Many try to fake it and don’t even realize how quickly the kids debunk their facade.
“All kids really want is to know their coaches care about them.
I mean really care about them.
They don’t care about scheme, logistics, or complex concepts.
They care whether or not you care about them.
If they know you do, most of them will run through walls for you.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
I often ask myself, at the root of all this, what are we doing?
Sure, sports and training are super important, I’d argue training to be even more important simply because that’s the activity they’ll need to be participating in nearly 15x longer than competitive sport, but beyond the field and weight room, what are we really after?
While I’ve not got my definition down pat as I am a constantly evolving to better my answer, at the root of it, I think the real objective is to empower our youth so that they can leverage the lessons learned in sport and apply them to the real world.
Of course there are those dads out there who believe the objective of Little League Baseball is to start their kids path to the MLB, but for most sane people not polishing their JV Runner-Up Trophy from ’79 that lives on their mantle, the objective is to have fun, learn to be a part of a team, & learn to better handle the adversity that is a natural part of life.
So if the objective is to have fun and to use the present’s experiences and lessons in the future, shouldn’t it be our goal as adults to create the best experience possible for them?
I’m not advocating for participation trophies or saying that we shouldn’t keep score, I’m simply saying as adults who are fostering this youth sport complex, shouldn’t we work to make there experiences great? Is the politicking and toxicity of their current environments really going to teach them to “buckle down when the going gets tough” 20 years from now?
Of course it isn’t. They see through that crap.
So where do we start?
With caring.
Yep.
That simple, but often overlooked concept in the fast-paced sphere of our current youth sports world is the answer.
The give a shit a factor.
If I’m being honest, that’s really all most kids care about anyway.
As fast as the world moves for the adults, it moves even faster for the kids and subconsciously, they realize it.
They care about sports, they care about skills, they care about learning, but what they really care about (and need) is a coach who truly gives a shit about them.
He or she is who will change their world. Not the what.
