One of the things you have to know if you choose to go down the sport-based youth development path is that it can take a toll on you. You can pour your entire heart in to the work, stack all of the hours, and spend all of your gas money working with and supporting your kids, even outside of practice and program time. But then they go home. They go to school. They go back to their neighborhoods. Overall, they interact with systems you have no control over. And those things can shift their path in the opposite direction of where you were trying to lead them. You and your program occupy just a fraction of their lives. That fraction of time isn’t always enough.
I had a moment when I felt that deeply. I realized that I was up against larger more powerful systems. My little program was no match. No matter what I did those influences would be stronger and more powerful than my little approach. And I crumbled. It was painful to think that all of my effort was all for nothing. As excruciating as that was, it was also crucial to the work.
There is a beauty in recognizing that you can’t do it all. It is good to admit that your program is small in comparison to all the odds your kids face. It is absolutely vital that you recognize that you, lone wolf, can’t force change.
Sport programs (or any for that matter) that want to really dive into positive youth development need to do so with support. That means working collaboratively with the different organizations that touch your kids’ lives Bring families on board. Work with the schools. Get connected to your local government. Talk to the places where your kids go to worship. You can likely think of more systems and organizations and brainstorm how to work together to make change.
You can’t do it alone. So don’t.
The Sideline Fix 
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