One of the signs of a good youth sports coach is that he has demonstrated his committment to to coaching and the physical and emotional well-being of athletes entrusted to his care in the following ways :

• By becoming trained  (or, better yet, licensed or certified) in the sport he is coaching;

• By viewing an understanding of child development as essential to setting age-appropriate expectations for athletes;

• By keeping his coaches skills current, such as by attending coaching clinics or workshops;

• By acquiring a thorough understanding of the rules of the game so he can teach the sport correctly (remember: the rules and equipment may have been modified for younger children);

• By watching and learning from other coaches;

• By making the safety of athletes a priority by becoming certified in first aid, CPR, the use of an AED, and sports-specific injury prevention and treatment;

• By refusing to ask an athlete to play hurt;

• By encouraging athletes to report signs or symptoms of a concussion;

• By refusing to allow an athlete to return to play after suffering a concussion before all post-concussion signs and symptoms have cleared both at rest and with exertion;

• By setting age-, sport and developmentally-appropriate limits on the length and number of practices, number of pitches thrown, and/or number of games in order to avoid exposing athletes to overuse injuries to their growing bodies; and 

• By emphasizing to athletes the importance of engaging in appropriate warm-up and cool-down exercises.

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