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| Changing the rules |
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| Written by Marc Aceves / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Saturday, 17 May 2008 | |
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From foul mouths to folks charging the field, adults’ bad behavior continues to cause problems of varying degrees across the youth sports landscape. But a growing number of recreation professionals are fighting back. Not with their fists, of course — with programs and initiatives that support positive youth sports settings. The National Alliance for Youth Sports has already certified 2.1 million volunteer coaches. Its main goals, however, are to properly train and sensitize everyone involved with youth sports — administrators, coaches, officials and parents alike. The alliance recently updated its program model, which now has nine standards, along with three other sections, to teach basic skills to kids as young as 3, so they can enjoy sports from an early age.  Jason Hayward, shown working at City Hall on Thursday, contributed to a new set of national youth sports guidelines. Photo by Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator Patterson Parks and Recreation youth administrator Jason Hayward was one of about 100 recreation professionals from across the country invited to take part in the discussions and brainstorming sessions that resulted in the updated edition of the National Standards for Youth Sports. “It was really eye-opening to not only hear everyone else’s insight, but to also be able to put something into it,” Hayward said. “Now, I can take a look at the new (national standards) and see some things that I helped to add in there. It’s really kind of cool.” Hayward, who has been involved with recreation and youth sports the past eight years, provided input for the revised NAYS standards. Those include many areas that had little, if anything, to do with youth sports 20 years ago, but now come up on a regular basis nationwide. Ways to screen volunteer coaches and ensure well-behaved fans have worked their way to the forefront of many youth administrators’ lists of challenges. “Some of the revised standards were adjusted towards some of the newer sports,” Hayward said. “It’s very hard to have the same standards for every sport. We did a lot to tweak and modernize things by working off of some of the original ideas set forth by the NAYS.” The alliance focuses on emphasizing what conduct should be like at games before the season starts, to make sure people behave well and leave violence out of youth sporting events. It’s part of a widespread movement, which continues to gain momentum across the country, to rein in parental outbursts, eliminate verbal and physical fights and create a setting that is less volatile and more child-friendly. “I really wanted to take on a supportive role,” Hayward said. “I thought that it was very important to maintain certain degrees of age appropriateness. “You can’t practice a 5-year-old the same way you would a middle school student. That’s one of the main things that I remember really standing up for.” To reach Marc Aceves at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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