Growing the quality and quantity of youth coaches is a strategic priority of Project Play and its partners, whose efforts have helped lift the percentage of adults nationally who report training in key competencies. Below are resources that coaches and sport providers can use to drive further progress.
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and Nike partnered with Project Play to create the first website that aggregates the best coaching resources for youth. Take courses on the basics of what kids need through age 14, and find sport-specific materials.
When the children you coach are all grown up, what do you want them to say about you? That you helped them win a few games? Or that you helped them develop as people and as citizens? Our videos, reports and resources can help develop social and emotional skills.
A good coach can change everything. The Million Coaches Challenge is a new partnership between the Susan Crown Exchange, Positive Coaching Alliance, and Project Play to train one million coaches in youth development techniques by 2025.
The Sports & Society Program and its strategic partner, MOJO, will share resources and research to elevate the quality of volunteer coaching in the United States, to increase participation, and to improve society through youth sports.
“This partnership will accelerate the work we’re doing to support higher quality youth sports experiences and expanded access, and we look forward to helping provide valuable free education to coaches and advancing research that drives better experiences for every player."
— Tom Farrey, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program Executive Director and MOJO Academic Advisory Board member
CONVERSATIONS
WHAT IS THE MILLION COACHES CHALLENGE?
The Susan Crown Exchange, Positive Coaching Alliance and Project Play review how your organization and those you partner with can apply for funding to train coaches and spread the word about this effort.
REDEFINING WINNING IN YOUTH COACHING
Coaches teach kids so much more than Xs and Os. In this session from Project Play Summit 2020, athletes discuss a model for coaching that serves youth development, and a high school coach and athlete put it in practice.
PRIORITIZING LIFE SKILLS AS WE RETURN TO PLAY
The events of 2020 brought high anxiety, grief and trauma for kids and families. As programs began to return to play, Project Play explored actions that can be taken to ensure that life skills and mental health are central to the delivery of kids’ sports experiences.
WHAT KIDS NEED FROM COACHES NOW
Project Play hosted an interactive discussion with young people and their coaches, as well as leading professionals and coaches, with resources related to physical, social, and emotional well-being.
FUTURE OF COACHING
Our 2019 release event, Future of Coaching: Calls for Coaches to Support Emotional and Social Skills, featured former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, NCAA champion soccer coach Sasho Cirovski, and WNBA star Natasha Cloud, as well as youth athletes and coaches from the Washington, D.C. area.
Resources to Support Minority Athletes
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- Sports Can Battle Racism
A roundtable coversation hosted by the Positive Coaching Alliance - Talking to Children About Racism
Series by L.A. Dodgers Foundation to help coaches, mentors, parents and caregivers discuss the topic - Girls of Color and Title IX: An Unfulfilled Promise
Webinar discussion presented by the Women’s Sports Foundation - Toolkit for Coaches Working with Muslim Female Athletes
A five-part course developed by Hijabi Ballers and Ryerson University
Train All Coaches is a strategic priority of Project Play 2024, comprised of leading organizations that aim to grow sport participation rates and related metrics among youth, including coach training rates.
