Future of Coaching: Calls for Coaches to Support Emotional and Social Skills
Sports provides a vital opportunity for skill growth, mentorship and other benefits, with the athlete-coach relationship serving as the critical element to realizing these opportunities. Many professional athletes credit a coach with setting them up for success and providing mentorship well into their careers. Aspen Institute research has shown that coaches are key members of a child’s web of support, but just 36 percent of youth coaches have been trained in effective motivational techniques.
What if coaches were measured not by wins and losses, but by the personal growth of their athletes? On March 5, the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program partnered with the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development to release Calls for Coaches, a new resource that youth sports coaches can use to promote social and emotional development in their athletes.
Speakers at the event included former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, University of Maryland men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski, Washington Mystics player Natasha Cloud and freelance writer Linda Flanagan (author of “How Effective Sports Coaches Help Students Feel Understood at School”).
Read Sports & Society Program Editorial Director Jon Solomon’s article on why good coaches matter so much for children.
Agenda
Welcome Remarks
Tom Farrey, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program
The Role of Coaches in Society
Sasho Cirovski, Head Men’s Soccer Coach, University of Maryland
Natasha Cloud, Professional Basketball Player, Washington Mystics
Linda Flanagan, Writer, Runner, Coach & Author of “How Effective Sports Coaches Help Students Feel Understood at School”
Moderator: Jon Solomon, Editorial Director, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program
Importance of Coaching Social and Emotional Skills in Youth Sports
Susan Crown, Chairman & Founder, SCE
Presenting the Calls for Coaches
Jennifer Brown Lerner, Assistance Director for Policy & Partnerships, National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development
Marty Fox, Program Coordinator, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program
Conversation with Arne Duncan
Arne Duncan, Former U.S. Secretary of Education, Coach & Athlete
Moderator: Tom Farrey
What I Wish My Coach Knew
Rajan, FlagStar Football Youth Athlete
Alice, DC Girls Baseball Youth Athlete
Jency, DC SCORES Youth Athlete
Moderators: Arne Duncan and Tom Farrey
Coaching Social and Emotional Skills
Muata Gibson-Hunter, FlagStar Football Coach
Bonnie Hoffman, DC Girls Baseball Coach
Charles Robinson, DC SCORES Coach
Moderator: Dan Porterfield, President & CEO, Aspen Institute
Closing Remarks
Jackie Jodl, Executive Director, National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development
The National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development united youth, educators, scientists, and leaders from multiple sectors of society to re-envision what constitutes success in our schools. The Commission recently released its culminating report, From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope.
Future of Sports is a quarterly conversation series by the Sports & Society Program that helps stakeholders think through key questions shaping the future of our games, the sports industry and its impact on society. Past events examined the future of football, college athlete pay, sports betting, and athlete activism.
The National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development and the Sports & Society Program thank the Susan Crown Exchange for its generous support of this event.
