As a coach, you play a large role in your athletes’ lives, and helping them set realistic, meaningful goals as a team and as individuals is one of the most important parts of a successful season. While athletes should feel ownership over both individual and team goals, you can help them optimize those goals so that their wellbeing, rather than winning, is prioritized.

Here are five strategies that coaches can utilize to help athletes set goals that matter.

Social media usage amongst young athletes is all but guaranteed, and as a coach, you have the difficult task of ensuring that your athletes are using it to enhance team culture rather than spread negativity. It’s tempting to ignore how athletes approach social media, but because it’s a primary method of communication for many of them, it needs to be part of the team culture conversation.

Here, TrueSport Expert Nadia Kyba, shares some simple do’s and don’ts for creating a social media policy with your athletes and parents that will help improve team culture.

As a coach, you likely have certain assumptions around receiving respect from your athletes. However, when was the last time you really considered what respect means to you, and how your athletes define it? Respectful behaviors might seem obvious to you, but often, what you consider signs of respect are things that athletes simply haven’t learned or don’t understand.

Concussion research is a rapidly evolving field, and over the past several years, there have been some changes in recommendations regarding concussions and their treatment. Newer research shows that some prior recommendations, including prolonged periods of rest, were not helpful for recovery.

As a coach or caregiver, it’s easy to forget the anxiety and nerves that often crop up for athletes around team tryouts. Or maybe you have an experience of your own that you remember and shudder about decades later. But how do you hold tryouts and make the right selections for your team while still helping athletes navigate those nerves?

The following article is part of a content partnership with TrueSport, a positive youth sports movement powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). TrueSport has partnered with more than 20 sport NGBs to promote a positive culture of youth sport with expert content and programming. 

The following article is part of a content partnership with TrueSport, a positive youth sports movement powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). TrueSport has partnered with more than 20 sport NGBs to promote a positive culture of youth sport with expert content and programming.

The following article is part of a content partnership with TrueSport, a positive youth sports movement powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). TrueSport has partnered with more than 20 sport NGBs to promote a positive culture of youth sport with expert content and programming.

If you’re reading this article, you likely want to start improving the diversity, equity, and inclusion on your team or at your school, but you’re simply not sure how or where to begin. There’s no better time than April, which is officially recognized as Celebrate Diversity Month.

The following article is part of a content partnership with TrueSport, a positive youth sports movement powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). TrueSport has partnered with more than 20 sport NGBs to promote a positive culture of youth sport with expert content and programming.

The following article is part of a content partnership with TrueSport, a positive youth sports movement powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). TrueSport has partnered with more than 20 sport NGBs to promote a positive culture of youth sport with expert content and programming.