The Importance of Mentoring in Youth Sports

We mentor our children. We do it by demonstrating a good work ethic, responding to bad behavior with corrective action, praising them when they do a great job, and modeling how to work with others. If you have ever coached or been friendly with an employee at work who is your mentor and/or a family member, then you know what mentoring means in any relationship: it means emulating the behavior of someone who has greater experience.

Mentoring can be an invaluable experience for a young athlete; it not only helps establish and strengthen skills learned in school and at home, it can also be the experience that turns the young athlete into an even better athlete, now and in the future. There are many coaches that have served as mentors, some are even called that, but the reality is that the life lessons learned on the field and off the field between an athlete and a coach can shape a young person’s life and positively change how they view their world and their place in it.

It is important to mold your approach to how mentoring can achieve great success as it takes time and structure to put a plan in place. Coaches have to treat mentoring as part of the deal when they sign up for this great role. That is why creating a mentorship agreement template is so vital to the coaching experience and the coordination of your youth baseball team. Your coaches will have a roadmap to follow and they will be able to build a positive rapport with the young athletes you are so proud of. A mentorship agreement template serves as an agreement between the coach and the player that indicates and encourages the type of positive and encouraging coaching your members of Denville Baseball want from their coaches.

Your youth baseball coaches should have an agreement on how to get a handle on getting to know the players they are coaching. Understanding both the background and motivation will serve as invaluable tools during coaching sessions and games. Trust between the coach and the players is important in any youth sports environment. When you have a negative relationship between a coach and the players or even a single player, it can cause big frustrations for all involved. If you have a mentoring agreement in place, then the rules and understanding are established beforehand to alleviate any tiffs before they come to a head during an important situation, such as a close game.

Your youth baseball players have so much potential and being part of a mentoring experience where they are guided by someone who has greater experience in mentoring will serve to make your teams more successful. Plus, learning the skills to be an amazing player in your sport is an amazing bonding experience for a mentor and mentee! The bond you create as a result is beneficial for everyone and the memories you create on the field cannot be matched. Coaches and players that have a great bond are often the ones that achieve great things on and off the field. Helping kids fulfill their dreams on the field will provide support and encouragement in their everyday lives.