Your Guide In Youth Sports

Your Guide in Youth Sports By: John A. DeAngelo When your child begins to get interested in sports, it can be a daunting task to know how to get started and what to look for in an organization and coach. With thirty-eight years of experience in youth sports, coach John A. DeAngelo’s guide will help parents think about the right age for their children to get involved, what sports to try, and how to keep a strong school-sports balance. DeAngelo also gives insight on whether travel leagues are right for your child and whether you should coach your child’s teams. If you’re a parent getting involved in youth sports for the first time or know a parent who is, this guide will be indispensable.

This book explores the true meaning of achievement in sports: having fun, developing athletic and social skills, and nurturing a healthy, positive sense of self-esteem. Drs. Fine and Sachs offer practical, research-based advice that is bound to enrich the sports experience—as well as life outside of sports—for both children and adults.

The modern day youth sports environment has taken the enjoyment out of athletics for our children. Currently, 70% of kids drop out of organized sports by the age of 13, which has given rise to a generation of overweight, unhealthy young adults. There is a solution. John O’Sullivan shares the secrets of the coaches and parents who have not only raised elite athletes, but have done so by creating an environment that promotes positive core values and teaches life lessons instead of focusing on wins and losses, scholarships, and professional aspirations. Changing the Game gives adults a new paradigm and a game plan for raising happy, high performing children, and provides a national call to action to return youth sports to our kids.

This book offers suggestions on what role parents should assume from the time their youngster starts youth sports through recruitment by college coaches. It offers suggestions not only to the parents of gifted athletes but also to parents who have children of average athletic ability. It provides helpful information about parenting young athletes at all levels. Athletics can be either a very enjoyable experience for parents and athletes, or a source of tension for both. Information and guidelines are provided for decision making that can help make youth sports an enriching experience for all. (JD)

Although the physical and psychological benefits of youth participating in sport are evident, the increasing professionalization and specialization of youth sport, primarily by coaches and parents, are changing the culture of youth sport and causing it to erode the ideal mantra: “It’s all about the kids.” In Best Practice for Youth Sport, readers will gain an appreciation of an array of issues regarding youth sport. This research-based text is presented in a practical manner, with examples from current events that foster readers’ interest and class discussion. The content is based on the principle of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), which can be defined as engaging in decisions, behaviors, and policies that meet the physical, psychological, and social needs of children and youth based on their ages and maturational levels. This groundbreaking resource covers a breadth of topics, including bone development, burnout, gender and racial stereotypes, injuries, motor behavior, and parental pressures. Written by Robin S. Vealey and Melissa A. Chase, the 16 chapters of Best Practice for Youth Sport are divided into four parts. Part I, Youth Sport Basics, provides readers with the fundamental knowledge and background related to the history, evolution, and organization of youth sport. Part II, Maturation and Readiness for Youth Sport Participants, is the core of understanding how and why youth sport is different from adult sport. This part details why it is important to know when youth are ready to learn and compete. Part III, Intensity of Participation in Youth Sport, examines the appropriateness of physical and psychological intensity at various developmental stages and the potential ramifications of overtraining, overspecialization, overstress, and overuse. The text concludes with part IV, Social Considerations in Youth Sport, which examines how youth sport coaches and parents can help create a supportive social environment so that children can maximize the enjoyment and benefits from youth sport. In addition to 14 appendixes, activities, glossaries, study questions, and other resources that appear in Best Practice for Youth Sport, the textbook is enhanced with instructor ancillaries: a test package, image bank, and instructor guide that features a syllabus, additional study questions and learning activities, tips on teaching difficult concepts, and additional readings and resources. These specialized resources ensure that instructors will be ready for each class session with engaging materials. Ancillaries are free to course adopters and available at www.HumanKinetics.com/BestPracticeForYouthSport. Best Practice for Youth Sport provides readers with knowledge of sport science concerning youth sport and engages them through the use of anecdotes, activities, case studies, and practical strategies. Armed with the knowledge from this text, students, coaches, parents, administrators, and others will be able to become active agents of social change in structuring and enhancing youth sport programs to meet the unique developmental needs of children, making the programs athlete centered rather than adult centered so that they truly are all about the kids.

As a youth sports volunteer, you should get used to wearing many hats, for you'll be not just a coach, but also a teacher, friend, and confidant. Coaching can be rewarding, but if you venture into the season unprepared, the role can be a frustrating one. Enter Your First Coaching Book. Created by The National Alliance For Youth Sports, it provides valuable tips on how to encourage fun and good sportsmanship, maximize basic skill development, deal with inappropriate behavior from players and parents, and prevent injuries by maintaining high safety standards. Whether you're a first-year coach or a seasoned veteran, the children on your team will remember you and their sports experience for the rest of their lives. Your First Coaching Book will help ensure that these memories are happy ones.

The Youth Sports Coaching Guide contains the advice every coach wishes they had been given when they first started. Written by a father of four with coaching experience spanning three decades, the book reads like a down-to-earth conversation with someone who has been in the youth sports coaching trenches. The book covers every aspect of navigating the twenty-first century youth sports coaching arena. The book travels from the logistics of team selection and practice itineraries to the interpersonal complexities of working with players, parents, other coaches and officials. The book challenges coaches to look at their own motivations and relationships and to have awareness of their actions and words. The Youth Sports Coaching Guide is divided into six sections: • Coaching Essentials: Eight guiding principles every coach needs to know to lead a team with integrity, hard work and fun. • Building the Team: Strategies and tips for choosing assistants, drafting players, running tryouts, the hard decisions of selecting players and the tough discussions that follow. • Practices: Designing and running practices with an emphasis on how to teach and speak to children. • Parents: Communication advice from the mundane to the ultra-sensitive. Includes a special section for coaches for when youth sports goes off the rails of the Crazy Train. • Games: Real-life examples on how to prepare for games and to coach in the heat of the moment, win or lose. • Wrapping up the Season: Describes different ways to cap off the season on a positive and fun note. Whether you are a new coach or someone who has been at it for years, The Youth Sports Coaching Guide is sure to inspire and drive you to have a more positive experience coaching the kids.

Are You a Youth Sport Athlete? If you’re reading this book, maybe you just joined your first recreation soccer team. Or, maybe you are nervous about tryouts this weekend for the traveling baseball team you’ve always dreamed of being on. Whatever your reason or playing level, The Youth Sports Handbook will help guide you in your journey as an athlete. Using lessons from your favorite players, you will learn how to “wow” your coaches and be the ultimate leader, competitor, and teammate. What can Olympic Gold Medalist Cat Osterman teach us about bouncing back from a tough loss? How did basketball superstar Kevin Durant lead his teammates to two straight NBA championships? We’ll tackle these questions and much more in this fun handbook for athletes seven to 17. Are You a Youth Sport Parent or Coach? When I founded my first youth sports club in 2021, I sought out a book to send our U10 baseball players to read before the season that emphasized how to be a leader and good teammate for the upcoming season. I was surprised to find that no such book existed for youth athletes. If you are reading this, you don’t need me to tell you how competitive and structured youth sports have become. In this book, I aim to give your athlete memorable and easy digestible nuggets of advice to help them enjoy their experience and perform their best, no matter the level or age of competition. This book is designed to be read over a week or two by a high school aged athlete, in the month leading up to each season by elementary and middle schoolers, and before bedtime to the newest athletes.