Youth sports are a vital part of every community. If the saying “children are the future” is true (and it is), then it is paramount for communities to invest in activities that provide structure, protection, and support while building life skills such as teamwork, discipline, leadership, and the understanding of the importance of hard work. Youth sports are one of the best means of promoting a strong future.

At the heart of youth sports leagues and teams are coaches. In many cases, these coaches are volunteers who are only paid with the satisfaction of knowing they are making a difference in the next generation. These volunteer coaches give of their time, effort, love, and resources in their goal of making an impact.

But how can youth sports leagues recruit and retain qualified volunteer coaches?

Five Keys

1. It Starts with Return on Investment

As is true with any investment opportunities, potential investors must be convinced that their involvement will yield a positive return on investment. The same is true for volunteer coaches. Coaching is difficult work, and in doing so without a paycheck, tangible returns can be limited. Even so, no one will want to get involved if they don’t feel like their sacrifices are going to be worthwhile. Those already engaged won’t want to stay engaged if the return on investment isn’t there, either.

However, explaining to a prospective coach the benefits of youth sports–both for the individual and for the community–can go a long way. Backing up those claims will help with coach retention.

Why It Works

Everyone lives in a community of some kind. For most people, that also means that they care about the place they live and the people around them. Appealing to a person’s human desire to live, work, and play in a good place (and be an active part in making that place even better) is a powerful persuasive tool one can use without fear of being unintentionally manipulative.

Making that difference is also a key point in re-recruiting existing coaches so that they remain involved.

How to Do It

• Give Personal Invitations: A generic letter, email, or text message might be the easiest route to communicating a message to multiple people, but it isn’t the best, especially when trying to recruit good people for a worthy cause. It is important to add personal touches to invitations or have a meaningful, in-person conversation along with a recruiting pitch. Don’t take for granted the fact that this is also true in coaching retention.
  
• Offer Real Support: After making a recruiting pitch, explain, in detail, the manner in which a league’s leadership will support its coaches. Provide examples (either experiential or hypothetical) of the camaraderie found within the coaching ranks. Youth sports are a group effort, not an “Us vs. Them” endeavor. Though competition is essential between teams and individuals in sports, the league’s overall goals must be in sync.
  
• Make Expectations and Goals Clear: Whatever will be required of a volunteer coach, that’s what needs to be explained to someone considering investing. If onboarding or training is needed, provide it. Having hidden difficulties arise later will lower morale and lessen retention rates. Being transparent with expectations and goals from the start promotes trust and togetherness.

2. Don’t Overlook the Parents

When children are involved, their parents are involved. Because of that, parents can be a huge resource in a youth sports league’s effort to drum up coaches.

In some instances, parents will get involved directly, either by becoming coaches themselves or by supporting the league or its teams in tangible ways that help the coaches.

Why It Works

Generally speaking, parents are extremely motivated to do what they think is in the best interest of their children. At times, this can cause friction in youth sports. However, in most cases, leagues can’t operate without proper support from the parent base.

How to Do It

• Utilizing the same principles as seen in Point 1, youth sports leagues can recruit parents to serve as volunteer coaches. Coaching allows these parents to be close to their children and to have a direct involvement in an activity their children love.
  
• For parents unavailable for or uninterested in coaching, youth sports leadership can appeal to the paternal desire to help their children. No one should care more about finding good coaches than the parents of the kids involved. Leagues can empower the parents to become positive factors that make volunteer coaches want to be part of things. “Man, I have great parental support!” is a great starting place within the minds of potential returning coaches and a potential draw for those considering getting involved for the first time.

3. Follow Through on Promises and Support

In any walk of life, people care about honesty. If someone makes another person a promise, it is important for the one making the promise to deliver. Failure to follow through has a long-term negative impact on an organization’s credibility and culture, thus, having a long-term negative impact on an organization’s health and success. Treating coaches well and providing consistent support are essential.

Why It Works

If you are part of any organization’s leadership, then you know the importance of a two-way street of trust. In the context of a youth sports league, coaches must know that league leadership has their collective back. When that relationship is mutually beneficial, everyone involved receives a morale boost. However, when that relationship is fractured, it is not a neutral-sum gain or loss. Instead, it is a stark negative to the entire league when trust is not present.

How to Do It

• Those who make promises must do what they say they will do. If expectations are laid out, they should be met by both parties.
  
• Because promising support is something that youth sports league leaders must do, backing that up with real support is important. If coaches need training, offer it. If resources, equipment, and supplies are needed, provide them.

4. Make It Fun for Everyone

Youth sports are supposed to be fun. That goes for players, families, and the volunteer coaches who help run the teams. If sports cease to be fun, many of the other benefits they can have on children and the community are lost.

Why It Works

For many of the same reasons as detailed in Point 3, creating a youth sports league that is fun for everyone involved will pay dividends in the overall product. It makes a better environment for players and their coaches.

How to Do It

• Promote a league structure of good-natured competition. A league with no competition is not a fun one. However, a league that lacks sportsmanship is not one that promotes growth. Coaches cannot be expected to be the only means of fostering these things. Developing a good “culture” within a youth sports league is imperative.
  
• Make the coaching job somewhat flexible while maintaining needed organization. Rigidity in areas where it is not needed will make the job unappealing.
  
• Make schedules and other necessary organization as fair, user-friendly, and easily-accessible as possible.

5. Give Recognition and Incentives Regularly

Volunteer coaches are certainly worth receiving distinction, and youth sports leagues should go out of their way to make sure their coaches are recognized. Providing incentives, awards, and other forms of public acknowledgment

Why It Works

Built within human nature is the desire to be appreciated. While good volunteers aren’t in it for rewards and honors, even the most selfless individual gains some added motivation when they know those around them care about their work. Appreciated coaches are more likely to return to a youth sports league for another year, and prospective coaches are much more likely to sign on to join a group that operates well enough that its existing coaches want to stay.

How to Do It

• Small gifts throughout a sports season (thank-you notes, complimentary team photos, coaching plaques, etc.) can go a long way in this pursuit.
  
• End-of-season team parties and/or awards banquets are useful. They also should include a time of intentional acknowledgment of coaches and other volunteers. Leagues can offer Coach of the Year awards and similar honors.
  
• Leagues should have players, their parents, and league leadership involved in volunteer coach recognition.

Conclusion

Recruiting good volunteer coaches and retaining the existing coaches are two of the most important aspects of youth sports leagues’ organizational management. Youth sports programs thrive when adults (league leadership, volunteer coaches, and parents) invest in the younger generation. When done well, these leagues can become sustainable, and the benefits they provide will continue for years to come.