The Importance of Quality Coaching and Diverse Training for Young Athletes

How athletes unlock their full potential with expert guidance and training systems

As parents today, we face a real challenge: understanding what makes a great coach for our kids. Too often, parents don’t know how to tell the difference between effective coaching and poor training. This can lead to situations where young athletes, who might be talented on the field or court, lack vital basic athletic skills. Zach Even-Esh discusses seeing this firsthand with a top-level basketball player who couldn’t even perform a simple bodyweight squat, and with another kid who had a private coach but could not execute a dumbbell bench press.

The problem starts with the fact that many parents never played competitive sports themselves. This creates a gap in understanding, and they might not know what to look for in a coach. If you look back to early Soviet and Eastern European systems for inspiration in developing young athletes, they were built around the idea of long-term athlete development. By exposing kids to multiple sports, under the guidance of expert coaches, they developed athletes to compete on the world’s biggest stages. They didn’t just throw kids into a sport; they taught proper movement patterns, introduced age-appropriate strength training, and eventually directed athletes toward the sports that fit them best—both physically and mentally.

Here in the U.S., the situation is much different. Local parents often step in as volunteer coaches, which can create inconsistencies in the quality of training. This is not a slam on parents coaching who volunteer their time. But without a solid understanding of strength and conditioning or sport-specific coaching, young athletes miss out on developing the fundamentals. Whether it’s at youth baseball games or with athletes training in their garages, there needs to be progression and instruction.

Zach discusses his son’s journey through various sports, including wrestling. His son was talented but wrestling requires a certain mindset, a level of aggression and toughness. His son didn’t have that. So instead of trying to force the kid into a bad situation, they worked to develop other skills. This brings home the point that it’s not just about physical ability, it’s about matching an athlete’s mental strengths with the demands of the sport.

At the end of the day, if we want to improve youth sports in America, we need to step up our approach to coaching. It’s time to adopt a more structured, purposeful system that encourages kids to play multiple sports, receive quality coaching, and build the right skills from the start. This isn’t just about winning today, it’s about creating well-rounded athletes who can succeed in their chosen sport and become well-rounded adults with a contribution to society.