of their limbs, as well as having less endurance. Developmental differences make the execution of simple plays or drills difficult. This is compounded by the child's cognitive limitations. Talk with teachers whose students are at the age level of your team members. They can provide a wealth of information. Many collegiate texts in developmental or sports psychology summarize useful research about age-related capabilities. The more we know, the better we can coach to our team's needs.

* Use the power of positive motivation. Positive reinforcement is much more effective than negative feedback. Unfortunately, few coach training programs focus on positive reinforcement. Research on reinforcement training shows that youth coaches' use of positive reinforcement results in increases in children's self-esteem and greater enjoyment of the sport experience. Players also report liking each other more when coaches practice positive reinforcement. We need to keep this in mind.

* Provide opportunities to develop decision-making skills. Young athletes should be given frequent opportunities to make their own decisions, as well as mistakes, in game-type situations. Most kids thoroughly enjoy this "scrimmaging." Developmental research suggests that when children are taught to wait for prompting from a coach ("run Play 1!"), it delays the growth of knowledge and the development of decision-making skills. Coaches need to create an environment that encourages children to make decisions. They need to view wrong decisions as learning opportunities, not as mistakes.

* Identify and pursue your goals for coaching. New coaches typically start with good intentions. They want children to have fun, develop new skills, and experience some success. However, the allure of winning sometimes overshadows these important goals. Try writing down your goals at the beginning of the season, and review them as the season progresses. Remember that, for children, the fun is in playing. When asked if,they would rather play on a losing team or sit on the bench of a winning team, most children reply that they would rather play. Take time after games and practices to review your own performance. Some coaches use self-evaluation questionnaires to assess whether or not they are reaching their important goals. This information keeps us on target.

* Seek feedback on your coaching. To improve your skills, actively seek input on your performance. Start with your fellow coaches. After practices or games, ask about the climate and areas of concern. Encourage other coaches to be specific. Ask parents what their kids say about practice. Have there been changes in their child's skills or self-esteem? Find out what the kids think about the season. If they are hesitant to talk, have them periodically fill out anonymous questionnaires. Include such questions as, "If you could change one thing to make practice more fun, what would it be?," "What is the best/worst thing that the coach does during practice?," "What skill would you like to develop/improve this month?" Incorporate what you learn in your coaching.

* Accept the spontaneity and chaos that are a part of activities with children. The unpredictability of young people can provide endless frustrations if you hang on to the illusion of control. Accept that each child is unique and each will be different every day. Accept that your beginning-of-the-season plan will probably require frequent revision. Realize that plays will never be executed flawlessly and will sometimes be forgotten. Skills will not develop as you thought they would. Do not look for someone to blame - either you or the kids. Embrace some level of chaos as being inevitable. The season will be more rewarding and fun for both you and your players!

Coaching, like other volunteer roles with children, provides wonderful opportunities to be a positive influence on young lives. This is especially true as we understand their age-related capacities and get to know the kids as individuals, and as we cultivate a style and techniques that build on their skills and motivations. Finally, we can continue to learn from our interactions and become better coaches.

Note: If you have questions or would like to submit an article, contact Helen Altman Klein, Department of Psychology, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435; [e-mail].

Michael J. McCloskey is Basketball Coach for Dayton CYO, and a Research Associate at Klein Associates.