Negative Leadership and Youth Sports

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There are leaders in every situation and facet of life, leaders are everywhere around us, both in the business world and out in the community. Leaders can be Supervisors, Managers, Pastors, Teachers, or any person in any situation where they are trying to get a group of people to accomplish a specific goal. As stated by Don Clark “Good leaders are made not born” (Clark 2010), leaders are developed by experience, training, education, and by watching and learning from other leaders. Our children are learning how to be leaders everyday. They learn at school from their teachers and after school, they learn from their friends and parents. One of the most impactful leaders of children in every community is a youth sports coach. In 2006 it was estimated that forty-one million children played youth sports (Hilgers, 2006). So if so many kids are playing youth sports why do we sit back and let bad leaders influence them?

These youth coaches are more influential on a child’s perception of a leader than Teachers, Principals of Schools and in some cases even more than their parents. A youth sports coach is influencing and teaching our children to become leaders, and in most cases they are teaching them to be a poor leader. Usually a youth sports coach will coach a child in two sports, covering nine months of the year, for six to eight years. A teacher is usually only in the child’s life for eight months. As President of Cherry Creek Youth Sports over the last five years, I have seen many leaders or coaches that are a positive influence on the kids. Sadly, that is not the majority. When a child is going to play a sport, they should play to have fun, to bond with their friends and improve (Silverman, 2010). Most youth coaches are coaching to...

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...nd Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition.

In Motivation and Drive. Retrieved March 4, 2011, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadmot.html.

Feigley, David, PHD. (n.d.). Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council. In The Role of

Winning in Youth Sports. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://youthsports.rutgers.edu/resources/general-interest/the-role-of-winning-in-youth-sports.

Hilgers, Laura. (July 3, 2006). CNN. In Youth Sports Drawing More Than Ever.

Retrieved March 1, 2011, from http://articles.cnn.com/2006-07-03/us/rise.kids.sports_1_youth-sports-tennis-lessons-kids?_s=PM:US.

McKay, Adam (Director). (2006). Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

United States: Sony Pictures.

Silverman, Steve. (n.d.). Livestrong.com. In Problems With Youth Sports.

Retrieved March 5, 2011, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/93625-problems-youth-sports/.

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