In my last blog I shared the story about Julie Hernandez and Stacey Vidal, the two South Florida football moms whose sons were subjected to a five-day-a-week practice schedule for six months; were verbally and physically abused by an out-of-control coach; and then rarely saw the field on Saturday game days. They chronicled that nightmarish season in their book Touchdowns, Tackles, and Torture: Life of a Youth Football Mom.
They indicated that there was simply no recourse and were lost as to what they could do.
Unfortunately, that's the situation for thousands, if not millions, of parents across America who enroll their kids in a sports program that in most cases is overseen by no one but the organizers themselves.
These are volunteer parents who recruit other parents as coaches and set out to mirror their programs to look and feel just like the major leagues. They spend thousands of dollars for manicured fields, equipment, uniforms and officials and run the program like the NFL, MLB or NBA on a miniature scale.
While it all sounds like apple pie and the Fourth of July, it's not. In most programs the coaches are never held to a strict code of behavior, thus resulting in what Stacey and Julie went through.
And these ladies got so frustrated their only recourse was to write a book about it. Too bad they didn't know about the National Alliance for Youth Sports' (NAYS) Coach Rating System.
Like Stacey and Julie, most caring parents wonder what kind of impact their child's coaches are really having on their kids and, more important, what if they don't like what they see?
Well, then what better way to receive feedback on coaches' skills and leadership abilities than to have a coach rating system.
The Coach Rating System is a free, unique tool offered to all programs affiliated with NAYS to collect coach evaluations online. Parents rate their child's coach on 15 questions covering key coaching areas such as:
•Sportsmanship
•Physical Health
•Sport Knowledge and Technical Instruction
•Communication
•Coaching Style
Since parent evaluations are anonymous to the coaches, parents can provide honest feedback without fear of backlash or repercussion. The coach only sees their overall score for each key coaching area.
However, the recreation directors (we refer to them as NAYS Chapter Directors) and their youth sports staff can review the details of each evaluation, and even a summation of all the coach's evaluations. They can then use the information from the evaluations to improve their youth sports program by addressing any coach concerns, developing a coaching improvement plan or giving coaches with high scores a pat on the back for their hard work.
So how can your community develop a NAYS Chapter so that they can implement the coach rating system? Simply send an email to nays@nays.org and ask for information on how to get started. It's that simple.