In an effort to improve the experiences youth athletes have playing games they’re learning, coaches and board members from the Newtown Youth Football & Cheer (NYFC) and Newtown Youth Basketball Association (NYBA), this fall, participated in Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) workshops, in which presenters came to town to offer tips and resources for coaches.

Doug Magazu, who serves as vice president for the Newtown Youth Football Association and coaches the fifth grade team, said the football board members heard about the PCA and, along with NYBA officials arranged to have presenters visit Newtown to offer ideas to keep the focus in youth sports where it needs to be.

Magazu notes that coaches are certified in CPR and given safety training, as well as lots of technical information about the sport they coach. But they aren’t exposed to ways to teach with emphasis on being positive, and motivational, and some strategies may be overlooked. Although there are no specific incidents that have raised concern, Magazu believes this training can only help make coaches better.

“We’re getting coaches to think about the impact they can have on young kids’ lives,” said David Mahery, partnership manager for PCA New England. He added that coaches need to keep things in perspective and recognize that their approach and personality is often reflected in the attitudes and behavior of their team members.

The workshop guides coaches to adopt a “Double-Goal” mental model for coaching, which includes striving to win while teaching life lessons.

“All athletes experience anxiety under competitive pressure. Some rise to the occasion, but many wither,” according to a portion of the workshop description. “This workshop provides proven, practical tools to help coaches integrate sport psychology best practices into their coaching.”

Coaches are taught to adopt tools to help athletes perform under competitive pressure, learn how to assist athletes to channel nervousness into positive energy, and understand the importance of and how to teach athletes basic performance sport psychology tools, including setting goals, visualization and preparation routines, and high road self-talk and behavior, according to the workshop description.

“I’ve coached youth and collegiate football for 16 years, and I never quite looked at it this way,” Magazu said of the program. “It allows you to step back and re-present information to the kids that you might not have done.”

Magazu said the football practices were canceled the day of the football workshop, coaches were strongly urged to attend, and the turnout was very strong for the session. Magazu and other league board members are considering making the workshop mandatory going forward.

“Everybody wants to win, but it isn’t winning at all costs. It’s about teaching, growing, educating people,” Magazu said of the importance of youth sports.

Magazu has a son on the fifth grade football team and basketball team, and a daughter who plays youth lacrosse, basketball, and soccer. NYFC President Tom Pellicone, who has a seventh grade daughter who cheers, as well as a son that plays youth football, was among those who participated in the program.

Implementation of positive coaching strategies is important to keep numbers of participants up as athletes get older, Mahery said.

Mahery notes that 70 percent of children stop playing sports by the age of 13. “We’re really trying to reverse that trend,” he said.

John O’Leary, president of NYBA, plans to reach out to directors/commissioners of other sports leagues in town to either get them involved with participating in a workshop or other activities to help grow youth sports in town.

“We can build off each other,” anticipates O’Leary, who has a son on sixth grade basketball team.

“Coaches are doing a great job of communicating with the kids and building a lifelong love of basketball,” said O’Leary, adding that the training will give them more tools and resources to handle challenging moments that come up.

O’Leary said there needs to be cohesiveness across the board, with coaches understanding the expectations and philosophies of the league.

“It needs to be about trying to win, but not necessarily winning as the only thing,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary said coaches were given tips about interacting with athletes as well as parents and officials, and that there are specific workshops for youth athletes and parents, themselves, which may be brought into the picture for Newtown athletics at some point.

O’Leary said he and Magazu coach baseball together in the spring and that “We’re always looking for ways to improve.”