Youth Inc. Recommends: Four great resources for beginning youth leadership

Leadership is an important skill to learn, but teaching the basic skills and core principles of leadership to youngsters can be tricky. Where do you start? How do you simplify it in a way that makes sense to kids?  

To answer these questions we went deep into the web and social media to find resources aimed at leadership for young athletes. Here are some of the best pieces we found:  

Why Cultivating Relationships is the No. 1 Priority in Leadership 

What it is: In this TikTok post, a former Division I soccer player tells her story of leadership and how she was named a captain as a freshman in college.  

Why we like it: Succinct, relatable and real, this clip gets right to the point. Our favorite nugget was a piece of advice this young woman got from her college coach: “People aren’t going to care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” 

What Makes An Athlete a Great Leader?   

What it is: A short, simple clip from the Positive Coaching Alliance that gives specific examples of what makes a great captain from a coach’s perspective.  

Why we like it: One line from the video really stuck out: “[Captains] are the kids that make everybody around them look better, not just themselves. They take on the responsibility of the team in general and they put the team first.” 

Tips on Leading for Younger Players 

What it is: What better way to learn leadership than from your peers. This YouTube short is told by a young soccer player and it really hits because this kid is articulate and spot-on with some wide-beyond-his-years tips. 

Why we like it: Be humble, work hard, fight. Those are terrific pieces of advice for any young athlete. This video really hits from the jump when the youngster says, “Every footballer thinks that a captain needs the captain band to be a captain. That’s not true. Everyone can be a leader, motivate the team, be humble, work hard …” Spot on, kid.    

The Five Types of Leaders Every Locker Room Needs 

What it is: A very informative article from the Jeff Janssen Sports Leadership Center. In this piece, Janssen identifies five types of leaders every team needs to be successful: performance leaders, locker room leaders, social leaders, organizational leaders and reserve leaders.  

 Why we like it: Easy to read and specific, Janssen focuses on each type of leader, addresses key questions and thoroughly breaks down each category. We love the detail and especially like the summary at the end which includes an exercise for coaches to help develop leaders.