Betsy Butterick’s new book, Kids These Days- Effective Strategies for Coaching Gen Z and Beyond, is a fantastic resource that I recommend adding to every coach’s toolbox. Butterick combines research and her own experience as a communication specialist and executive coach for college athletic departments, coaches, and athletes into practical tools coaches can implement immediately with their teams. Supporting adolescents is one of my favorite genres to read, and I devoured this book in two sittings. Butterick’s writing style is clear, easy to read, and funny. Her examples are so relatable as a coach working with Gen Z and Gen Alpha that I felt like she was right “in the boat,” as she would say, with me.
Throughout the book, Butterick talks about how this generation of athletes has grown up as “digital natives” and how this affects how they communicate and want to be communicated with. The days of long-winded pre- and post-game speeches are over because this group has been raised on chat-based communication tools, multiple screens fighting for their attention, and instant access to information and answers from the internet. I loved Butterick’s suggestion to use bullet points in emails to ensure clarity and combat short attention spans, and to use an athlete’s name during conversations whenever possible to create deeper connections.
One thing I am passionate about as a coach is creating emotional safety within the team, and Kids These Days has me thinking about how communication and communication tactics contribute. In today’s culture of social media likes, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are hyper-aware of what others think of them and what is going on with their peers. Butterick makes an excellent point that if a coach singles someone out in practice for a mistake, the entire team feels the criticism, not just the individual player. This does not make a practice environment safe to make mistakes! In the past I would have approached the player privately to apologize and repair, but now it feels more appropriate to recognize the incident with the entire team so the group can feel safe moving forward. I am a huge proponent of athlete privacy and confidentiality, but this is a case where communicating in confidence isn’t serving the needs of the team.
There are so many other strategies I would love to highlight from the book, but instead I’m going to encourage coaches, parents, and all caring adults who have a Gen Z or Gen Alpha in their lives to check it out. I am super excited to scan the QR code in the back to dive into Betsy’s Bookshelf of recommended reads. Check out BetsyButterick.com and order her book today.
