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Adults involved with youth sports must receive training and important information about the program and <br /> must be held accountable for their behavior. <br /> Background: <br /> Sports participation can lead to physical and emotional harm if those responsible have no training. In <br /> many cases, adults involved with youth sports organizations have not received formal training. Adults <br /> are an essential component of organized sports programs, whose own motives, morals and beliefs can <br /> influence how programs are conducted and their outcomes. <br /> Rationale: <br /> To ensure that everyone involved strives to make the youth sports program safe, positive and fun for all <br /> children, all administrators, coaches and parents must receive information about the program's <br /> philosophy, policies and procedures, as well as specific knowledge required for each position. By <br /> holding everyone accountable for their behaviors, high quality programming can be ensured. <br /> Implementation: <br /> 1. Parents, coaches and volunteers should be provided written information that outlines the program's <br /> purpose, as well as policies and procedures. <br /> 2. Coaches and staff should be trained in the following areas: the emotional needs of children; safety, <br /> injury prevention and first aid; conditioning; hydration and nutrition; teaching proper sport <br /> techniques; including all children; child abuse prevention; and drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention. <br /> 3. Coaches should be encouraged to continually gain general and sport-specific coaching skills. <br /> 4. Leagues are encouraged to provide additional educational resources for coaches and parents to <br /> assist them in providing the best possible youth sports experience for each child. <br /> 5. Adults involved should be provided information about the types of child abuse, recognizing <br /> symptoms of child abuse and neglect and understand reporting procedures. <br /> 6. Leagues should adopt a positive coaching recruitment policy that encourages the recruitment and <br /> selection of qualified women and men regardless of race, creed, sex or economic status. <br /> 7. All volunteers should be required annually to sign a code of conduct pledging their commitment to <br /> provide enjoyable, healthful youth sports experiences. <br /> 8. Leagues should establish an accountability procedure and disciplinary process to remove anyone <br /> who does not abide by its policies and procedures. <br /> 9. Coaches and parents should encourage and apply proper principles of conditioning. <br /> National Standards for Youth Sports Copyright©2008 by NAYS <br />