sports - Successfully Coaching Middle School Athletes
It is not uncommon to hear or read about how much home court advantage a college sports team has, based on the team having won a high percentage of games played at home. In a recent article, “Home Court Advantage - Can You Believe All You Hear?” I addressed the issue of why this kind of analysis is flawed unless you compare percentage of home wins to percentage of away wins.
An Enjoyable Experience
The major goal for a middle school coach is to ensure the kids are having fun. One cannot deny the fact that our society continues to grow increasingly competitive. Following this trend, more pressure is being placed upon children at earlier ages. Sports need not be an additional avenue of stress for a middle school student.
By keeping the focus of your middle school practices to be lighter in nature, you can help sport be what it should: an outlet for releasing stress. Sports are intended to be enjoyable. They certainly can provide great exercise and offer opportunity for sense of accomplishment, but children do not typically sign up for sports over reasons like these. They want to play because it is fun.
If, as a middle school coach, you elect to run a “boot camp”-style program, you will risk losing athletes. A defining characteristic for a successful middle school program is a high rate of athlete retention. Pushing young players too hard raises the possibility of turning them off to the sport and thereby losing them.
History
The major credit for this invention goes to a man named David Chaney. He led a team of RTP researchers who were responsible for making the first artificial turf. According to Sports Illustrated, Chaney is a prominent figure who made possible indoor major league baseball.
It was back in 1965 when the first artificial turf became popular. The first brand AstroTurf was then installed in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. By the 1970s, the use of artificial turf in football and baseball fields in the U.S. and Canada became widespread. Europe followed a decade later in the 1980s. Through the years, the application of this artificial grass has expanded to include now more sports fields especially those meant for field hockey and lawn tennis.
Other than the sports fields, though, artificial turf is currently common in parks, homes and even commercial establishments that require landscaping. This has been made possible thanks to the development in the quality and variety of synthetic grasses. Additionally, many people and organizations have recognized the artificial turf’s great contribution to water conservation efforts mainly because it needs less maintenance.
Talent Evaluation
To be a successful middle school coach it is important to recognize strengths and weaknesses in your players. If you are coaching a girls’ soccer team and realize one of your players reacts quickly, try her as your goalie. Or if you have a quarterback who is extremely elusive behind the line, but doesn’t throw particularly well, give him a chance as running back.
By recognizing individual talents at this level, you give the athletes more time to develop at respective positions. This will be quite valuable once the team moves into the more-competitive scene of high school sports and beyond.
Being a successful middle school coach is more than having lots of victories or a great record. Success at this stage comes from allowing your athletes the opportunity to have fun, while learning the sport. It comes from developing positive communication and evaluating talent. If you can succeed at these coaching functions, you will foster an environment which enables your team to grow. This is how you find success while coaching your middle school team
Resource Author Francisco Rodriguez H.
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