Malcolm Gladwell, Dr. Michael Gervais tackle how coaches, parents can improve youth sports experience

When Greg Olsen was thinking of guests for the new season of the Youth Inc. podcast, Malcolm Gladwell was at the top of the list. One of the most recognized intellectuals and authors of our time, Gladwell is also an avid runner and his books – Outliers, The Tipping Point – and theories have a direct application to sports.

Gladwell joined Olsen and Dr. Michael Gervais, a noted sports psychologist and frequent Youth Inc. contributor, for a wide-ranging conversation about how parents and coaches approach youth sports and what can be done to improve the experience for young athletes

Gladwell is part of a start-studded lineup in the new season of the podcast. Tom Brady kicked things off on Aug. 12 and this season’s guests include Ryan Day, CJ Stroud, Missy Franklin, Big Cat from Barstool, Bryce Young, James Clear, Clayton Kershaw, Mo Vaughn, Adrian Wojnarowski, Jenny Levy and more.

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Key Takeaways

• We can learn a lot from sports like running, where participation is not only encouraged, it’s also celebrated.
• A lot of good coaching resonates with young athletes years later and continues to teach.
• If you can enjoy the relationship between preparation and outcome you’ll enjoy all aspects of sports more thoroughly.

Why it Matters: Olsen, Gladwell and Gervais take a look a sports from a societal and developmental level. They remove the screaming, wins and losses and all other things measured on a scorecard and stat sheet and see the bigger picture.

“The mistake parents often make is we’re looking for a trait rather than a skill,” said Gladwell. “we assume it’s either there or not. We should say maybe it emerges slowly, it takes time and doesn’t have an immediate outcome.”

As Olsen put it: “This is not a race to 12 to 14. Let’s see where everyone is when they’re 17.” In other word, young athletes develop on different timelines. Some are develop early and stop working hard, while others are late bloomers.

Lessons for Athletes: Enjoy the ride, don’t put too much pressure on yourself and only compare yourself to you. The benefits of sports go way beyond wins and losses, batting average and home runs. Olsen told a wonderful story about his daughter working with the track team as a 6^th grader. “You’re not competing against the other girls,” told her. “You’re competing against your own time. Was your time better than the week before? That’s how you should judge yourself?”

Lessons for Parents: Gervais gave a terrific description of structured learning vs. guided discovery. So much of youth sports these days is highly structured. Parents are pushing kids into organized play at an earlier age and for longer. The sandlots and pickup games are becoming less common. Gervais points out that research shows the guided discovery has better outcomes long term. In other words, sometimes parents have to step away and let kids figure things out for themselves.

Lessons for Coaches: Whether you realize it or not, you have tremendous influence (and impact) on kids that can have lasting effects for years. Take that responsibility serious and  be sure to check yourself. It’s OK to make mistakes. Acknowledge them, learn and listen.