A new study found that coaches who give kids lots of playing time and avoid choosing a “best” player to lead the team tend to have more motivated team players who end up committing longer to the sport. Study author Jean Cote noted, “The big thing here is to create a climate where the players don’t compare themselves with others.” Rather than making comparisons to other teammates’ abilities, children should be encouraged to want to work on their own skills.

In Cote’s study, 510 children, aged 9-19 and filled out questionnaires about their sports experiences. All the kids were on sports teams, or in non-elite community programs, such as basketball, baseball, football, hockey, soccer, softball, curling, synchronized swimming, dance, volleyball and lacrosse. The data collected showed that a positive sports experience was associated with factors such as, coaches focusing more on personal skill improvement, rather than how the child compared to other teammates; if kids felt like they were part of the team; and coaches and players encouraging players to try their best and set goals for themselves.

The study found that negative experiences tended to be linked to a focus on proving superior skills over other teammates’ and comparing one’s ability to others.

According to Cote, the best type of Coach works to include everyone, sets individualized goals for each player, and makes practice fun and enjoyable. Cote suggests that parents check and see if their kids appear to be happy during practice, and if not, they may want to consider finding a team with a different coach.  The bottom line is to make sure that kids get to have fun playing, rather than focusing on being the best player.