How to Measure Success in Youth Sports

“Coach, how am I doing this season?” A question often asked by many young athletes, yet one that can’t accurately be answered without measuring athlete success. Without the methods in place to measure progress (or regression), you are left giving young athletes vague and potentially misleading feedback.

Not only is measuring success in youth sports vital for the personal development of young athletes, but this increased knowledge enables you to make better tactical decisions— from game strategy adjustments to player positioning and substitutions.

This guide uncovers why measuring success in youth sports is important and discusses a variety of methods to accurately track individual & team success. These methods are easy to leverage, and in no time, you will have a clear understanding of your team’s skill level to answer those burning questions.

Why is it important to measure athlete success?

Improved morale

Let’s say a soccer coach tracks player progress throughout the season. He/she tracks players on their passing, dribbling, shooting, accuracy, and speed. At the end of every evaluation, the coach provides athletes with verbal feedback and/or written reports.

As athletes become aware of this progress, they feel proud of their accomplishments and, as a result, they are more excited to attend practices & have the desire to stay consistent in their efforts. When each athlete exhibits these positive behaviors, overall team morale improves.

Enhanced performance

When you measure athlete success in youth sports with measurable KPIs, you can better communicate to an athlete what they need to work on. And when athletes know what they need to work on, performance noticeably improves.

Eliminate feelings of self-doubt

Athletes often doubt their abilities because they aren’t provided with clear feedback from their coaches. For example, if an athlete lacks confidence in their dribbling and doesn’t receive feedback, they may remain trapped in a cycle of self-doubt.

However, when progress is tracked, athletes are given tangible evidence (reports) or verbal feedback on their improvements. This tells athletes, “The consistency, commitment, and dedication you are putting in is working.”

Tactical decision making

Looking to move a stronger player to defense during your next basketball game? Thinking of changing your team’s attacking strategy in the next soccer tournament? Regardless of the adjustment, tracking athlete success provides the data needed to support each and every tactical decision.

How to measure success in youth sports

1) Progress reports

It is one thing for athletes to be told they are improving, but they want to see tangible evidence of their growth.

This is where progress reports become invaluable, allowing each individual’s skills to be tracked and measured over time. Whether you are conducting tryouts, mid-season evaluations, or clinics, use SkillShark to record scores and then let our progress reports do the rest.

How do progress reports work?

• Drills are conducted, and athletes are scored on the SkillShark app.
• *The scores are stored on the back-end of the app and automatically formatted into progress reports.
• Select the skill(s) you want to show up on the progress reports.
• Email a copy of the report to each of your athletes. *Only the skills an athlete is evaluated on will show up on their progress report.
  • I.e., Goalies and forwards will be evaluated on different skills, hence their progress reports will look different.

2) Skills Checklists

While these checklists provide a basic way to measure success in youth sports, they can act as a guideline for athlete progress. Write down all applicable skills in each of the columns. Then, in each of the rows, write down your athletes’ names. *Note: One sheet will need to be printed off for each evaluation.

Skills checklist process:

• Ensure your evaluators use the skills checklist at any evaluation (tryout, camp, clinic).
• Collect the sheets after your evaluation.
• Optional: Enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet and create reports to analyze the data.
• Provide feedback to athletes, in the form of in-person feedback or emails, on how they are progressing.

3) Monitor Soft Skills

An athlete’s skating, dribbling, or shooting score isn’t the only form of success that matters. Host post-practice talks to share how your teams’ soft skills, such as communication, sportsmanship, and discipline, are progressing or regressing.

Note: These soft skills don’t have to be measured individually (although if you notice an athlete who could benefit from extra support, schedule a separate talk with them). Otherwise, speak to your team as a whole when discussing overall progress.

Regardless of whether they are improving or not, ensure that you recognize your athletes for what they are doing well, alongside addressing areas for improvement. Are your athletes:

• Working together to anticipate each other’s plays?
• Performing well under pressure?
• Following game plans?
• Staying committed to practice?
• Exhibiting optimism and enthusiasm?
• Handling challenges with resilience?

4) Conduct Self-assessments

Success isn’t just defined by the coach; it’s also experienced by the athlete. The strategies above have all focused on your interpretation of their performance. However, it is recommended to host self-assessments throughout the season so you can gauge a better understanding of an athlete’s self-perception.

This might unveil some areas that you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise, yet ones you can implement into your coaching strategy. For instance, a mid-season athlete self-assessment reveals that 50% of your athletes aren’t confident in their edgework and shooting abilities. What’s next? You incorporate more skating & shooting drills and provide more verbal feedback.

Wrapping Up

When you know what skills athletes are progressing on, and by how much, this data helps you make accurate tactical decisions, boosts athlete motivation, and even promotes players’ accountability toward personal & team goals.

Interested in using SkillShark to easily score athletes on any mobile device, track progress, and provide feedback throughout the season? Book a walkthrough with one of our product experts. We’ll guide you through our features and help you set up your first 25 players at no cost.