Posted by eporter on January 9, 2025
Guidance for Mentoring as an Athletic Coach
Participation in sports is common in American youth. In fact, approximately 54% of 6- to 17-year-olds in the United States participate in an organized sport, such as school-based sports teams, local leagues, or traveling athletic teams.1 Athletic involvement can have numerous benefits for youth, including improved academic performance, physical health, mental health, and social skills. Athletic coaches play an important role in the lives of youth by helping them achieve these positive outcomes through athletics.
Coaching styles and the way that coaches interact with athletes they work with can vary greatly; however, it is not uncommon for coaches to extend their influential roles in the lives of youth beyond the athletic context. Athletic coaches often become natural mentors for the youth they coach by fostering relationships with them, supporting and encouraging youth to grow and learn in various areas of their lives, and coordinating with parents and/or teachers to check in on the youth they coach.
Below, we have provided some guidance to help athletic coaches become supportive mentors for youth they coach, whether through a formal mentoring program or not, to help youth achieve more positive outcomes.
Benefits of Mentoring as an Athletic Coach
By becoming both a mentor and a coach, or a coach mentor, coaches can expand upon their influential roles in young people’s lives. The positive impacts that youth experience from sports involvement have been shown to be even greater when they have a coach who mentors them.2 For example, youth with coach mentors have been shown to experience even better academic functioning and increased likelihood of graduating from high school or college.2
Athletic coaches are also in a good position to mentor youth because coaches typically already practice encouraging goal-setting, persistence in the face of challenges, growth mindset, and skill development in the youth that they coach. Encouraging these assets in youth is a key goal for mentors, so many coaches are already prepared for mentoring in these ways.
Ways to Become a Supportive Coach Mentor
1. Build Trust: Many youth may look to their coach as a person of authority in their lives; however, to effectively mentor, it important to help youth feel that they are in a partnership with their mentor rather than feeling that they must follow their mentor’s command. Coach mentors must balance their responsibility to train and guide athletes as a coach with compassion and support as a mentor so that youth have opportunities to explore their own strengths and build confidence. Building trust within the mentoring relationship is a key way to do so.
To build trust with youth, coach mentors should aim to demonstrate their reliability to athlete mentees by consistently showing up for their mentee both physically and emotionally.3 Coach mentors should provide positive, constructive feedback to empower their athlete mentees and build their self-esteem. Coach mentors may also consider opening up about their own faults to their mentee, so they can solidify their mentee’s view of their coach mentor as their partner instead of an authority figure. Learning more about the ways their mentor struggles may also help mentees feel more comfortable persisting in light of their own faults.3
2. Prioritize emotional support: Perhaps the most crucial part of successfully melding responsibilities as a coach with responsibilities as a mentor is providing emotional support to athlete mentees. Coach mentors should check in on how their mentee is doing and be prepared to have conversations to help their mentee navigate challenges. One-on-one training sessions with athlete mentees may provide opportunities for coach mentors to not only support their mentee’s athletic abilities but also to check in on their mentee’s wellbeing and foster a closer relationship with them.
Coach mentors should aim to be conscious of and prepared to support their mentee if they have been exposed to trauma. The National Mentoring Resource Center (NMRC) provides tips for coach mentors who are supporting at-risk youth: https://nationalmentoringresourcecenter.org/blog/mentoring-at-risk-youth-through-the-power-of-sports/.
3. Encourage growth off the field: Being a coach mentor often means supporting an athlete mentee both inside and outside of an athletic setting. Coach mentors may consider checking in with their mentee’s parent or mentoring program staff (if involved in a formal mentoring program) to stay informed on their mentee’s needs and challenges their mentee is facing. In addition, school-based coaches may check in with their mentee’s teachers to see how they are functioning in the classroom, so they may find ways to coordinate sports practices and encourage balance in their mentee’s academic and athletic lives.
If you would like to receive more tips and guidance to promote impactful mentoring relationships, sign up for our newsletter at https://mentoringcentral.net/contact/.