It is tryout season for school teams, club teams, and recreational leagues. I have been hearing coaches and leaders in the industry talk about how some teams are being formed primarily to achieve and win, while other teams are coming together with a focus on developing athletes. I would argue that teams that focus on developing players as both athletes and people will ultimately be the most successful. But at the same time, what does it actually mean to develop athletes in youth sports?

For me, athlete development has four key components: athleticism, sport-specific skills, knowledge of the game, and personal character. A strong youth sports program should create opportunities for athletes to develop in all four areas.

Athleticism

With the decline in physical education classes and opportunities for unstructured play, we are seeing kids come into youth sports with fewer basic movement skills. In elementary school PE classes, kids traditionally learned how to run, jump, throw, land, stop, and change direction. These fundamental movements provide the foundation for almost every sport. When kids have fewer opportunities to develop them, we see the impact in youth sports. Their bodies are less prepared for athletic movements like sprinting, kicking, throwing, and changing direction.

This is an area where youth sports coaches can help close the gap. Developing athleticism does not have to mean complicated workouts or spending an entire practice on conditioning. It can be as simple as playing tag, which includes running, changing directions, and stopping quickly, or incorporating relay races, jumping and landing activities, or cone and agility drills.

When I advised coaches at the 8U and 10U level early in my coaching career, I would often tell them they could skip traditional running warm-ups and go straight into skill development. My coaching philosophy has changed since then. I now believe that developing athleticism should be a regular part of practice, especially with younger athletes who may not be getting these movement opportunities anywhere else.

In a two-hour practice, coaches can spend 10–15 minutes intentionally working on athleticism. At the high school level and above, if you have access to a weight room and qualified instruction, you can also devote one or two practice days per week to building strength, speed, and agility.

The goal is not to turn every young athlete into an elite athlete. It is to give them the physical foundation they need to move confidently and safely in their sport.

Sport-Specific Skills

The best coaches are teachers first, especially when it comes to breaking down, explaining, and demonstrating sport-specific movements. A coach does not have to be a former college or professional athlete to teach throwing, shooting, footwork, or other sport-specific skills, but they do need access to reliable resources.

I encourage coaches to find a few trusted sources for sport-skill development and stick with those rather than finding a new YouTube video to simulate every practice. There is a lot of information available to coaches, and not all of it is good information. Having a few reliable resources can help you build a consistent approach to teaching skills.

Building sport-specific skills will make up a large portion of your practice. A simple progression is to teach the skill, allow players to practice it, provide supportive feedback, and then give them opportunities to apply the new skill in game-like situations.

The goal is not just to have an athlete who can perform a skill correctly in a drill. We want them to eventually be able to recognize when and how to use that skill when the game becomes unpredictable.

Game Knowledge

With sport specialization happening at younger ages, we are seeing youth athletes with highly specialized sport skills, but sometimes they do not know how to use those skills in the game. I recently heard a WNBA player talk about how younger players are highly skilled because they have worked with private trainers for so long, but there can be a gap when it comes to actual in-game experience. I found this interesting because I see something similar with my softball players at the high school level.

They may understand how to field a ground ball, but executing situational defense can be a challenge. I couldn’t believe it when I discovered that some of my players had never played a defensive situation specifically designed for facing a slap hitter. They had the physical skills, but they did not have the experience or knowledge to know what to do with those skills in that particular situation.

There are two major ways coaches can help players develop game knowledge: teach them how the game works and give them opportunities to play.

To build confidence, I like to teach the skill first, talk about its application or the specific rule, and then let players try it in a game-like scenario. If we are teaching a new defensive situation, for example, we can explain what is happening, talk through the options, and then allow the players to experience it themselves.

Game knowledge also comes from playing experience, and that can be simulated in practice through scrimmages, situational games, and small-sided games. These types of activities give players opportunities to make decisions, solve problems, and learn what to do when the game does not go exactly as planned.

I like to spend the last 15–20 minutes of practice scrimmaging or playing some type of small-sided game. This allows players to apply the skills and knowledge they have been working on throughout practice, while also giving coaches a chance to see what players understand and where they may need additional support.

Character Development

Even though I listed personal character last, I believe this is the most important piece of development to come out of youth sports at any level. Being on a team is an opportunity for players to learn teamwork, commitment, communication, leadership, accountability, and so much more.

The majority of youth athletes will not go on to play their sport beyond high school. That does not mean their experience in sports is any less valuable. In fact, I would argue that this is one of the most important reasons youth sports matter.

Coaches have an opportunity to help young people become responsible, confident, self-aware adults. We can teach them how to communicate with teammates, how to respond to mistakes, how to handle adversity, how to take responsibility, how to lead, and how to contribute to a team.

These are skills that extend far beyond the field, court, or rink.

Development Is About More Than the Next Level

When we talk about developing athletes, it is easy to think about development in terms of performance. Are they getting better? Are they winning? Are they making the next team? Are they preparing to play at the next level?

Those things can be part of development, but they should not be the whole picture.

Developing a youth athlete means helping them become a better mover, a better player, a better decision-maker, and a better teammate. It means giving them the physical skills to participate, the sport-specific skills to perform, the game knowledge to make decisions, and the character skills to navigate being part of a team.

When we approach youth sports this way, winning and achievement can still be a part of the experience. But they become the result of development rather than the sole purpose of it.

Our job as youth coaches is not just to prepare athletes for their next game, next season, or next level. We have the opportunity to help develop people who can carry what they learned through sports with them for the rest of their lives.