After more than 30 years as a recreation professional, you would think Steve Geddes has seen it all.
Although Geddes, recreation director for the Valley Center Recreation Commission (Kansas) is a veteran of providing quality youth sports programming, he still constantly seeks new ways to educate himself and enhance his knowledge – something he advocates for all recreation professionals.
“Individuals should get as much education and training as they can in the area of putting together a youth sports league or program,” Geddes said. “They should find any and every self-help book they can, whether it deals with youth sports, life or relationships. This way they will know how to relate to these people.”
That is why Geddes became a Certified Youth Sports Administrator (CYSA) – to continue his education as a recreation professional. The CYSA title is a professional designation given by the Academy for Youth Sports Administrators (AYSA) – a training and education program provided by the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS).
“The information that NAYS makes available through the AYSA and through the Web site really opens a lot of people’s eyes,” Geddes said. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years now and we’re like any other community – most of our coaches are moms or dads who have played the game before that they’re coaching, but coaching is a lot harder than people realize. NAYS helps by giving instruction on how to teach certain skills.”
Geddes’ organization provides youth sports and activities for more than 1,200 children who live in Valley Center, a city just outside of Wichita. Some of the popular sports in the area are flag football, basketball, T-ball, baseball and softball.
Geddes has been a fixture in his community for so long that parents and coaches come to him for almost anything relating to their child.
“I spend a lot of time counseling moms, dads and coaches who come to me to talk about problems with their son or daughter,” he said. “When I first started in this job I wasn’t as eager to deal with people as much, but now when I’m out on the field I am there to help solve people’s problems.”
Despite his vast experience, Geddes still faces many challenges as a youth sports administrator – particularly from overzealous parents and coaches who at times can lose proper perspective.
“My greatest challenge is dealing with negative attitudes and behaviors of adults,” he said. “Mostly they’re good, but it only takes a few instances to turn a real positive situation into a real ugly situation.”
To help prevent those ugly situations, Geddes utilizes training and education programs such as the National Youth Sports Coaches Association (NYSCA) to make sure adults are clear on what is acceptable and appropriate behavior in a youth sports setting.
“All of our coaches go through mandatory NYSCA training,” he said. “If you’re going to coach in our community you’re going to go through the program and receive education and training. We also do a sportsmanship program called Set A Good Example (SAGE). We give them bits and pieces of information on what’s appropriate and what’s not continually throughout the season, too.”
Geddes also takes the additional step of holding a coaches meeting before the season to discuss league issues. Recently John Engh, chief operating officer of NAYS, attended one of these meetings as a guest speaker. Engh spoke on the importance of maintaining proper perspective in youth sports and demonstrated NYSCA’s newly created online coach rating system.
“Through Steve’s leadership as a CYSA, the Valley Center Recreation Commission has become a model for any youth league in America to follow,” Engh said. “They utilize all of the tools that NAYS has to offer by training their coaches and all volunteers associated with their league, and hold them accountable to high standards. In the end, having trained coaches who are accountable for their actions provides a great opportunity for all of the children in their league to develop a love for the sport they are playing, and that is the ultimate goal.”
“We put a lot of emphasis in the positive aspects of youth sports,” Geddes said. “We’re here for the kids. We try to emphasize to the parents that this is not life. You can learn life lessons from it, but it’s not life.”
Geddes is a believer in that concept as well. In fact, he measures the success of his sports program by monitoring the level of retention, not by keeping track of how many athletes go on to receive college scholarships. This is a concept he regularly stresses to the parents in his community.
“I tell parents to enjoy this time, because once these kids get to high school the sports landscape changes dramatically,” he said. “In youth sports everyone gets to play and everyone gets to be a participant, so enjoy it while you can.”
