Youth coaches rewarded for early wakeup

Run by the Princeton Recreation Department, the program involves nearly 400 children from the local community. This year, 275 boys and 112 girls between the ages of 9 and 15 participated in the league.

The league itself is a product of cooperation between the town and the University, though it may be surprising to learn that this program began in 1970 when each eating club decided to sponsor and coach a team. After University began collaborating with the town, teams were no longer associated with a particular club — though many eating club members, such as third-year coach Colin Emerson ’08 of Tiger Inn, still participate.

“The support we have received from Princeton University for this program has been tremendous,” Program Director Ben Stentz said.

Stentz also noted that logistical aspects, such as arranging court time, are coordinated by both the town’s Recreation Department and the University’s Department of Athletics. A significant part of keeping the league running, however, is the willingness of undergraduates to serve as coaches. In this respect, the league has been a complete success. With 90 undergraduate coaches, each team has at least two coaches who are committed to the 12 players on their roster.

“Coaching is a great break from schoolwork and other pressures on campus,” Emerson said. “It’s also a rewarding experience for us as coaches.”

Of course, the current arrangement isn’t merely beneficial for the coaches.

“The players love having a young, enthusiastic coach,” Stentz said. “In the majority of youth sport scenarios, it is the parents that are coaching … I think it has become a breath of fresh air for the children to have a non-parent coaching them.”

In fact, the league’s setup is tailored to accommodate Princeton students as coaches.

“We try to make the process as simple as possible for the [University] students,” Stentz explained. “We do not ask them to call kids to remind them about games or practices, and we do not ask them to do any of the administrative things that need to happen.”

By removing many of the factors that would deter students from coaching, Stentz ensures that potential coaches are able to find the time to volunteer. The only problem, therefore, is publicizing that this opportunity is available on campus.

“I’m not sure the student body as a whole knows about the league,” said first-year coach Zach Kwartler ’11, who is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Emerson concurred, explaining that, while a certain group of kids knows about the program, the student body is largely unaware of its existence.

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“I would like to see more publicity done before the season starts,” Emerson said. “It’s such a great experience, but most people don’t even know that it exists.”

Though the league is certainly competitive — the season culminates in a single-elimination playoff bracket — the coaches and the organizers agree that the goal of the league is for the players to have fun and to learn to play as a team. One of the program’s fundamental rules is that all players must be given equal playing time.

“You’re required to substitute at the middle and end of every quarter,” Emerson explained. “It’s one of those rules that I’m really glad we have because all of the players realize that they have to care about all their teammates because they’re all going to play in every game. Also, it prevents the parents from complaining that their kids deserve more playing time … so in that sense, it takes a lot of the pressure off the coaches.”

Kwartler also agrees with this rule, noting that it “forces the team to work together and to include all of the players.”

For Princeton undergraduates like Kwartler and Emerson who have taken a chance on the program, the experience of being a youth coach has certainly been worth the early wakeups.