Only 6 percent of youth coaches put winning first, and 41 percent weren't paid

Greg Olsen spent a full season coaching his son's travel baseball team, and a new series followed him through it. No Seasons Off, made by Whistle with Youth Inc., premiered August 28 on DAZN and Whistle's YouTube channel. Olsen is a three time Pro Bowl tight end, and ESPN reported in December 2016 that he had become the first tight end in NFL history with three straight 1,000 yard receiving seasons.

Most youth coaches do the job without a camera. The 2022 National Coach Survey, run by LiFEsports at The Ohio State University with the Aspen Institute's Project Play, collected answers from 10,661 coaches between March and October 2022. After removing 176 college coaches, the sample came to 10,485 youth coaches across 38 sports. Soccer was the largest group at 24 percent, followed by baseball at 15 percent and basketball at 12 percent.

Many of them coach their own kids. At the developmental and recreational level, 60 percent said being the parent or caregiver of an athlete was a big reason they coach. Only 19 percent said someone approached them to take the job.

Many are not paid. The survey found 41 percent of coaches were unpaid in their last season coaching their primary sport.

Winning ranked low. Only 6 percent of coaches said winning games or competitions was a top priority. Helping athletes learn new life skills and making sure every athlete has fun each landed in the top three for 35 percent of coaches.

Nearly half of the coaches surveyed said they had never been evaluated, and about half of those who had been said the evaluation helped them coach better. Project Play's State of Play 2025 reports that fewer than one third of youth coaches have ever been trained in evidence based youth development practices, and that 26 percent had recent safety and injury prevention training in 2024, down from 34 percent in 2019.