Playing Hurt: Survey shows coaching requirements spotty

A team of lanky 13-year-olds trails Coach Mike Del Valle into a hallway outside a Canisius College gymnasium.

“You played hard. You never quit. You can be proud,” Del Valle assures the Niagara Rapids girls. Their defeat – to the powerhouse Blessed Sacrament Yellow Jackets of Hamilton, Ontario – came in the opening round of an Amateur Athletic Union super-regional basketball tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.

It is the first weekend in May and Del Valle is spending his 64th birthday like so many before – coaching young athletes. He tells his players to stretch, as he draws upon training and experience that tell him conditioning after a game prevents sprains and joint problems in growing muscles.

Del Valle, who works for a bank in Buffalo, has carried clipboards for football, softball, baseball and basketball teams for 40 years. He has volunteered for most of those jobs. He has more training than most of his peers.

While AAU has no specific training requirements for coaches, Del Valle also is head coach of the North High School Lady Spartans in Williamsville, N.Y. As a scholastic coach in New York, he must prove he has completed a coaching philosophy and principles class, a sports health class and a techniques class for his particular sport, girls basketball. He must be certified in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Since he is not a teacher, he must take a class in child abuse recognition.

New York’s rules for scholastic coaches are among the most rigorous in the United States, a CNHI News Service survey found. But most states are at the other end of the spectrum. A police background check in some states is the only requirement to coach.

Doctors and advocates say training coaches is key to preventing injuries among young athletes. More athletic organizations are now recognizing that as they reexamine their programs and implement rules to emphasize safety.

Jim Flannery, director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, says injury prevention isn’t the only motivation.

“We believe we are losing sight of the purpose and mission of high school sports,” Flannery said. “Schools are for education. Coaches enhance educational outcomes using their sports.”

Del Valle, who has attended dozens of workshops in addition to those required by the state, says he finds the greatest benefit in the people seated next to him.

“I have attended coaches' clinics over the years to pick the brains of other coaches,” he said. “Everything I do in coaching, I stole from someone else.”

Spotty requirements

Legal concerns and lack of experience among coaches usually are what lead schools or youth groups to create training rules. But while many states require some form of training for school coaches, programs usually touch only on helping athletes avoid injury, the CNHI News Service study showed.

Half the states require teachers to take courses in basic first aid or sports first aid before becoming coaches, and 34 require first aid classes for coaches not trained as teachers.