Got Questions About Coaching?

Positive Coaching Alliance has answers.

Great coaching looks effortless from the sidelines. Great parenting, too, for that matter. But everyone involved in youth sports knows it’s a lot more complicated than that.

Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) emerged to help make sure coaching – and youth sports at large – doesn’t just look effortless, but that it has a positive impact on the kids who come together for practices, games, competitions and tournaments. But in that process, things aren’t always black and white. 

Enter: Ask PCA

When the right thing to do isn’t always clear, or when, during a practice or game, the goals of healthy competition come up against complex social dynamics, charged emotions, or unclear standards, it’s normal to have questions. That’s one reason why Ask PCA – a service of Positive Coaching Alliance – has received hundreds of questions over the years. Most come from coaches and parents trying to serve youth as best as they can, but not always knowing how.

Answers come from PCA Staff, or the PCA Trainers who lead live workshops throughout the United States, and the occasional PCA guest expert. Less concerned with Xs and Os, Ask PCA typically answers questions that come down to nuanced interpersonal relationships among the coaches, parents, athletes, administrators, and officials who make youth sports work.

Questions from coaches and parents include:

• What do you do when your most talented player has the worst attitude?
• When is it appropriate to base playing time on skill?
• What’s the right age for travel teams and player cuts?
• Should parents intervene when the coach is being unfair?
• My son is putting in the effort, but not seeing playing time.

What if I want to Ask PCA?

If you have a question, it’s easy to submit on the website. Go to positivecoach.org/ask-pca

The questions that seem to apply most broadly and can benefit most from community input go onto the blog. Others are answered by private e-mail. 

Where can I read Ask PCA ?

Ask PCA is available in the TeamSnap app. Go now!