You know when you’re cooking, and you’re trying to figure out how much & how many spices to add to get the right flavor? Well, sometimes I think about the field of SBYD like that. There are so many wonderfully rich, meaningful sports-based youth development programs nationwide, all with our own distinct flair and flavor. SuperStarters Sports programs add positive youth development practices and activities to consciously promote caring, & connectedness within our after school sports clubs & teams. This week’s post is a guest post from Coach Mary, who created our SuperStarters Running Club program. Here’s what she has to say about the SuperStarters difference…….
For the past 5 years, I have coached youth in both summer and after-school programs. I always felt that the curriculum taught in these programs was lacking in something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
It wasn’t until I became a coach for SuperStarters Sports here in Charlottesville, VA, that I figured out what was missing – positive youth development (PYD). I had heard of PYD but never in the context of sports. In the spring of 2015, while coaching with SuperStarters, I had the chance to see sports-based positive youth development in action! I coached both tennis and running, and although these two sports are different, I saw similar positive social developments in my students.
Not only are kids learning the skills needed to perform at their given sport, but they are also learning imperative social skills that can be applied to multiple domains of their lives. In the first season of the running club, one student in particular displayed positive changes in their social skills. This student started the 6-week program very much focused only on their development and improvement in running. However, with the incorporation of the PYD activities in each session, this student started to open up and help their fellow athletes succeed. Something that was great to see in the second season of the club was the students’ attention to teamwork. The youth took the primarily solitary sport of running and transformed it by working together to overcome their individual struggles with the sport. Students who were not comfortable with their running ability ran in groups and ended up enjoying running.
Using positive youth development in sports helped me become a better coach because it enabled me to reach my students at not just the sport level but at the personal level too. I got to know more about each child as a person, and different aspects of their lives, which then helped me deliver more appropriate coaching for each student.
Shout out to Mary for creating SuperStarters Running Club program, and for her great work at Greer!
