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Positive Coaching Alliance Connector
February 4, 2010
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The Real Reason Youth Athletes Play Sports
The most surprising things result from PCA workshops. For example, a unique study of youth athletes as reported in this article by Mark Hyman in The New York Times. Peter Barston -- the 15-year-old subject of the article, who has polled hundreds of Darien, CT youth athletes to learn their motivations for playing -- exemplifies the ethos of a Triple-Impact CompetitorTM, intent on improving self, teammates and sport as a whole.
Barston decided to conduct his poll when his father returned home from a PCA workshop led by Eric Eisendrath and shared with his family the "100-Point" exercise that PCA uses to spur discussion between sports parents and their youth athletes.
To conduct his poll on why youth athletes play sports, Barston handed out this survey to fourth-through-eighth-grade players in groups of 10-20, with no coaches or parents present. Before handing out pencils, he made sure the players understood the 11 choices listed as reasons to play sports.
"You have 100 points to spend amongst these 11 reasons," Barston told the players. "If you don't care about a reason, give it zero points. If you care about a reason, give it some points. The more you care about a reason, the more points you should give it. Please make sure your total points add up to 100. This survey is anonymous. No names. When you are done just drop it in this box and I am taking them home from here."
Hyman -- the author of Until It Hurts, a book about the troubled state of youth sports in America -- shares results of Barston's study that are not shocking: "fun" was the most common reason cited for playing sports. More eye-opening is this additional note that Hyman wrote just for PCA Connector and Youth Sports Spotlight blog readers:
"Parents make most of the decisions about their children's sports lives. You rarely hear about kids having a real voice. That's what I found intriguing about Peter's project. The question he put to young athletes in Darien -- 'Why do you play sports?' -- is simple. Yet the answers already have proved very powerful. One quote from Peter that didn't make it into the article sticks with me. I asked Peter how kids in Darien had reacted to being part of his survey. Peter said: "A lot of them said: 'Thank you, it's good to be asked.' "
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Register Your Team or League to Earn a $2,500 Grant
 Registration is now open for Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports Community Grants. Your school or youth sports organization can win $2,500 based on the number of participants who complete the Responsible Coach and Responsible Sports Parent online guides from March 1, 2010 through May 31, 2010.
The online guides are "powered by Positive Coaching Alliance" and contain the high-quality, practical tools you have come to expect from PCA, plus video of coaches putting PCA and Responsible Sports principles into practice. Go to ResponsibleSports.com/Grant to see if your organization is registered. Since the fall of 2007, 100 youth sports organizations have earned a $2,500 grant, and yours could be next! Any school or youth sports organization is eligible to register and get in the running for a grant. You can use the money for anything that will help your program better serve youth athletes, including PCA partnerships, workshops or books. What would your league do with $2,500? Register your organization.
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Ask PCA: Do Dirty Tactics Turn People Off to Sports?
Although this week's Ask PCA question concerns unsportsmanlike tactics in soccer, the same issues apply to all sports. No matter which sport you pursue, we hope you will reply on the Ask PCA blog.
Beneath this week's question, you may scroll down to continue reading for last week's question and PCA's reply. But, for now, consider:
Do Dirty Tactics Turn People Off to Sports?
"During my son's high school soccer game, an opponent received a yellow card for pushing one of our defenders. After the game I asked my son what had happened. He said the opponent had reacted to one of my son's teammates, who, while waiting for a goal kick, incited the player into yellow-card behavior by pinching him and making kissing motions and sounds.
"My son said his coaches had told the team that this was a good way to get under the skin of opponents and get them in trouble. After having a long talk with my son about sportsmanship, I then told the head coach I was extremely disheartened that he would encourage such tactics, and he seemed surprised to hear this. However, this is one of soccer's failings: at times, it appears not to be a real sport. Players use these dirty tactics and others such as feigning injury, which turns off many people from enjoying the sport. What do other PCA members think?"
-- Name Withheld by Request
Following is last week's "Ask PCA" question and PCA's response:
"Coaching my daughters' teams (ages 6-13) I have started using what you might broadly categorize as 'Sports Psychology.' I have been pleasantly surprised -- and occasionally blown away -- by the quality of the outcomes. I ensure alignment with PCA principles of focusing on effort and fun. Question is, how much sports psychology is OK, and at what ages? Also, can you refer me to specific books, websites, and other resources?"
PCA Response by Eric Eisendrath, Lead Trainer-New York
Yogi Berra was right when he famously said, "90% of the game is half mental," so it makes sense to focus on the psychological aspects of the game.
Sport Psychology has gradually been working its way into the youth sports mainstream because it has a lot to offer youth athletes (and coaches!).
PCA's research-based approach to coaching, especially our ELM Tree of Mastery (E for Effort, L for Learning, M for bouncing back from
Mistakes) comes directly from sport psychology research. So if you are coaching to the ELM Tree, you are already using sport psychology with your athletes.
PCA Founder Jim Thompson describes how he used visualization with his high school basketball players in his memoir, Shooting in the Dark: Tales of Coaching and Leadership (available here). Jim found out that his players initially were unsure how to react to his use of visualization but he persevered through the "giggly" stage. Ultimately, his players came to believe it was instrumental in their winning their league title and asked him for more when he forgot to use visualization for awhile. With younger athletes you might experiment with it -- erring on the side of too little versus too much -- and see how your players react. Other resources for high school and youth coaches include:
- Get Your Game Face On by PCA Trainer Kathy Toon, available at http://coachtoon.com/book
- Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time by PCA National Advisory Board member Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson. (Although this book is baseball specific, many of the tools can be adapted to any sport.)
- Thinking Body, Dancing Mind by Chungliang Al Huang and Jerry Lynch. This book applies Eastern philosophy principles to sports in a really interesting way.
- Mindset: the New Psychology of Success by PCA National Advisory Board Member Carol Dweck isn't traditional sport psychology but her notion of the power of the "growth mindset" is a wonderful mental framework for success in sports as well as life.
Finally, stay tuned for PCA's launch of our "Triple-Impact Competitor" online workshop in April. A Triple-Impact Competitor makes self, teammates and the game better. This coming workshop, which is also available as a live presentation, contains a wide variety of mental tools to help youth athletes improve their performance.
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Support PCA
PCA is a non-profit committed to transforming youth sports so that all athletes through high school age can benefit from the life lessons that are uniquely available through sports.
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