Youth Inc. Recommends: Five great resources on accountability

What happens if you make a mistake? Do you own up to it and learn? Or do you blame others? Taking accountability is an important trait for a successful athlete and teammate. 

 Many of life’s skills are learned in sports. Accountability is an important one. To help athletes, parents and coaches learn the basics of accountability we found five great resources to help you on your journey. 

Accountability is the key to success   

 What it is: A post from the Reformed Sports Project blog on learning accountability through sports. 

Why we like it: Simple and to the point, this blog is written by a volunteer youth sports coach and parent. In it, the author writes: “Nobody is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, so accountability is important for all of us and just like most skills, accountability is best learned at a young age." 

Being Accountable Shouldn't be Punitive 

What it is: A blog post from trusport.org on how to teach accountability in a positive way. 

Why we like it: We love the positivity in the piece and how it breaks down the method suggested into five easy steps: praise publicly and positively, be clear with expectations and rewards, stay accountable to the process, not the result, keep learning and modeling positive behavior and practice patience. 

What Is Accountability in Sports?   

 What it is: A short and to-the-point blog post Lahnee Pavlovich of the website athleteassessments.com. The author outlines strategies for accountability among athletes in an easy digestible way. 

What we like it: The simplicity of the post is what makes it so effective. It uses examples to back up the most important points and we love the “Where to go from here?” section at the end. 

The Three Pillars of Accountability   

 What it is: A blog post by John Welbourn, the CEO of Power Athlete and host of Power Athlete radio, on athlete accountability. 

 Why we like it: This piece is filled with information, but we really love the section of the three pillars of accountability. They are: follow through, communication and attention to detail. 

Team Accountability Begins with Self Accountability   

What it is: A TikTok video on why accountability starts with oneself. 

Why we like: We love motivational videos that puts the onus on the person. The video starts with the line, “If you’re an athlete, something has to rise up inside of you that’s ready to take ownership and say, 'I can’t lose this game.'”