10 Tips for Working in Youth Sports
Kids just want to play sports! And more times than not, they will find a way to do so. According to Hospital for Special Surgery, around 60 million kids and teenagers play organized sports each year.
Of course, youth sports provide a training ground for many future professional athletes, but they serve a much bigger purpose than that. It is much more about the development and life skills learned that playing on a team provides for the kids.
Being in sports and entertainment, the youth sports sector is often overlooked by aspiring professionals. In reality, it is a $19.2 billion industry that rivals some of the largest sports leagues in our country. Unlike their professional counterparts, youth sports leagues have stronger missions, which makes working in this space more about its impact on the future generation.
So what does it look like working for a youth sports entity? Casey Hertel, Director of Operations for Koa Sports, and Ben McClintock, Senior Communications Executive for Little League, share more. Let’s take a walk in their shoes and understand the day-to-day of someone working directly with the kids.
1/ Understand your Impact
Hertel has well over a decade worth of experience working in youth sports. She was a Youth Development Intern with DC United and she’s also coached youth sports, including field hockey for Koa Sports. Having years of experience in this sector of the industry, Hertel knows that working with kids means more than most jobs.
“It’s a lot more meaningful, you have a lot more impact in the youth sports industry on the next generation,” Hertel said. “And especially in the nonprofit sector, you get to have your hands in on a lot of different jobs and things within the company. When working in this space, it is more than just one department of the company, which is super, super helpful, especially if you’re coming right out of college because there is a lot .”
The impact that Casey has at a place like Koa Sports is unique due to it being a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which Little League Baseball and Softball happens to be as well. Koa’s mission is stated as being committed to “shaping kids’ lives through sports” and aiming “to develop each child to their full potential as an athlete and a person both in the classroom, in competition, and anything in between.” Little League says it “believes in the power of youth baseball and softball to teach life lessons that build stronger individuals and communities.”
2/ Roles are More than Meets the Eye
As Director of Operations, Hertel handles many Human Resources duties, like payroll and hiring. Those responsibilities are on Hertel’s plate in addition to her facility operations roles.
“From getting all of the field and gym rentals for all of our games and practices to working with the directors of each sport to make sure they are setup for success, as well as working on the finance side working directly with our bookkeeper and our accountant,” Hertel said.
McClintock noted the same thing in his role. While he oversees all communication efforts for Little League, he also handles museum operations for the World of Little League Museum in Williamsport, PA.
“Everything from our digital media, social media, video efforts, website, media relations, graphic design, really fall [into] that communications department,” McClintock said.
3/ Align with Similar Partners
Seeing that Koa Sports is based in Washington D.C., one could assume that the organization has partnered with the pro sports teams in town (Washington Mystics, Washington Commanders, Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, DC United, Washington Nationals, etc.). Although the organization has participated in the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in the past, Hertel shared that Koa has mainly chosen to work with fellow nonprofits.
“We partner with other nonprofits. An example is how we have partnered with some sports equipment nonprofits making sure that we are donating all of our leftover equipment and help pay it forward.” Hertel said.
4/ Think About the Future!
As mentioned before, Hertel got to know many of the kids while she was coaching for Koa Sports. She may not have been there every single step of the way with the kids as they grew up, but she was a piece of their development. And that development has led the kids to find their own paths in society.
“Some of the athletes that have gone through our program are now playing college sports. Seeing them grow, come back, and coach for us, is incredible,” Hertel said. “I have a girl about to graduate from high school that I started coaching in second grade, it’s really cool to see how far these kids have come and where they’re going in life. Often they stay in touch and the ones that come back to coach for us just shows the impact that we had and their love of the program, and now they want to coach for us and impact the next generation of kids.”
5/ Call on all Coaches
With so many kids out there, extra coaches are a must for organizations like Koa Sports. Hertel noted that Koa has anywhere from 200 to 250 part-time coaches for baseball, basketball, field hockey, and street hockey, as well as camps. There are many ways to get involved with youth sports, but getting in as a part-time coach could be the first step.
“They really make the impact on them on a daily basis at practices and games. We’re really looking for people who want to come and be active.” Hertel said. “We want somebody that really wants to make an impact on these kids' lives, and an impact on their own life, [and] wants to give back to the community and give back to the sport that they fell in love with.
“We have four core values that we always look for when hiring staff: you have to be positive, dedicated — that’s a big thing for us — making sure the kids are having fun too. And then team first, being willing to help out with other teams, and other coaches.”
6/ Be Willing to add to your Repertoire
Often times in sports — and in nonprofit or community outreach work — you will have to wear many hats for your organization. When handling tasks for youth sports as well, it’s best to bring a varied skillset, but do not be afraid to take on other roles as you acclimate yourself within an organization.
Hertel believes you can develop these skills as you come along throughout an organization, but she also thinks you can do so beforehand in internships.
“I came in as the Director of Field Hockey, did not know anything about HR other than the one HR class I took in college. But when I had the opportunity to move up, I took it upon myself to take some HR courses, make sure I knew what I was doing. Make sure we had policies and procedures,” Hertel said. “Just being willing to try new things, learn new things, you’ll never know what you really like until you try it.”
“Try as many different things, intern at many different places as possible. You might think you’re in love with marketing but then you go try an operations [role], and you find out maybe that’s what you’re in love with. Until you actually go out there and start getting into the industry you don’t really know where you want to be necessarily.
McClintock shared a similar message about his time with Little League. It may not be a small business with over 180,000 teams played and more than 2.6 million competitors over the years, but the operation there may call for one to possess more than one skill.
“As long as you’re willing to be open-minded and flexible in trying to change with the trends, and that’s probably the biggest thing, is to really be able and willing and ready to wear multiple hats, because one day you might be writing something. The next day, you might be pulling a tarp. And that’s just the way youth sports careers generally are.”
7/ Volunteer-Focused
One thing McClintock noted at Little League Baseball is that they have a large base of volunteers that they work with. Considering how big the organization is, this is an integral piece of the organization’s operation.
“We’re a volunteer-run organization and what we’re doing here at our headquarters building, through our regions staff, is we’re trying to provide all of our volunteers with the best resources that they have to really administer the program and make a meaningful experience for our Little Leaguers,” said McClintock, who noted that most of these resources are free for volunteers. “We have about two million kids playing Little League in more than 80 countries. And really, what we’re trying to do, is provide our volunteers with everything that they need to bring that to life.”
8/ Storytelling for the Kids
For McClintock, his role in communications clears the way for him to share the stories of the Little League players, which includes the ESPN profiles displayed during the Little League World Series broadcasts. Being able to highlight the kids and their efforts is one of the highlights of McClintock’s role.
“This year, we had the great story here in Williamsport with a boy named Josiah Porter. Josiah was blind in one eye and really came through and excelled,” McClintock said. “We have a great creative team here that really wanted to bring that story to life, whether that was through a written and a video profile and it just so happened that he hit a grand slam the day before that we were ready to get that story told and really made it a special, impactful story. … We want to find those inspiring stories, tell those inspiring stories, and hope that it might inspire a family of a kid who is facing some vision difficulties. ‘If he can do it, anybody can do it.’”
Going back to the volunteers, McClintock said they are very helpful in sharing what stories are best to highlight. They often provide feedback through questionnaires that Little League provides them.
9/ All Kids are Welcome
One note that Little League often stands on is that it’s a league for everyone. Of course, the few future professional athletes who come through the ranks are important, but the ones who may not have that in their future are just as coveted.
“Really what we’re about is that entryway. We’re about the 4-, 5-, 6-year-old who’s going and taking the field for the first time and setting those first entry levels to team sports and to bat and ball sports as well,” McClintock said. “That’s what we pride ourselves on is being that wide funnel, being that open door for everybody. And hopefully they develop skills and go on and have successful baseball and softball careers, that’s fantastic. But we pride ourselves in the ones that don’t do that as well, that go on and have passionate careers like myself. I played Little League, but Lord knows I wasn’t going to be a professional athlete.”
10/ Marketing to Parents and their Kids
The youth sports industry has tasked its professionals with looking to capture the imagination of children while also attracting their parents to their programming. Having direct experience with this at Little League, McClintock was able to discuss what goes into this process and the changes that have come with that over the years.
“While your focus is on player experience and making that meaningful, you’re also trying to work with an evolving family dynamic, family space, trying to get in front of parents in multiple ways,” McClintock said. “So as the next generation of parents, as Gen Z becomes parents, how does that impact your organization, from how they view community or how they like to be communicated to or how that evolves. So I think it’s important to be open-minded to different generations, how they’re parenting, and what their family styles are as well, because that’s ultimately going to impact your organization and your following.”
What did we learn?
The youth sports sector is a special one because of its impact on the next generation. While not every kid is the next Aaron Judge or Alex Morgan, the skills they learn while competing in youth sports can last them a lifetime.
“In the youth sports sector, you’re making an impact outside of sports in these kids' lives. Like, yes, sports is how you get there. But you’re teaching them life lessons that they’re going to take with them for a long time,” Hertel said.
Living in a tech-heavy society as we do now has hindered physical activity for kids today. But being a part of youth sports organizations can help give them the push they need to get out and play.
“A lot of kids right now are behind the screen, playing video games, behind their phone,” Hertel said. “And just really getting sports back out into the community, I think we’re lacking now more than ever in physical activity for kids in sports. So really just trying to get kids back into falling in love with certain sports.”
Working in youth sports may not seem as glamorous as working for the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees. But what it can offer is a unique opportunity to find your way into sports and entertainment in a meaningful way.
“I think a lot of people looking to break into the sports industry, they look for the major programs, they look for the professional organizations, those teams. And I think what makes, at least working at Little League and working in youth sports, so rewarding is that you are dealing with the purist level of sport from that standpoint,” McClintock said.
Lastly, McClintock said the beauty of his role is that it truly makes him happy. If you are willing to enter into the industry, you can find a similar role to his that fulfills your urges of being passionate about your role.
“There are plenty of jobs out there that will pay you to not be happy. Youth sports and communication is not one of them. Find the organization that you’re going to be happy to go to work every day and that reward is going to follow you, and I think youth sports is that space,” McClintock said.
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