Most people are unaware of the current minimal standards nationwide when it comes to delivering appropriate training to coaches. My findings have shown that state athletic boards seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on first aid training, but rarely ever guidance when it comes to the everyday, psychosocial concerns coaches are far more likely to face (trust me, coaches spend far more time communicating with kids and their parents about "life" issues than they ever do providing first aid care). Unfortunately, even when previous training efforts have been made by schools and state boards, these programs typically miss the real issues and instead focus on things like sportsmanship and creating enthusiasm for athletics within the school. While these issues are certainly important, coaches really need to be trained for things like identifying youth burnout, steroids, performance supplements, and HGH; helping families with the realities of college scholarships and professional sport opportunities; and establishing appropriate "boundaries" with student athletes and their parents (to name a few things).
My approach to developing this exciting bill in Ohio includes the following ideas:
- Training must be non-punitive! We need to develop and deliver future training in non-punitive ways so that coaches can embrace these ideas rather than view them as simply "one more thing to do." oftentimes when people are required to do things the initial knee-jerk reaction is just that (or even worse) -- with this new idea I hope coaches will see how a minimal amount of psychosocial training geared toward the real issues they face will only make their overall coaching experience that much more enjoyable and successful.
- The three core areas of training will include coaching philosophy, contemporary issues, and "hands-on" situations. The coaching philosophy module ill prompt coaches to examine why they coach and the goals they have for working with kids; the contemporary issues module will examine issues like performance supplements, sport specialization, and other psychological issues student athletes will likely experience; and the hands-on module will help with things like developing appropriate boundaries with kids and diffusing potentially volatile situations with parents.
- We need to get more people/groups on board! Obviously keeping kids safe by assisting coaches with up-to-date training has far-reaching effect and impacts literally millions of families nationwide! My experiences have shown me that nearly everybody I have spoken to about this issue wants to see things improved upon as soon as possible - unfortunately, few people have known where to start or what to do. As we continue to move this idea along this summer and throughout the rest of the year I hope to continue to provide updates on this blog and urge you to consider finding out how you and/or your organization can get involved and help!
