ESPN, Positive Coaching Alliance team up on Take Back Sports, a Resource for Parents, Coaches

It was a typical conference call last November between ESPN and the Positive Coaching Alliance. The two organizations were exchanging ideas about youth sports when someone on the ESPN team asked PCA if they had an ideas for youth sports parents. Positive Coaching Alliance CEO Jason Sacks’ jaw dropped.

“It was almost like they read our minds,” said Sacks. “We had been thinking about a parents initiative for a while and I had a full pitch deck ready. I pulled it out and said, ‘This is what we have planned.’ It was a full Spiderman moment for me.”

The details of the joint initiative got hammered out a few months later, at the NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco, and Take Back Sports was formed. The program gives parents a lot of resources to navigate the world of youth sports. It also encourages parents to take a pledge to create a “more positive, respectful and supportive experience in every practice game and conversation.” You can take the pledge here.

Take Back Sports is not only backed by ESPN, but also Disney and features several big-name ambassadors: Steph Curry, Luka Doncic and Peyton and Eli Manning.

Youth Inc. recently spoke with Sacks and ESPN VP of Corporate Citizenship Kevin Martinez about the initiative.

What are the main goals of Take Back Sports?

Martinez: “We want to bring back a nostalgic experience to youth sports for parents, coaches and teachers. It’s a collective, wider responsibility. It all boils down to having fun and creating good experiences for kids. We want to make sure we never lose sight of that.”

Sacks: “ESPN has been a great partner of ours for some time and teaming up with them on this was a no-brainer. We want to create a resource hub for parents and get them to take the pledge so we can create great experiences for kids. That’s the whole point of youth sports.”

What can we expect in the future from the initiative?

Martinez: “We want to make sure all boats rise with this. We have a big platform and it’s important that we use it. This has the full support of not only [ESPN chairman] Jimmy Pitaro, but also Disney. We need to speak with authority and continue to grow this with PCA and our ambassadors.”

Sacks: “We want people to consume all our resources and take the pledge. We’re constantly evolving and adding new resources. There is so much synergy between us and ESPN. We can to tell the story of great youth sports coaches across the country, come up with new ideas and bring them to life.”

What do you hope parents will take away through Take Back Sports?

Martinez: “We can’t boil the ocean, so we want to make sure we stay focused on fun and helping coaches. We want to say more loudly that parents and coaches need to be more responsible in not telling 6-year-old kids that they can go pro. By using all our resources and walking the walk we can make a difference. The pizza is not getting any bigger [youth sports], the slices are changing.”

Sacks: “There are more than 40 million kids playing youth sports and we want to equip parents with the best information possible. We hope that parent will come to the site regularly and use the information we provide as a tool.”

To learn more about Take Back Sports, visit their website.