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You Can Coach
Find the Time and Courage to Coach Youth Sports
By Kim Seidel
Winning or losing doesn't motivate parents to coach youth sports. Priceless moments do. "It's so much fun to see how the kids progress through the season," says Ryan Rugroden, a youth coach at the YMCA in Holmen, Wis. "When they work on something, and they make a play, the look on their face is priceless."
For the past four years, Rugroden has coached his 9-year-old son Andrew's teams – flag football, t-ball and basketball. He loves spending the extra time bonding with his son and getting to know the other children and their families. "There was a girl on my basketball team, and during a game she made her first basket," Rugroden says. "When she turned around and gave me that toothless grin, it just caused me to have goose bumps."
Rugroden describes himself as athletic, but parents who coach preschoolers to approximately 8-year-olds don't need to have special athletic abilities. While a basic understanding of the game and a good dose of patience are required, the ability to have fun with children matters most. The time commitment is generally small, but the rewards are big.
Successful youth coaches know that if the kids aren't having fun, they aren't coming back. The last thing Rugroden tells the children in a team huddle before a game is, "Go have fun!" The first thing he asks the kids after a game is, "Did you have fun?"
The main reasons children give for dropping out of sports are that they're not having fun and there's too much pressure, says Danielle "Dani" Anderst, recreation coordinator for the Park and Recreation Department in Onalaska, Wis. Youth coaches can build a strong foundation for the love of sports by ensuring that the children are having a ball out there on the court and in the field. "You'll be able to tell whether a child is having fun just by looking at them," says Anderst, who has coached softball, hockey, volleyball and basketball. "Children know what playing and having fun is all about."
