Should coaches be evaluated through the use of anonymous surveys? This article from the MarpleNewtown Patch in Pennsylvania takes a look at this controversial issue.
"It’s been a point of contention and serious dialogue in Havertown since the unforeseen firing of Haverford High School’s long-time basketball coach Terry McNichol two weeks ago. It seems to have caught on like wildfire throughout locker rooms and playing fields this spring from athletes, teachers, school administrators and parents throughout the area. The point of alarm is anonymous coach surveys..."
As youth sports advocates go about the business of generating and sustaining support for youth sports, it helps to have a set of educational resources for funders, sponsors, partners, administrators, coaches, and parents. This two-page outline from Let Kids Play (a Canadian organization) concisely summarizes key benefits of youth sports.
Download this resource in pdf format...
One of the justifications for supporting youth sports is to help young people develop values and skills for responsible citizenry. Do we really achieve this ideal? The University of Maryland's Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) has studied this question. The evidence suggests, although it does not prove, a positive relationship between sports participation and later involvement in civic activities like volunteering, voting, and community problem solving. CIRCLE has published a fact sheet which could be valuable for educating parents, board members, sponsors, and other youth sports supporters about the return on investment in youth sports.
Former NBA player Manute Bol passed away this week due to a combination of painful illnesses. In response there have been numerous stories published about his humanitarian work and courageous fight against disease. This article by Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star, published before Mr. Bol's death, describes his inspiring courage and practical sense of perspective about sports. This is a good article to share with any coach, parent, or athlete involved in youth sports.
By now everyone has heard of Armando Galarraga's quest to pitch a perfect game, and umpire Jim Joyce's mistaken call. Syndicated columnist Peggy Noonan writes pointedly about the aftermath:
"What was sweet and surprising was that all the principals in the story comported themselves as fully formed adults, with patience, grace and dignity. And in doing so, Galarraga and Joyce showed kids How to Do It.
A lot of adults don't teach kids this now, because the adults themselves don't know how to do it. There's a mentoring gap, an instruction gap in our country. We don't put forward a template because we don't know the template. So everyone imitates TV, where victors dance in the end zone, where winners shoot their arms in the air and distort their face and yell "Whoooaahhh," and where victims of an injustice scream, cry, say bitter things, and beat the ground with their fists. Everyone has come to believe this is authentic. It is authentically babyish. Everyone thinks it's honest. It's honestly undignified, self-indulgent, weak and embarrassing."
|
Up2Us, a network of over 300 sports based youth development (SBYD) organizations, spanning the country from Boston to Los Angeles, is thrilled to announce a Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) three-year pilot grant in the amount of $1.1 million to roll-out an innovative coaching model designed to inspire and reinvigorate a generation of Young Americans threatened by obesity and complacency. Coach Across America (CAA) is the first nationwide effort to mobilize highly trained AmeriCorps members as SBYD experts and coaches, to serve, teach and support under-resourced youth and the youth development organizations that provide programming in these vulnerable communities. Coach Across America member activities will combat childhood obesity through vigorous physical activity, play and nutrition education; discourage participation in anti-social activities by providing meaningful and attractive alternatives; and will encourage youth to stay in school by bolstering self-image, esteem and character through mentoring and participation in intentional sports programming.
In the first year, youth development organizations across the nation will host the first class of 98 CFA Corps Members. The program will provide comprehensive training certifying members as SBYD experts, coaches, assistant coaches, health/nutrition leaders, camp coordinators, parent coordinators, volunteer organizers, referees and program/event planners. Together, members will impact more than 10,000 young people, and members will also engage an additional 1,000 volunteers in their activities. |
|
|
One Executive Director, of an Up2Us member organization, summed up the critical situation replicating itself all over the nation, "We see kids everyday that have low-self image and little positive interaction with their peers or adults, because they basically have no opportunities to play. As a result, they start failing in school, dropping out and engaging in much riskier behavior. All it takes to change that is a trained coach and a ball." Coach Across America is primed to provide the essential, missing elements needed to bring meaningful change to our children and youth who are waiting on the sidelines: a team to call their own, a safe place to play and a coach.
|
| • | Building a positive school environment |
| • | Enhancing emotional health |
| • | Reducing violence, addictions and eating disorders including obesity |
Get Psyched Sports is pioneering in its advocacy for for the use of schools and sport teams as settings to teach preventative mental health skills. The idea is that athletes will learn habit-forming ways of thinking that can improve academics and reduce incidents of violence, addictions, eating disorders and other societal ills.
Get Psyched Sports offers expert education, advice, and tools to school systems and other organizations interested in delivering lasting value to their athletes. Check out their website to learn more about how Get Psyched Sports is making a difference, and to gain some fresh ideas for elevating the impact of your sports program.
A seven-part series in the Boston Globe about the plight of student-athletes in Boston public schools -- a series that chronicled a pattern of neglect on and off the field and eventually led to action by the city's mayor as well as business and community leaders -- was selected as the inaugural winner of the Award for Excellence in Coverage of Youth Sports, presented by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. To quote from the series:
A system that could inspire greater achievement on the field and in the classroom while providing a vital alternative to the hazards of the streets is failing because of inadequacies in funding, facilities, equipment, coaching, oversight, and vision, according to a nine-month review by the Globe.
The series highlighted the often-overlooked issue of sports equity, and the importance of assuring that youth in every community have a chance to participate in youth sports. The Boston situation should prompt every community to evaluate its investment in youth sports.
Click here to read about the award
Click here to read the award-winning series online
