The Star Is Inside: Building a Better Future Through Youth Sports

By Tomás Echeverría

Many kids leave sports at an early age because of the deprivation of joy by parents and coaches. It is time to ask ourselves, are our kids enjoying team sports? Are they developing the behavior that will allow them to thrive in their adult life? Is the practice of sports collaborating in the construction of these life skills?

The youth sport competency model describes how values (beliefs) and competencies (behaviors) influence youth athlete’s performance, beyond their technical, physical, and mental abilities. Youth sport organizations have a tremendous opportunity to implement a competency-based training program to help young athletes develop values and life skills they will use in their adult life.

We can achieve outstanding results if we can change the experience of young players playing sports. We can create more awareness and bring higher consciousness to children’s sport. We can do it for the good of our children and future generation of great players and athletes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664145603

Tomás Echeverría

Tomás Echeverría was attracted to sports since he was a small kid, and tennis became his passion at the age of fifteen. Through The Star Is Inside, Tomás transfers his more than twenty-five years of corporate experience into the field of youth sports, applying the concept of competencies used to evaluate job performance into youth athletes to ensure their state of continuous joy. Tomás combines the learning and knowledge of his experience as a corporate executive, as a tennis coach, and as a father of three boys who play sports. Tomás earned an undergraduate degree in computer science and a master’s degree in business administration. Originally, from Argentina, he moved to United States in 2010, becoming a US citizen in 2017. He holds an executive leadership education program from Berkeley University, California. Tomás’s personal mission statement in six-words is “Grow through developing others with integrity.” He holds a professional tennis coach certificate: tennis being a sport he loves. Tomás plays USTA leagues since 2015, being the team captain and achieving with his team the Florida Championship in two opportunities, allowing them to go to play in the nationals. He is also a certified sports psychology coach.

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Copyright © 2020 by Tomás Echeverría.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 12/03/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

819900

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION

2 THE CHALLENGE: MAKING SPORTS A WAY TO JOY

3 MY BACKGROUND

4 THE BROKEN TRIANGLE

4.1   Concept

4.2   Broken Triangle Situations

4.3   We Must Strengthen This Triangle

5 FOCUS ON COMPETENCES

5.1   What is a Competency?

5.2   Competency Levels

5.3   Behavior Standards

6 YOUTH SPORT COMPETENCY MODEL

6.1   Components of the Model.

6.2   Applying AVC in Youth Sport

6.3   The Framework of Youth Sport Competency Model

6.4 Summary of Core Values and Competencies by Role

7 MEASURING YOUR COMPETENCIES

7.1   Importance of Measuring Competencies

7.2   How Does it Work?

7.3   Type of Assessments

7.4   Assessment Realization

8 DESIGNING A COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

8.1   Competency-Based Training

8.2   Traditional Approach - Program Stages

8.3   The Challenge of Engagement

9 WHAT DOES SUCCESS MEAN?

10 RECOMMENDATIONS

10.1   Guidelines For Youth Sport Organizations

10.2   Guidelines For Coaches

10.3   Guidelines For Parents

11 K12STARS INITIATIVE

12 CLOSING MESSAGE

APPENDIX

1

INTRODUCTION

Who is this book for? Who are the expected audiences? Who should read it? And what are the messages that I would like to deliver?

This book is a learning tool for kids and teenagers who play sports, either as amateurs or semiprofessionals. It is an introductory guide about expected behaviors that allow the young ones build life skills that apply in game. These skills will also help them build a stronger foundation for their adult life. Anyone who is directly involved with young athletes will find this book useful, such as parents, coaches, and those participating in sports organizations. All these are the great influencers in children’s performance, in their education, in the creation of their values, and in shaping their character and personality traits.

A solid foundation in these soft skills will help children have clarity, strength, and personal virtues from the beginning. This will help, in the future, to build a more viable society as well.

Do you believe that values, such as respect, honesty, discipline, among others, can be cultivated by practicing sports? Do you consider that life skills, such as initiative, teamwork, decision-making, flexibility, and problem-solving, can be developed from an early age? Without a doubt, sports can contribute strongly to the formation of these values and to the construction of these capabilities. Parents and coaches of young players must take care of their growth as human beings, beyond their sports skills.

Focus on values and competencies in sports, beyond the technical and physical skills, is a huge opportunity, and sometimes this opportunity is wasted. Sometimes we put too much pressure on the players, contributing to their frustration, causing them to receive conflicting messages from the coach or from parents. Many kids leave sports at very early ages because they are not having fun. They are not enjoying.

We can achieve outstanding results if we can change the experience of boys and girls during the practice of sports. We can create more awareness and bring a higher consciousness to children’s sports. We can do it for the good of our children and future generations of great players and athletes.

2

THE CHALLENGE: MAKING

SPORTS A WAY TO JOY

One of my sons at age of fourteen traveled with his soccer team to play a tournament in Spain. They had won three games, and the next day they played a decisive round against the Barcelona team. They were all in the hotel resting, when about seven boys from the team had an act of indiscipline by being absent from their rooms for about two hours, when they were supposed to stay there during rest time. The coach found out what happened but did not know who had been absent from their rooms. During dinner, the coach gathered all the players and asked them who were the players who had left their rooms. Nobody answered. He asked again. Three players out of seven accepted their mistake. The other four players did not answer. The coach punished the three players who told the truth, leaving them out of the game the next day with the Barcelona team. One of those three was my son.

What did they learn? How do we reward kids in sports? What are the values that are most relevant? What kind of message are we giving—telling the truth is being punished and lying allows us to play? How do we educate or train our children beyond penalties for misconduct? How do we teach them to behave better, on and off the field?

Various research¹ and surveys indicate that a child’s number one reason for leaving a team sport is the child was not having fun. In this context, we need to ask ourselves some questions: Are our kids enjoying