A team of lanky 13-year-olds trails Coach Mike Del Valle into a hallway outside a Canisius College gymnasium.

“You played hard. You never quit. You can be proud,” Del Valle assures the Niagara Rapids girls. Their defeat – to the powerhouse Blessed Sacrament Yellow Jackets of Hamilton, Ontario – came in the opening round of an Amateur Athletic Union super-regional basketball tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.

Del Valle asks his players to stretch, as he draws upon experience and knowledge that tell him conditioning after a game prevents sprains and joint problems in growing muscles.

Del Valle, who has coached youth sports for 40 years, has more training than most of his peers. While AAU has no specific training requirements for coaches, he also is head coach of the North High School Lady Spartans in Williamsville, N.Y. As a scholastic coach in New York, he must complete some of the most rigorous certification requirements in the the country for coaches.

Most states are at the other end of the spectrum in their rules, a CNHI News Service study found. In some states a police background check is the only requirement to coach.

Doctors and advocates say training coaches is key to preventing injuries among young athletes. More athletic organizations are now recognizing that as they reexamine their programs and implement rules to emphasize safety.

Jim Flannery, director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, says injury prevention isn’t the only motivation.

“We believe we are losing sight of the purpose and mission of high school sports,” Flannery said. “Schools are for education. Coaches enhance educational outcomes using their sports.”

Spotty requirements

Legal concerns and lack of experience among coaches usually are what lead schools or youth groups to create training rules. But while many states require some form of training for school coaches, programs usually touch only on helping athletes avoid injury, the CNHI News Service study showed.

Half the states require teachers to take courses in basic first aid or sports first aid before becoming coaches, and 34 require first aid classes for coaches not trained as teachers.

Coaches usually meet these requirements by taking online courses from the American Sport Education Program or the National Federation of High School Associations. The first aid programs address injury prevention but focus mainly on how to handle medical emergencies.

Seven states – Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Virginia – have no training requirements at all, the survey found. Another 12 states require no additional training for teachers who become coaches.

Only three states – Iowa, Wyoming and Connecticut – require specific training in sports injury prevention.

The world outside interscholastic sports is even less regulated. Some national youth sports groups do not require training for coaches. Even if they did, local leagues are not always affiliated with national groups.

Schools began adopting training rules when they started looking for coaches outside the teaching staff, says Roch King, who coordinates the graduate coaching program at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

“In the past, all coaches used to be physical education teachers,” King said. “As the number of teams grew and the physical education faculty diminished, other teachers stepped in.”

Now, King says, most scholastic coaches are hired with no formal teaching education or experience.

“It has become an apprenticeship model,” he said, “where coaches have played or worked for other coaches.”

Litigation and the threat of it have expanded coach education everywhere, said Gregg Heinzmann, director of the Youth Sports Research Council at Rutgers University. More than 20 years ago New Jersey adopted the country’s first law giving coaches limited immunity from civil lawsuits filed by parents.

The law was passed in the wake of a lawsuit filed by parents of Joey Fort, a Little League player struck in the face by a baseball during warm-ups before an all-star game.

The boy’s parents claimed his four coaches were negligent in moving the 10-year-old from second base to the outfield without teaching him to shield his eyes from the sun to catch fly balls. The case was settled, and terms were not made public.

But, said Heinzmann, it chilled interest in coaching.

“When the news hit, people started saying, ‘I’m not going to risk my livelihood to go out there and coach,’” he said.

Three other states – Louisiana, New Hampshire and North Dakota – have since enacted similar laws.

An array of standards

In states that do not encourage or require training, athletic association officials are quick to note that local schools or districts can set their own requirements.

But Jeff Dietze, who runs a training program for the Virginia High School League, which has no specific requirement for coaches, admits few local districts take that step.

“We are getting more, although it’s really slow,” he said.

At the other end of the spectrum are New York, Connecticut, Iowa and Montana – states where coaches must complete hours of training for certification.

“Good training makes sure we have the best people possible working with kids,” said Craig Stewart of Montana State University, who developed an extensive online course for coaches.

Youth sports coaches, by comparison, are not regulated in any consistent way.

Some national groups – including Little League, US Youth Soccer and AAU – have no specific regulations. Nor does Pop Warner football, though next year the group will start requiring coaches to attend one-day clinics that involve some lessons on health and safety.

In the AAU, national and regional groups sanction tournaments in more than 30 sports for member clubs like the Niagara Rapids. Each club has its own bylaws and may require training. However, most do not, according to veteran coach Mike Del Valle.

“You can be a parent and step right off the stands and be a coach,” he said.

The Niagara Rapids are among the fortunate. They have Coach Del Valle.

Players and parents say they trust him, his training and experience. Steve Smith of Lockport, N.Y., said his 13-year-old daughter, Ashley, does basic running, leg stretches and strength building exercises at home – all based on Del Valle’s advice.

“As a parent,” said Smith, “you are always concerned about injuries.”

That’s why, sports experts say, it is important for coaches at all levels to know how to prevent injuries and, when they occur, how to properly treat them.



CNHI News Service Elite Reporting Fellowship recipient Randy Griffith is a reporter at the Johnstown, Pa., Tribune-Democrat and may be reached at rgriffith@tribdem.com.