GRPA takes lead in initiative to hold volunteer coaches accountable for their behavior

Published 4:44 pm Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Georgia Recreation and Park Association (GRPA) and the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) — long-time allies in the mission to ensure that all children are treated to positive youth sports experiences — are uniting again to kick off a national initiative aimed at holding volunteer coaches more accountable for their behavior.

 NAYS, through its National Youth Sports Coaches Association (NYSCA) volunteer coach training program, has unveiled a state-of-the-art coach evaluation system that allows recreation agencies to conduct comprehensive and timely assessments of all its coaches. The system enables recreation directors to help monitor that every volunteer is meeting the needs of the young athletes on his or her team. 

 “NAYS is genuinely excited about the opportunity to once again work closely with GRPA to help enhance youth sports programs throughout the state through our new coach evaluation system,” said John Engh, chief operating officer of NAYS. “GRPA has been a valued supporter of NAYS for so many years and our philosophies of how youth sports should be conducted to meet the needs of children mesh perfectly.”

 Since 2001 more than 70,000 coaches have been trained throughout the state by the nearly 150 NYSCA chapters that exist in Georgia. Furthermore, for the last eight years Georgia has ranked either first or second in the country in the number of coaches trained.

 “GRPA is very excited to be partnering with NAYS on the roll out of this new phase of coach certification,” said Jimmy Gisi, GRPA executive director. “Since their inception, we have had an excellent working relationship with NAYS and their NYSCA training program. It is imperative that we, as recreation professionals, do all that we possibly can to ensure our youth have positive and safe experiences in youth sports. This coach evaluation tool is but one more example of a way to make this happen.”

 Georgia’s recreation agencies that are affiliated with NAYS can access the coach rating system by logging in to their exclusive chapter management site available through the NAYS Web site at www.nays.org. 

 The system allows league administrators who are associated with NAYS to provide a digital link for parents to evaluate coaches anonymously. The link can either be placed within an email or posted directly on a league or organization’s web site. The questions hit all the key coaching areas, such as safety, sportsmanship and how well they teach skills, among others.

 Recreation directors, as well as the volunteer coaches themselves, can log on and review the ratings. While the parents’ answers are confidential, coaches can see their average scores in each category.

 “As a volunteer coach myself I know, and understandably so, that many coaches will experience a little anxiety at first wondering how their scores stack up,” Engh said. “But I’m confident that once volunteers in Georgia see how the system is set up that they will embrace this as an effective instrument for improving their coaching skills. One of the roles of a volunteer coach is to encourage our players to strive to be the best they can be, and that’s exactly what this system is all about – helping coaches become the best they can be for the benefit of their players.”   

 The system will be particularly helpful for those volunteers who often go through an entire season without a really good indication of just how well they are performing their responsibilities.

 Even for those outstanding coaches that the kids love playing for and learning from, these coaches can use the system as a springboard to take their skills to an even higher level — and forge even stronger connections with their players. For example, a coach may review his evaluation and find that he received high marks in every category except one, so armed with that information he can focus on improving his skills in that particular area.

 Additionally, those coaches who receive high marks in each category will obtain that valuable positive reinforcement that how they are handling their responsibilities is right on track.

 The coach evaluation system is just one of many significant upgrades that have been made to the NYSCA program in recent months. Coaches also have access to other innovative sections on the new NAYS Web site, including a skills and drills section that features hundreds of animated drills, as well as those that can be printed out and taken to practice to use as a handy reference while working with players.

 There is also a coaching forum, where volunteers can tap into the expertise of more than 100,000 volunteer coaches to gain insight on a variety of issues that are typically encountered while coaching children. The forum allows coaches to post questions to problems they have encountered, as well as help out their peers with solutions to issues they have already successfully handled.   

 For more information visit www.nays.org or email nays@nays.org.