be infl uenced by their parents in comparison to past genera- tions. Not only have children changed, but parents have be- come much more involved and sometimes intrusive in their children’s sports. With today’s media-obsessed society, many Millennials
have extremely short attention spans if you are not physically or mentally engaging them in some type of activity.
Advice For Coaching Millennials Based on the changes outlined by the authors of Millenni-
als Go To College and the ones observed by coaches, here are some tips to help you coach your Millennials.
long term. Because many Millennials don’t handle failure well, you should invest the time to show them how to handle it productively. You will need to teach your athletes how to maintain their composure and confi dence, and how to refocus on to the next play.
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them from where they are now to where they would like to be. Encourage them to make the choice to stick with their plan over the long run. Remind them that success takes a long term investment of time.
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for your Millennials’ attention and time. Don’t get frustrated when your athletes are involved in a multitude of other activi- ties. Make your sport and team one that they enjoy being a part of and see real gains when they participate. If you can do this, they will gravitate to you.
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generation because of the fast paced world of technology. They have hundreds of television channels to choose from, hundreds of video games, billions of websites to surf and multiple ways to instantly communicate with friends. You too must try to build in the entertainment factor when you coach or you will quickly lose their focus. Make drills short, inter- esting and competitive to hold their interest.
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a bunch of sports equipment in the back of our mini-van and drove to a local park. We invited two dozen of my 9-year-old son’s friends and acquaintances to join us for a morning of free play. The kids could choose whatever sports and activities they wanted to play, make up the teams and have fun on their own in a minimally supervised environment. I was there merely to keep them safe and to attend to any injuries that might occur. Despite having a low turnout, the kids got a chance to experience sport without the pervasive, well-meaning inter- ference of adults for at least a few mornings. Give it a try in your community.
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Develop parents into allies, not adversaries. Because Millennials and their parents are typically
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Provide opportunities to engage in free athletic play. I tried something I called “Free Play Fridays.” I piled
Don’t lecture—‘Edu-tain.’ Short attention spans are a hallmark of the Millennial
Exercise patience. Understand that there are dozens of things that compete
Teach them improvement takes time. Help them create long term training schedules that take
Help Millennials understand adversity. Adversity is inevitable, temporary and helpful in the
more connected than previous generations, you need to fi nd ways to include them rather than fi ght them. By reaching out to your parents and coaching them on what is appropriate and what isn’t, you have a better chance to turn them into allies than adversaries.
their parents fi ght their battles for them. Instead, encourage your athletes to constructively fi ght their battles on their own fi rst. Teach them how to maturely approach confl ict and how to work through it effectively. These confl ict management skills will be vital for them as they have families and busi- nesses of their own.
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timately remember that people are people. Make your prac- tices engaging, challenge them to improve, build their con- fi dence, support them when they struggle and you too will have a great time coaching athletes of all ages and watching them get better. For a more complete understanding of the Millennial generation, I highly recommend reading Millennials Go To College.
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For more information on developing leaders, team building and mental toughness, visit Jeff Janssen’s websites at
ChampionshipCoachesNetwork.com and
JeffJanssen.com.
Remember that people are people. Even though there are differences from years past, ul-
Help kids fi ght their own battles. Along with the parent issue, many athletes try to have
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