Inclusively Coaching Children

This has been something that has been on my mind the last few weeks and days and I thought I would share my musings on the subject of coaching children.

It is my opinion that coaching of children should be as inclusive as possible. Everyone should be given chances, no matter how good they are at a sport or any athletic skill. I have often seen otherwise and it saddens me. I have never been that athletically talented (though I will admit I do have some talent), and I often lose opportunities because I am not as good as others. I feel that a focus on working hard would be good for children whether they intend to continue in a sport or not. I think the lessons they can learn from working hard (that hard work = results) can be transferred to anything a child does in life.

There will be those who say to this: "Well, competition is part of life, they will have to deal with it sooner or later." A valid point, and one that is not easy to argue. But I still will. I am not saying give children everything without working. I am saying that you should allow them to try. I'm in track and often I see coaches picking track teams based on how fast a child runs 100m. My issue with this is that many of these children have never been given a chance to work on their speed or may just be missing the genes they need to be fast. By picking a team based on this inherent ability you are basically saying to a child they are not good enough based on something that they have little control over. I say you give them that chance. Let them practice with the team, give them opportunities to improve, and THEN pick the team. This way students are faced with the reality of the world, but they are given a chance to earn something. Nothing is free.

Following this point, I have also noticed that the children who need to be active the most are the ones who will be left unpicked for teams. This makes absolutely no sense, and any way I can think of. For starters, the goal of children's sports (at least in my mind) is to help encourage children to lead an active lifestyle. The ones who are good to begin with are likely already leading an active lifestyle.

This also makes no sense if you are concerned about the quality of the team you have. The biggest moment for many children is just to make the team. If the athletically giften children make a team right away with no worry of being cut, then why should they train hard?

I once had a cross country coach in highschool that followed this philosophy. It was no coincidence that I am still running. When I first showed up in grade 9 I was a nobody. I had never tried running before but had been convinced by a friend to try out. Well I stuck with it and all these years later I am still in the sport while many of my peers (who were better than me at the time) have long since stopped running. I am not the fastest runner in the world, but I have done quite well for myself. For those of you who know me, imagine me had I not been encouraged to try and to make a team in the future, being given opportunities to better myself. I took the challenge and in the end I rose to the occasion. I worked hard and earned my way on every team I have made.

For those of you coaching children I encourage you to do the same. Give those kids who don't seem the best athletes a chance. Who knows, you might be featured on TV when that child grows up and competes for their country...