National and State Youth Baseball Coaching Requirements: A State Case Study

National and State Youth Baseball Coaching Requirements: A State Case Study Through sports, youth coaches help parents and teachers develop the whole child or teenager in preparation for life. Sports are an important arena wherein coaches have the wonderful opportunity to guide and nurture the physical, mental, social, and emotional development of youth athletes. Coaching is of great value to society, according to Gilbert, Gilbert, and Trudel (2001), because there are millions of children and teenagers who "establish a segment of themselves in organized sports during a period of their lives that is critical to their personal development." (p.29)Within the athletic arena, coaches assume the role of educator presenting youth with opportunities to learn and use both sports skills and life skills. But as Martens (2004) has argued, coaching is more than teaching, since "[c]oaches not only guide athletes in learning technical, tactical, and life skills, they also orchestrate and direct their lives in the performance of these skills" (p. vi) The vast majority of youth programs in the United States rely on volunteers, notably parent-coaches (Wiersma & Sherman, 2005). Because of the volunteer nature of youth coaching, it is not surprising that coaches have various educational and athletic backgrounds (Martens, 2004). Most volunteer coaches receive only limited formal training or education in coaching to prepare them for their respective coaching endeavors (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001; Gilbert et al., 2001; Gould, Krane, Giannini, & Hodge, 1990; Weiss & Hayashi, 1996). The majority of youth coaches nationally may be inadequately prepared to appropriately nurture children's physical, mental, social, and emotional development. Research suggests that formal coaching education influences a coach's ability to affect learning and performance in positive ways (Martens, 2004); coaching education is rarely mandatory (Clark, 2000), despite such findings. Furthermore, the available data describing standards that state and national sports organizations set for youth coaches are limited. The primary purpose of this study was, therefore, to determine these standards, or coaching requirements, in a sample of national youth baseball organizations as well as youth leagues in the state of Hawaii. Methods Every administrator (N = 61) at the five national youth baseball organizations and five statewide Hawaiian youth baseball organizations involved in the study completed a survey. These administrators included national directors, regional directors, and state directors, as well as the local presidents from the state leagues. The 12-item survey contained sections on (a) required certification, (b) required play and coaching experience, (c) required continuing professional education, and (d) educational background. Each survey question was designed to elicit a yes response (1) or a no response (2). The instrument's intent was, first, to obtain from each administrator a description of any coaching certification that was required of or recommended for head baseball coaches by the organization (Questions 1-3). Next, the survey asked about experience head baseball coaches might be required to present, both as players and as coaches, and also whether they underwent any criminal background check (Questions 4-6). Then, the survey asked whether an organization required head baseball coaches to demonstrate professional growth through formal continuing education, and whether mandatory meetings of team parents were (Questions 7-10). Finally, the instrument surveyed the administrators about any education requirements established for head baseball coaches (Questions 11-12) (see Table 1). Frequency distributions and percentages quantifying the administrators' responses were determined so that the five Hawaii youth baseball leagues could be compared and contrasted. …