Stars on Sports Intro: It's time for Stars on Sports! A podcast-radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at Lansing Community College. LCC athletics has a strong tradition. 24 national championship wins! Over 170 All-Americans! 19 MCCAA All Sports trophies! Stars on Sports will introduce you to individuals that have contributed to our program success and give you the backstory on what it takes to develop it. We'll also dive into and break down the topics and issues facing athletic departments across the nation and right here at LCC. This is Stars on Sports!

Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sport. Today I'm joined by our producer, Jereny Robinson as Coach Cutter is down south coaching baseball right now. And Jereny's been an integral part of our podcast over the last couple months. And in one of his podcasts, he talked about coaching youth sports. So I thought we'll dive into that more. And I know Coach Cutter will miss that conversation because we were looking for someone to bring in an interview regarding youth sports coaching because it's such an integral part of development and programming. So since Coach Cutt's gone, Jereny and I are going to talk about it. And I've done some youth sport coaching in the past too. But Jereny, tell me a little bit about your youth coach.

Okay, so a little background on me with the youth. I worked seven years at Lansing park and Rec, so running a kids camp. Okay.

Good experience then.

Yeah. So then my son wanted to play basketball and the coach that was supposed to coach his team for some reason couldn't coach.

Okay.

And it's crazy. Cause I was like, I think I want to coach my son's team. But I kind of held back and that was like an opportunity for me to do it. And then this is my second year doing it and I got returners. So kids who played with me before who returned. And it's pretty cool.

All common theme then, youth sports coaching. And I don't have any statistics in front of me, but how often a coach backs out in the last minute that someone that might not have been prepared steps in and helps out. And even looking back at my own kids, youth coach, sport, you know, parents just that didn't even know sport stepped up and volunteered to help out. So good for you. And you came back for a second year. And just one sport. Is there more than one sport you coach right now?

One sport. They trying to talk me into several different sports.

Of course.

I happen to just for some reason, my whole life I work with youth.

Okay.

After doing parks and rec, I end up Working in the school district.

Okay.

With the youth and kids just kind of gravitate towards me. Actually, I taught. I did co track too.

Okay.

I did track and field for middle school. Okay. So I was a.

You have some good background and unfortunately not a. Not all youth sports coaches have those backgrounds. And so whenever. Again, I was at the high school level for a long time, so whenever I wanted to work with youth sports coaching, I tried to get them training. I really wanted our coaches to go down and work with the youth coaches just to give them familiarity with our program, develop relationships and connections, but also getting them training on how to teach and coach fundamentals. Because I believe fundamentals are very important in youth sport. Teaching them the basics because I've been frustrated throughout my career when kids have grown up and not be able to do an opposite hand layup. You know, people let them go through the system without correcting it. And I'm not blaming anybody. We all have a part in that. But, you know, teaching wrong habits is almost worse than teaching no habits. Right. So how important youth sports coaching is? A district I was just in had a nice successful run in a sport. And I truly attribute a lot of their success to their youth sports coach coaching. Because they were in the weight room, they were, you know, they played multiple sports. They were very fundamentally sound and successful at a young age. And I mean successful that a lot of kids involved. Because I've seen youth sports coaches where they take the best kid or the most advanced athletic kid that might be taller than everyone and run the play all the time through them and no one else gets developed. So, you know, this group, you know, built a lot of depth, which I think is important in youth sports coaching is not, you know, because that one kid that might be taller then everyone else might catch up at some time in your. Or he might move, or she might move away. So that advantage is taken away from you and you've lost a big piece of your success. So making sure kids get to play in different positions and again, learning a lot of the basics of the whole sport, that's huge.

I think youth is huge because we're building the foundation.

Well, one of my most telling statistics I used is from the Michigan State Youth Sports Institute of Kids quit sports by the age of 13.

Wow.

And again, they might go on and do different another sport, but a lot of it because they might not have had a positive experience or they see the writing on the wall that they might, you know, not be as good as other people. But it's so young I mean all kids, boys and girls, develop at different stages of their, of their educational career. That you're right, it is the foundation. It's their first impression and it needs to be a positive one, it needs to be a fun one. You and I were talking before we got on air is how do you know if it's too much or too little? And it's an easy evaluation for me. If they're smiling out there, if they're having fun, then I know they're doing okay. And that's why I always base it on my kid. If they're out there smiling, then it's not too much, they're enjoying it. When they stop smiling, then we need to assess where we're at. And I don't know what your typical schedule is, but it can be year round if you let it be. There need to be breaks, there need to be again, I think different sports for different muscle groups and such. So is yours seasonal or is it more than one season or it's just

one season out the year. And I've been doing research and having kids play multiple sports, I heard it was huge. It gives them a chance to try different things and not be complacent too because there's a lot of athletes who were good at one sport but then they switched over to another one, end up having huge success because they was willing to be open to different opportunities instead of just being locked into one thing. So I think that's huge.

And I think the most successful athletes could be pretty successful in other sports. And I agree. I think the best experience you get from playing in multiple sports is still competition. If you're competing, it's going to help you for your main sport. You don't have to do your main sport to get better. Now obviously there is importance of out of season training and preparation and even you know, when to start weight training and such. But I still, yeah, I'm a big believer in multi sports and it's hard. I mean when you look at today's schedules for, for young student athletes, they could play one sport year round or they could play three sport that also takes them year round. So it's a, it's a time commitment regardless. And just hopefully them and their parents help find a balance for them. Because you know, even coming to this level, when we recruit at lcc, we see kids that decide not to play after their senior year of high school. They're burned out or they've had enough and you know, they were very talented to be able to play at the next level and that you see that more and more. And you know, we even see it at our level where you know, they want to be done after the two years with the increased demand of playing at the college level. So you know, it hadn't, you know, we talk about the differences between youth sports and college sports, but there's some similarities too. And it still needs to be fun and it still needs to be, you know, a balance. But at each level you get older, the demand do seem to be and more intense. So. But as we look in society, we've seen a lot of videos online of that intensity going down to the. And unfortunately some negative interactions at those levels, you know, so you got to be careful.

But again, it's some 10 year olds getting NBA training right now.

Really?

Yeah, they like the same because the Internet information is being passed down. So now they're figuring out, oh, if I can get this kid to learn this early, then he'd be more prepared mentally and skill wise to show up more so he can have a better chance. So is these kids doing like NBA drills, dribble drills and everything?

And that's a good point in the sense of, you know, we're talking more maybe team sport and coaching, but all the individual training that's going on out there and the bigness that that private training has become and the resources out there for parents and other coaches like hand that out so these kids can get a step up. I mean that's what they're trying to do. They're competitive, they're trying to get a step up of their competition. So that has increased significantly too with the private training that is out there. And again, just hopefully it's a balance, it's a big business. I mean it's billions of dollars to use sports and you know, I laugh when two local teams go two hours away and end up playing each other. You know, like gonna save some money and stayed here or you know, you know each sport has its own fees and such and there's usually communities have different ladables. They have like a local, like just a community program and then there's a, some somewhat travel program and then there's more even premier AAU program that they travel all over the country. And depending on how much you want to invest in your children, you know, you can, you know, determine on what level to play in. But you know, you're paying money up front that you hope pays off, you know, with most via college scholarship. So I had one parent tell me I spent $30,000 on volleyball for my kid from 6th to 12th grade, and she got a $33,000 scholarship. So she made $3,000. It was just a payment plan from 6th to 12th grade. And hopefully, for the most part, there's a lot of opportunities out there that, you know, these kids reach the goals that they want or the potential they want. But. But, you know, it's also an investment.

Right.

You know, depending on, like you said, you know, the fees to be on a team and then the fees to do the private training, you know, it can really add up. And unfortunately, it can be a separator for some. And hopefully, you know, communities work on ways to make sure that isn't happening or at least provide opportunities for those that, you know, might not have the resources to participate.

Yeah, it's a huge thing, and it causes a big divide because me growing up, I didn't have none of those resources. Reason I like playing basketball because that was all I had to do. I just go outside, dribble a basketball. And I think it's real cool where some of these programs that are free that allow some of these kids to actually have a chance. Because I was pretty talented so far as an athlete. My crazy story about me is because I had to move from different households. I only played sports my senior year, and I was like, I think I'm pretty athletic. I went and ran track for one year and made it to states. Wow.

Good for you.

Yes.

Yeah, again. And that's it. You don't know what you don't know. And some of these kids think if they start too late, I mean, there was an argument a couple years ago, when should kids start playing football? Is third grade too soon? When do you start tackling? Is it third through fifth grade, or is it seventh or eighth grade? And we've seen. I've seen professional athlete that didn't start until they were in high school playing that particular sport. And it might have saved some of their body from all that stress and impact. But he also made a point that, you know, finding opportunities that are free or less expensive, and that's, you know, something maybe that even LCC can do more of in the future. And again, it wouldn't be a league or a team per se, but even clinics or training and such. But hopefully those opportunities are still out there and communities and cities are investing. You know, you talked about working for Parks and Rec, which are. Are big entities for local communities, because, you know, you look at this facility, then the communities. You talked about going to play at a basketball court. Yeah, I'M older. So when I grew up, we didn't have the structured youth sports. We just all went and played and made up teams by pitchers for baseball and softball. If they had more kids on their team than we did. And you know, that's where I think basketball and soccer have been more popular worldwide is because you can really play those with minimal resources and minimal participants. So. And I hope we don't lose that. I hope kids still go play on their own and do some of where they're in control. Because some of the argument again, youth sports right now is run by adults, that it's structured by adults and the kids don't have a say or don't get as much input or are able to make decisions because they're being made for them. So, you know, it's finding that balance too of letting the kids be kids, but also giving them a structure that can help them.

Yeah, I think I was kind of a part of the golden age of still playing basketball outside, but I go to the parks and I can just shoot around by myself. It's a little sad. A lot of kids don't go outside. And we used to have street rivals. It used to be like my street against this street. And we play basketball and football. And now I just hope that we can bring an urgency and love back to the different sports where kids can find a joy. Cause like you said, it's turning into a business. So the kids are serious throughout their whole time of playing. Instead of having that joy of when I used to play, I used to be happy. Oh, I learned how to make a three pointer. I can't wait to make a three pointer on that kid across the street, you know. Cause it was just fun. You know, you got to go through the. You learn how to lose the right way and you know, have that endurance. But you know, now it's just, it's getting real serious because money, because of

those goals and what's on the line and all these tournaments they play and when you play a tournament compared to a game, it seems like there's more pressure on to win the trophy. So you're right, it is a business. It's a big business. And you know, trying to keep the joy in that because winning is fun. I mean we both there. But you're right, learning how to handle the lose or learning how to handle adversity or not playing as much as you'd like are also very important lesson that we stress in educational athletics. That, you know, maybe youth sports isn't that, but it still Back your point. The foundation that gets them to educational athletics. So. Yeah, I don't know how you get back to that. I mean, I think safety and security has, you know, with social media has had. Maybe made parents less likely to have their. Their kids just go out and play.

That is true.

But, you know, hopefully we can find ways to combat that so we don't lose that completely. You know, like this weekend I went. I mean, I went with my daughter and played tennis up at the local tennis courts, and they were pretty full. And, you know, I wouldn't have a problem if she, you know, she went golfing with a friend yesterday.

Okay.

You know, so, you know, it. Picking and choosing. And again, you gotta make the best decisions as a parent. I remember growing up, my mom coming to find us and yelling at us because we weren't home when we were supposed to be. Right, Right. But she understood and, you know, wanted us out there and active and out of her hair, so. And plus, it's good physical activity and that the. Probably one of the most important things we haven't talked about is keeping these kids active because of the societal problems of anxiety and obesity and health issues that it's been proven that physical activity can help combat those. Unfortunately, it can add the stress of the anxiety of kids. But overall, just having them be fit and being active to help them live a healthy lifestyle is very important. And those are actually probably lost in the grand scheme of things, you know, and sometimes, you know, we all have been guilty of making it about us instead of them in the sense of, you know, the record reflects me or winning the tournament reflects me as a coach and not, you know, the group of student athletes, because, you know, some of those coaches have ambitions of moving up, too. So it's just, you know, just checks and balances, moderation, you know, similar, you know, philosophies across all of our society of, you know, keeping things in balance, keeping things, you know, in moderation. Everything can be good in moderation.

Right. Right. So. So question. When do you think is a good age for a kid to start taking their sports serious?

You know, I still go with the. Around the. It's gotta be, I would say, almost even around the middle school. Okay. For one of my kids, it was sixth grade when he, you know, he had a, you know, a good season in sixth grade basketball and got some notice. And that's when we started investing in him. But he didn't grow until he was in ninth grade, you know, hard because some of these, you know, especially boys, don't grow until 9th through 12th grade. But it's probably that time to start being, you know, investing a little more time and resources there. But it's different for every kid. I mean, it's not too late in 9th or 10th grade, you know, and that's the neat thing about high school sports is, you know, when it's local sports, you can go out. You know, my son ran cross country for the first time as a freshman, played tennis for the first time as a junior, and loves tennis now, you know, so it's never too late.

Right.

And it depends on what your goals are. And it's hard to know your goals at sixth grade if you want to play that in college. I've seen a lot of kids, back to your point of that were really good in one sport, but probably were even better in another sport, but had already toned in on that one sport. They didn't give that second sport a chance. I see it in basketball, women basketball and volleyball that they could be good in either one. So I don't know when it, you know, that's, you know, I don't know have a good answer of when it is, but it seems like, I mean, I was looking on a website today. I get this newsletter from this sports facility. And, you know, they're starting baseball at 2 years old and a couple sports. It was interesting how they had some sports at 2 and others at 3 and others at 5. And, you know, it's just. That's crazy to be. My granddaughter, you know, played basketball at 4 and 5 years old. I mean, that's, you know, I would rather maybe do some camps and clinics at that age and maybe one game

of practice learning the basics. Yeah.

You know, but she, you know, she didn't have much fun the last year, but she. A lot more fun and a lot more aggressive this year. So getting her comfortable and having her play might, you know, be a good thing. And, you know, she does T ball too, so. And then her little brother's following her around, so he's getting used to it and having fun. But it's up to that student and where they're at and what their interest is and, you know, what they've had some success in determine. But I'd hope they never rule it out because, you know, it can be a lifelong sport. It doesn't have to be your goal to play it at the college level. I mean, even playing in. At the varsity high school level, you had, you know, I always, when I was a high school athletic director, I always said, you know, I Would like kids to try everything as a freshman, but as they got older, if they wanted to make varsity, they would have to start doing more in that particular sport with still development and still figuring out, you know, what you want to do. Which is back to my answer of 6th through 9th grade is when you really start to learn, really where to hone in on things. And it's tough. I mean, injuries can lead you one way or direction. Coaching that's true. Teammates, what group you want to be a part of. And that's the other neat thing. One cool thing about travel is learning kids from other cities and playing with other kids that help develop relationship that you wouldn't have of friends that go to other schools. That's been pretty cool to Powell. And, you know, do you still stay in touch with them long after you. You went to high school? So there's, you know, there's a lot of pros there and youth sports isn't going anywhere anywhere. So hopefully we just can continue to make them better so the kids have a positive experience and it's, you know, an important part of our society and like you said, a foundation to, you know, even coming to lcc. So it's something we got to embrace and just help be a part of.

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. I just hope that we as coaches get better at acknowledging the mental health of our kids, making sure that everybody is feeling included.

Well, and I think we will. I mean, we had concussions a couple years ago, and they're really an emphasis on that kind of on training and on resources and on prevention and on treatment. So I think now we're in the state that mental health, that next topic we have to tackle, and I hope we do, and we provide training in education. It's our job to provide education. But when they're not a part of our education structure, they don't always have the resources or structure to receive that training. But I think society plays such an important part on mental health that it has to trickle down to youth sports and help them succeed. And as I mentioned, I think it can be a good reliever, but to some, it's also an increaser because they're stressed about their performance performance. So it definitely has to be part of the topic, but I think we can be a part of the solution to which again, in my eyes, educational athletics should be a part of solution for a lot of society problems because we're a microcosm of it. But yeah, I think that will be the next thing we tackle. I think we're already in the middle of tackling that. But it'll go down to having fun. If they're having fun, it solves a lot of other things. And making friends again, we have. We didn't even talk about the social aspect of meeting friends and making friends, especially if you're new in a community. Sports can be a way. Or joining a travel team can help you, like I mentioned, meet other kids from other community and you get to play them in high school. So a lot of advantages. Any last takes on your youth coach experience?

Patience. That's all.

Yeah, yeah. Great one. Great one.

I was gonna have a lot of patience, and it's helping me grow as. As a person.

Good.

And it lets me know I don't have a lot of control.

Yeah, I love that. What a great way to end. Because again, you're not getting paid big bucks to be a youth sports coach and not many people are out there, so it should be fun for you, too. And it's fun being around our youth. They're inspiring, they're energetic, they make you laugh. It's reality tv, so it does take a lot of patience, but it should be fun. And if it's fun and you're going to go like we do to be better every day, then you're doing the right thing.

Yes, sir.

All right, as always, good talking to you. And go Stars.

Stars on Sports Outro: Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ studios. Engineering and production assistance are provided by Daedalian Lowry and Jereny Robinson. You can listen to this episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand at LCCconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit LCCstars.com thanks for listening. Go Stars!