Connection Based Coaching

A good coach can change everything. While most coaches recognize the key role they play in promoting youth development and social and emotional skills, they often don’t feel supported in doing so. This is a missed opportunity.

It’s time for big, bold action from across the youth sports sector. The first step: train one million coaches

in youth development techniques by 2025 through the Million Coaches Challenge. Together, with support from the Susan Crown Exchange, we can build a future where our kids know how to work together, celebrate success, manage failure, and are equipped with the skills they need to thrive. Together, we are the Million Coaches Challenge. Learn more at: https://www.millioncoaches.org.

Why Coaches?

• 36 million youth played organized sports in 2019.
• Combining physical activity, play, and collaboration, sports are a meaningful way to foster youth development and build key social and emotional skills like teamwork, empathy, and problem solving. These skills help kids thrive: on the field, in the classroom, and in life.
• Each year, fewer kids play sports. The average child today spends less than three years playing a sport, quitting by age 11, most often because the sport just isn’t fun anymore.
• It doesn’t have to be this way. A good coach can play a transformational role in a child’s experience. The key? High-quality training in youth development techniques.
• However, less than one third of the country’s six million coaches have been trained in youth development practices. This is a missed opportunity.

About the Million Coaches Challenge

• The goal: train one million coaches in youth development techniques by 2025 through the Million Coaches Challenge.
• We envision a world in which ALL young athletes have access to coaches who are well-versed in youth development and skill-building techniques that help kids succeed on and off the field.
• We are the Million Coaches Challenge: 11 organizations committed to changing the conversation around what it means to be a good coach.
• The Susan Crown Exchange is committed to funding initiatives that help achieve this goal. As part of the Million Coaches Challenge, SCE is funding a cohort of organizations to bring critical training to coaches across the country.

Million Coaches Challenge website: https://www.millioncoaches.org/