Team Moms/Coaches

Of the estimated 4.1 million youth sports coaches in the United States, only an estimated 650,000 are women. Even women who take th time to get their coaching licenses and want to coach are sometimes denied coaching positions. Find out what happens when a mom ends up coaching a team of sixth- and seventh-grade boys who are used to being coached by men.

It is a myth that a good athlete automatically makes a good coach. "Unfortunately, there's still sort of this belief when it comes to sports that if you've played it, you can coach it, and if you've played it really well, you'll be a really good coach," observes Karen Partlow, National Director of American Sports Education Program, one of the country's best-known training programs for coaches and administrators.

As parents we have a lot to learn about the youth sports our children play. Most of us have not played the game with age appropriate rules and therefore we are learning on the job what our children are doing on the field. Some rules are new to us and, of course, have little in common with the rules we see professional athletes use while we watch them on television.

Giving the "best" players more playing time than the so-called "weaker" players may help a team win more games, but at what cost? Some boys never miss practice, yet only played the minimum. Others hardly ever, or never, come to practice, yet are "rewarded" for their lack of commitment with extra playing time because the coach wants to win. I believe that an equal playing or significant playing time should be the rule rather than the exception, at least up until high school varsity or until players are playing at the highest levels of their sport.

The tragic death of soccer referee Ricard Portillo is just the latest example of the abuse of game officials and poor sportsmanship that has led to a shortage of referees, leading leagues and states legislatures to enact rules of conduct and criminalize assaults.

Car pools are a sports mom's best friend, lightening the load of all those trips to practices and games that weigh so many moms down. They also save on the cost of gas (and with a gallon costing over $4 per gallon these days, probably for good, those savings could be substantial) and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But they require commitment and planning if they are going to work...

The Games Based Approach differs from more conventional methods of instruction, characterized by lining up and standing around, which relies on repetition. With the Games Based Approach to teaching sports, all aspects of the sport, from the basic skills to more technical moves and strategies, are taught in the context of fun, yet instructive, games. Players practice skills with creative exercises.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that aggressive driving and road rage have been responsible for 2.28 million crashes and 27,935 traffic fatalities in the past five years. Interactions that might have involved non-violent gestures a few years back now may involve golf clubs or weapons. Remember, the deadliest weapons of all are vehicles themselves.