Becoming certified as a Youth Performance Coach has many clear benefits.  For coaches, it allows you to expand your knowledge into a special population.  For participants, it will help improve the overall experience by addressing some issues that can be challenges in sport and youth coaching of any type.  This can include anything from poorly trained coaches or volunteers to overbearing, demanding coaches – who jeopardize the quality of the sporting experience for players.

With structured, formal training that zeroes in on this group, you as a certified coach, will contribute to a growing body of coaches who are more informed, more effective and successful in professional careers “coaching kids”.  So both coach and player see extensive benefits.

Part of coach training involves knowing what and whom you are coaching, especially when it  includes a special population.   Another perspective involves how you work (apply) what you have learned into the groups which you serve.
Coaches who specialize are more valuable.  Think about any specialist you see or hire.  They command more for their work.   This also opens up your base of possible clients immensely.  When you become a speciality, you are in higher demand, and can command premium rates for your services.

This certification is designed for new and advanced coaches and trainers who want to specialize in the areas of youth athletics, youth mentorship and leadership for the next generation

So why does this matter?

We can look at the facts that numbers reveal about players.   At first it may seem unfair to single out a group in the way that is needed to understand youth participants in organized sport, competitions and general physical activity.  Complicating things further is the fact that there are subgroups within the Youth special population and if not very their very different needs at specific times, we might get away with coaching and training this group just as we do anyone else.   But we cannot.   What we still see is our youth dropping out of sports around the age of 13.  We have to understand the entire dynamic if we are to fix this issue, alone.

Over time, we have studied and thus learned more about participants; this quest for knowledge related specifically to youths in our society comes from a need based on trends seen -namely, the positive attributes of participation and then keeping kids engaged in competition, organized games or sports.  Up until recent times, the study of youth participation in sport has centered largely trying to understand very specific and unique aspects of a few elite participants – the very young kids who train with the most elite coaches with dreams of rising to Olympic level status.  You can aim for a great coaching job like that if you have the skills, knowledge and abilities.

The Youth Performance Coach program builds on the fundamentals that elevate our understanding of everything related to this unique coaching specialty and the participants involved.  It is the result of all the latest we know about young people participating in sports.   We also look closely at the role of parents in this process.

Most parents and kids alike just want a positive experience in sports.  It wasn’t until the rise in popularity of Exercise and Sport Psychology that we started examining the mental and cognitive measures that relate to this group and its sub-groups by age.  This expanded into a whole new field that is still re-evaluating many fitness behaviors, usually one client and trainer at a time.   Coaches that feel well-trained are more confident because they are better prepared to face the unknowns presented by their clients – which may now include children in groups.  Combined with an emphasis on behaviors and outcomes for kids, youth performance coaches can provide the best experience possible for children and supporting parents.

In current literature for coaching psychology, you might find one chapter about training youth players but the information continues to grow and the work we do now as coaches will inform coaches that follow our lead.   This course provides coaching templates and specific guidelines for groups by age.   Training documents are also included (coach plans, notes, etc.)

Why we need to improve youth coaching and coach training: