On Youth Sport's Done the Right Way...

The past week I had the distinct pleasure of doing training with The Gold Crown Foundation. The Gold Crown Foundation is a non-profit that runs youth sports programming and enrichment in the Metro Denver Area. I worked with their staff (including Denver Nuggets legend Bill Hanzlik) on strategies to better handle conflict, and leading affirmatively with their values in their programming.

The staff of the GCF believe that youth sports should be fun-but more importantly-should teach life skills that provide the framework for kids to grow into their best selves. Their tag line is "preparing kids for the game of life". While this is not novel, it is an approach that, sadly, is growing increasingly out of vogue. Youth sports has grown into a large business endeavor which, inevitably, leads to misplaced energy and emotions. At Gold Crown, they value competition, but they also emphasize teamwork, sacrifice and resilience. For a small group of families, their kid will be to use their athletic talent to help finance higher education. For an exceedingly smaller group, they will be able to use their athletic skill to earn a living. All kids, however, will be professionals in something. If it's done the right way, youth sports provides an opportunity to hone the skills that will lead to success in those professions. Ultimately, winning at this level (or any level below major college) doesn't matter. What does matter is the ability to utilize this competition as a way to teach kids how to be their best selves.

The staff of the Gold Crown Foundation understands this, and they push themselves every day to be better in helping kids. This is why it was such a pleasure to work with their staff last week. As an unexpected reward, I even got to take home a cucumber grown Hanzlik's garden. I couldn't ask for much more on a Wednesday morning.

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