Awesome insight. Thanks! I've been doing a fair amount of studying on coaching and using positive coaching techniques. The fact that her last coach so disgusted me I figured rather than sit around and complain about it I would investigate a better way to do it. I am considering trying some basketball coaching. I especially have a heart to help young girls develop their skills and I may ask my daughter to help. She seems kind of excited about that.

Note...below is merely my opinion from the limited observation and research I have done over the last few years and I'm really only talking about youth (pre varsity High School) sports...

I agree that negative coaching works on some young athletes. These tend (IMO) to be the thick skinned kids (let's say about 10%) that are going to play no matter what the coaches say. It seems like these kids love the game more than they are disturbed by getting yelled at. Often, these kids are the ones that end up at the top of the heap (maybe through attrition). I would argue in spite of the coaching style. Not because of it. However, I think the negative coaching model has been engrained in athletics even down to the youth level now. As a side note to this. I have seen also many of these kids who perform tentatively because they are afraid of taking risks and potentially making a mistake. This pretty much describes to a T what I witnessed with my daughter's middle school team the last 3 years.

Then there are the rest of the kids (the 90%). These kids want to have fun playing a game. These kids like the game and a good percentage might actually be quite skilled at it. But once it's not fun any longer they don't want to do it. I guess I can't really blame them. I don't think any kid really wants to be yelled at or demeaned by a coach. Not even the 10%. That's why 75% or so of youth athletes quit by the age of 13 or 14. I believe that it is in this population that you are missing some diamonds in the rough. Especially the kids that might develop a little slower. Guess what, they are the ones getting yelled at the most because they can't measure up to the yelling coaches expectations at that point in their development. I believe my daughter is in this population. I believe she has the natural, undeveloped, talent to play at a pretty high level. I honestly don't care if she goes on to play in college. I just wanted to put it out there for the sake of my thoughts above that she has the potential to. If she wants that she needs to find the heart and work ethic to go with that natural ability. That's where a good, positive, coach would be helpful to the 90 percenters. To continue to encourage the love of a sport and to embrace hard work no matter what level of the sport you choose to rise to. And the cool thing is that I believe that many of the 10 percenters would perform just as well or maybe better without being yelled at.

My daughter has had some awesome coaches over the years. She still has a great relationship with some of them. She's had some meh coaches. Not a lot of harm done there except slower development. And one truly awful coach that has about derailed her. It's interesting how one bad apple can offset much of the good she has seen.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on youth coaching. And by the way...I don't mean positive coaching in the sense that everyone gets a trophy. I think an great coach can demand excellence and still appropriately praise players and not yell at them.

Thanks again for your coaching insight on this. It really helps. Especially since you have been there. Believe it or not she was kind of excited about the rest of the summer team camps and wanted to try to play today. I slowed her down a bit though so we can make sure her hamstring doesn't get reinjured.