Here is an article that I found in the USA Today and it really left me scratching my head. I put the article below for you to read.

Psychologist: Coaches lack ample training
By Jim Halley and Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY
An Ohio psychologist, concerned that coaches aren’t getting training in boundaries with their athletes, is pushing mandated psychosocial training for high school coaches in his state.

“So many coaches come from outside of the school system — as much as 60-75% — and in many cases the age of coaches is getting younger,” said Chris Stankovich of Columbus. “Yet they have in many cases, zero training to work with kids. As a result, there have been a spike in the number of inappropriate relationships.”

Stankovich is concerned that coaching certification programs are geared more toward first-aid than ethics and behavior.

“I don’t know of any states that require psychosocial training,” Stankovich said.

Stankovich and the staffs of Ohio state Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) and Ohio state Rep. Larry Flowers (R-Canal Winchester) are meeting with the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) on Monday to discuss adding additional coach training.

“We’re hoping that no law is required to get this done,” said Shawn Busken, a legislative aide to Stivers. “There’s no draft of legislation, but we see that a lack of training is available.”

OHSAA Commissioner Daniel Ross said the state is in the process of requiring training for non-certified coaches, using the National Federation of State High School Association’s Fundamentals of Coaching Course, and it isn’t the best time to add additional requirements for coaches.

“We have to learn to crawl before we can walk,” Ross said. “This is a big first step.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I read this article I felt like they were beating around the bush about the concerns they have. Saying that the coaches are younger, does that mean they are less able to handle the emotional adolescent behaviors of young athletes? I did see that the article mentions boundaries. Does that mean that younger coaches are getting too close to athletes physically and psychologists are concerned about an increase of inappropriate behavior between coaches and athletes?

This article left me with a lot of questions but I do know that a majorityof coaches are good people. You have someone who is taking time away from their personal life to teach and train young athletes to be the best and help them make a dream come true of making them a professional athlete. I have been lucky to really have coaches that I have played for and speak to now as a reporter to be some of the nicest and respected people that I know. So, as for the article, maybe in Ohio they have a problem, but here I don’t think there is a need for added scrutiny on the coaches.

Tell me what you think and if you agree or disagree. I would sure like to hear what you have to say and especially if you have any coach stories and remember we all are entitled to our opinions here. So let’s keep it civilized and we can all agree to disagree on certain topics.