Why qualifications matter
Meet Johnny
Johnny is training with Coach Mack, former NCAA D1 football standout from the early 2000’s. Coach Mack is adored by Johnny because of his big, muscular frame, his infectious chuckle and his track record of working with the top kids in the area. Johnny tells all his friends at school how Coach Mack is his secret weapon and that he’s training just like Coach Mack did when he was his age.
He is doing squats, deadlifts (with chains!), and ‘fast-feet’ footwork drills on ‘speed ladder’ and he isn’t shy to boast about it to all of his school friends. He tells them that it’s important to always ‘grind’ and he gets up at 5am daily for coach Mack’s sessions.
He’s getting stronger each day and believes in Coach Mack’s methods. After all, he was a top D1 athlete! Johnny’s PE teacher, Mister Jones is worried about him because he says his back hurts all the time. Johnny often makes excuses not to join the class in fun, P.E. activities because of it. Even his mom has begun writing notes stating that his training with Coach Mack is part of his ‘future’ and PE class isn’t as important. Johnny is 13.
Meet Sophia
Sophia, is a high school soccer standout. She is known for her pitch-sense, her no-quit attitude and her endurance. Her sport coach says she will go far in the sport as long as she works on improving her speed. She often gets beat to loose balls, even though her ability to retain possession is excellent once she has the ball.
About 9 months ago, Sophia met a young, former national level player at her school one afternoon. That player, named Chelsea, came to give a speech on the importance of staying in school and staying away from drugs. Chelsea became youth-worker specializing in at risk teens after her time with the National Team. Sophia didn’t really pay attention to the talk as she was too enamored by the fact that Chelsea had played for the national team. Sophia had never met (in person) a real-life female soccer star like Chelsea!
After the talk, Sophia approached Chelsea asking her if she would train her. Chelsea agreed and has been working with Sophia once a week for the past 9 months on her physical development. They mainly go distance running together - Chelsea needs to keep fit and she isn’t charging Sophia’s parents, so they meet every Tuesday and run 10-15km together. Chelsea is so impressed with Sophia’s ability to keep up that she regularly posts selfies of them on social media to keep Sophia ‘inspired.’ Sophia’s coaches are noticing her speed is almost non-existent now and she complains constantly of having ‘heavy legs.’ Sophia is 15.
Do you see a pattern here?
This are fictional, yet very real, scenarios about what is going on in youth sport. Physical development seems like a hobby to many, something that ‘anyone can do if they have done it themselves.’
Does being a former athlete make one a physical performance coach?
What is harm you say? They are just helping out a young person.
They are ‘mentoring’ them and showing them the way!
All young people need a mentor and why not get more bang for your buck?
Scoring high on ‘relatability’ and low on ‘credibility.’
It is really awe-inspiring for student-athletes to work with former high level athletes. These former jocks score very high on ‘relatability,’ and that is often how they sell themselves. In the cases above, Coach Mack could do just about anything with Johnny and there would be buy in. A former NCAA standout who looks the part is steep competition for the University educated and credentialled Strength & Conditioning Coach who maybe didn’t play at that level.
Mack ignores Johnny sore back and tells him it is part of the grind and will be worth it. Mack has a Humanities degree and hasn’t an ounce of training in Biomechanics, injury risk mitigation or sports medicine.
Although Chelsea means well and has experience working with youth, she does not have the training to really help Sophia grow physically as an athlete. Her advice and the run sessions are misdirected; the last thing Sophia needs is more endurance work.
Chelsea’s good intentions are simply not good enough if Sophia is to reach her goals in soccer. Plus, the amount of social media attention Chelsea is generating isn’t a good look. Did she ask Sophia’s parents for written expressed permission? If Chelsea had taken a sport ethics course she might think more deeply about her choice to post pictures and the impact it has on Sophia.
So, now what? “Who” is qualified to work with youth?
It is really tough to navigate this question when you are a parent. I know this, because parents ask me questions all the time.
They do not seem to know what to look for as the field of youth physical development is UNREGULATED.
What exactly does this mean? Simply stated: There is no governing body to police best practice. And the truth is, many cannot police themselves.
So, is it a free for all?
I guess in some ways, the truth is - yes.
However, part of my job as an educator is to get good information out there to stakeholders and parents on what to look for if a person is going to be training youth athletes. A youth athlete is any athlete, of any level of participation between the ages of 11 and 17, but this advice does not eliminate children! Children also require specialized and stage-appropriate advisement.
Here’s the list of MINIMUM qualifications:
Post-secondary in Kinesiology, Exercise Science with course-work in: Pedagogy, Growth and Motor Development and Exercise Prescription in Athlete populations.
Safe Sport module complete OR an Ethics on Sport course completed
A certification (this allows the person to buy insurance - no certification means they are likely operating without insurance which is a big no no)
A proper business license even if they coach part time.
A clear philosophy in coaching and mission statement regarding LTAD
Letters of reference or endorsement from sport NSO’s, governing bodies and/or schools
My final thoughts and some resources for you…
Since this post is aimed more at parents, I’d like to share some of my favourite resources
