
An online 60-minute workshop for sports coaches
Why understanding the teenage brain is important
The next Coaching Teens workshop: February 8, 2022
Full workshop details here
Coaching Children and Teenagers With Help from Youthsafe
Coaching as a means of developing player self-discipline, technical excellence and effective teamwork is an essential role in fostering player wellbeing and team success. a. It is particularly important in coaching children and teenagers, who can respond positively to the influence of an encouraging coach. Coaches with insight into young people and the development of young people, who take an obvious interest in each player, can do much to influence attitudinal and behavioural shifts in young players for their benefit and that of the team as a whole.
The Importance of Teenagers and Children Playing Sport
The positive impact of participating in organised sporting activities is well documented and the key role of the coach in delivering this positive impact cannot be overstated.
Coaching capability does not, however, develop without investment and support and all too often that investment is made to develop the coaching skills of those involved in senior and elite sports.
Coaches of junior players are best placed to lay the foundations of player enthusiasm and commitment for long-term engagement. More should be done to emphasise the important role they have and to increase the investment made to develop their coaching skills.
Too many players give up their sport in their early to mid-teens. Too many young players are injured, or concussed while playing which can have health consequences for them in later years if the impacts are not identified and treated when they occur and the responsibility to take proactive action in relation to these issues is usually that of the coach.
By receiving adequate training as a sports and safety coach, those who coach junior players can
- Better motivate players and cultivate their wellbeing and retention
- Bring a mentoring skill-set to their relationships with young players
- More effectively manage the attitude and ‘acting out’ behaviours teenagers can display from time to time
- Foster player excellence and team success.
What you can Expect From Youthsafe Regarding the Promotion of Teenagers and Children Playing Sport
Our helpful coaching workshop, which is offered face-to-face and online, promotes player wellbeing by focussing on the critical role of the coach as an influencer of player attitude and behaviour. By promoting positive communication and rapport building our program aims to foster continuous improvement in coaches and young athletes alike. With an increasing number of young people abandoning organised sport and the health and social benefits it affords, health issues relating to sedentary lifestyles and loneliness can exert a consequential impact on a young person’s wellbeing and positive self-concept.
- Children: The workshop takes an early intervention approach, seeking to build the long-term engagement of young people in sport at the earliest stages
- Adolescents/Teens: The workshop seeks to offer teenagers pathways to continue with their sport at a time when so many drop out.
- Parents/coaches/teachers: The workshop drawing on brain development research seeks to build coaches’ rapport building skills, adding value to their technical knowledge of the game, its rules and tactics. It offers coaches a unique opportunity to provide a new level of motivation and behavioural management of young players.
We know coaches are passionate and committed to developing young players, but they tell us that they can be challenged by the:
- number of teenagers who lose interest and drop out
- unhelpful attitude of some players and the influence that has on the team
- collective pressure that school, peers, family and growing up generally has on players
- best way to develop teenagers as players and as young people
- lack of support given to support their coaching responsibilities.
This workshop and its supporting resources will give you:
- insights into the behaviour and attitudes of teenage players
- assurance about your capacity to influence them
- practical tips on being an effective mentor and enhancing player relationships
- positive ways to encourage player engagement and foster team success
Past workshop participants have said:
As a new coach with limited experience, this workshop is providing me with tools to implement to achieve an optimal outcome. Keep up the good work.
The presentation gave our participants valuable insights into what their role is and the impact they can have on the players they coach.
This workshop should be a part of the FFA coaching licences.
Coaching Teens is an online 60-minute workshop for sports coaches.
As a return to sport special we are offing one workshop for FREE.
The workshop draws on Youthsafe’s award-winning approach to youth mentoring as well as effective communication strategies to help you get the best out of your young players.
Book your place today!
Workshops for young sports players – Stay in the Game

A presentation about risk and the consequences of risk as a young athlete.
Stay in the Game is a facilitated discussion involving young athletes in exploring the concept of risk, related consequences and strategies for making safer choices so young people can keep playing the game they love.
Youthsafe’s ‘Stay in the Game’ sessions get our young players to develop meaningful strategies to help them stay safe, on and off the field.
The sessions really make them think about what’s in their control, and help them take responsibility for their own safety.
If you would like more information or to book a session, please call our Education Coordinator on (02) 9817 7847 or email presentations@youthsafe.org
All our sessions are available throughout the Sydney metropolitan area. Packages can be developed for regions outside Sydney including The Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Illawarra regions.
The influence of coaching style on player injury and participation.
Coaches are an essential part of a sporting team’s success. This article looks at how coaches can impact on young players’ health, wellbeing as well as improving performance, on and off the sporting field.
Coaching to reduce injury and increase performance is also the focus of Youthsafe’s new Front of Mind workshop for coaches of young athletes. Read the full article by clicking here.