I have been coaching youth football
for a total of 9 years. I coached peewee
(7-9 year olds) for 4 years then switched to midgets (10-12 year olds) for 1
year before taking some time off from coaching.
I returned back to the peewee league for the past 4 years. I am a member
of the Youth Football Coaches Association.
(YFBCA) If you
haven’t coached small children before I can tell you that it is a different
type of task. You run through so many
situations that you never know what to expect.
As far as the children go, they will surprise you every day. They have a different type of logic that
makes perfect sense to them but it will make you laugh. At times it can be very frustrating but I
love doing it. Normally, you don’t have
problems with the children. The parents,
on the other hand, are very difficult to deal with most of the time.
If you think you want to become a
youth football coach this article may give you some insight that may help you
make a decision. The first thing to
consider is do you have a love for teaching children and do you love
football. If your answer to either of
those questions are no, I don’t know, or I am not sure, then you probably
should not consider it even if your child is playing. One of the biggest mistakes of becoming a
coach is that, “I want to coach my child.”
If you don’t have a true love for all of the children or the game then
you will just end up being unfair to the rest of the children. Now that I have said that, if you fit into
this category you should still continue to read this article to find out if you
truly fit this category or if you can be of some assistance in other ways.
Notice, I didn’t say the first
thing to consider is the amount of knowledge you have of football. The knowledge of football is important but
there are other things that are more important.
The next thing to consider is, do you have the time and dedication it
takes to give the children the amount of time they need. Coaching involves a lot more than just going
out for a couple of hours on Saturday to play a game. There is a lot of planning and preparation time
that goes into it. This does not include
the practice time. As far as my team
goes, we practice Monday through Thursday for one and a half hours each day
until we play the first game. After the
first game, we practice Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. By mid- season, we practice just Tuesday and
Thursday. You may be saying that an hour
and half of my time four days a week isn’t bad.
Now consider that’s just practice time on the field. You have to be there before the first child
arrives and after the last child leaves.
Sometimes that means staying up to an hour after practice is over and
may include driving children home. You
have transport all of the equipment to and from practice. If you think I am trying to discourage you, I
am not. I just want you to know exactly
what you are getting into.
Now think about your personal
life. Are you stable enough in your
relationships to where your personal problems will not follow you to the field?
Or even worse, will your personal dealings keep you away from the field? Remember, there are twenty-five children
depending on you to be there. Also, will
the amount of time and dedication required cause you relationship
problems? If you have passed all of the
test so far, I have a warning for you. Coaching
will cause you relationship problems.
Maybe not a home, but with parents and fans which may be some of your
current friends. Some of them will not like your coaching philosophy. Some will accuse you of being unfair and some
will even ask you to show favoritism to their child, nephew or little
cousin. Now, if you can deal with this
you have past the major hurdles to becoming a youth football coach.
Still, I haven’t mentioned football
knowledge. It is needed but you have to
take care of the most important things first.
The job of being a youth football coach is not just coaching
football. You will quickly realize that
you will become a role model for these children and even some of the parents. You job is to teach teamwork, commitment, discipline
and cooperation. You have to teach them
to do their part while relying on others to do theirs. One of the most important things you have to
do is keep them interested in their education.
Never let them put football before their school. If they get in trouble in school that means
more exercising and less playing time.
If they have a lot of homework that has to be worked on before they can
practice. Here is a short video talking
about the basics of coaching youth football. “How to coach youth football click” Notice he
never mentioned teaching football was the most important thing.
Now that I have discouraged you, let me tell you that coaching youth football is a great experience. You get to see the joy on their faces as they have fun with their team mates. You will always and forever be a part of these young men and women lives.
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