Player Development

player retention

How to Keep Players Coming Back Year After Year

It’s one thing to attract players to your youth sports club. It’s a whole other challenge to retain athletes within your organization long-term. One way to keep athletes in your club and away from your competitors is by offering players … Read More

year around sports training

Is Year-Round Training Good for Youth Athletes?

Know the potential risks of having your athletes train year-round There are pros and cons of having youth athletes specialize in a sport There was a time when athletes were revered for excelling at multiple sports. Bo Jackson starred in … Read More

cope with lack of playing time

Ways to Help Young Athletes Cope with Lack of Playing Time

We’ve all been there. We’ve all seen the look on the face of a young athlete as they sits on the end of the bench, just waiting to get called to go into the game. Whether you’re a coach, director, … Read More

How to Positively Make Player Cuts [Guest Post: Positive Coaching Alliance]

While being cut is the most painful for the child who doesn’t make the team, making the cut is also difficult for the coach. As a result, some coaches avoid communicating about this topic with players and parents. Coaches should … Read More

How to prepare kids for tryouts

How to help kids prepare for tryouts

Cleats? Check. Mouth guard? Check. Calm state of mind? Umm … When helping youth athletes prepare for tryouts, parents and coaches typically focus on the basics – bring the right equipment, warm up, stretch, execute the drill – and often … Read More

cut at tryouts

Tips for Helping Kids Cope With Not Making a Sports Team

Ask any youth athletics coach what’s the worst day of the season, and you’ll likely get a unanimous answer – cut day. No matter what the skill level or the age group, cutting an athlete is a difficult task. Tryouts … Read More