Coach’s Corner

Our Volunteer Coaches are making a difference!

For any YMCA program to be a success, volunteer coaches are needed to lead our youth. Coaches, you make our programs possible by volunteering your time to teach the youth in our community and you cannot be thanked enough! Volunteers are ALWAYS needed for coaching! No background in the sport? No worries! The YMCA provides as many resources as possible to assure that all of our volunteers can be the best coaches possible!

Becoming a volunteer coach is easy! All volunteers must create an account in our VolunteerMatters online platform, complete a Volunteer Application, Criminal Background Check and Child Abuse History clearance. Everything is online and takes about 5 minutes to complete. For anyone interested in volunteering, click the link below to create an account – then complete the personal info and sign all waivers. For additional questions, please contact Corey Wolff at 814-868-0867.

Volunteer Application

Resources for Coaches

Thank you for volunteering as a Y coach or youth sports official. As a volunteer at your YMCA, you have an opportunity to positively influence the development of youth and shape and support your community.

We want to help you have the best season ever, and so we have created the online courses listed in the table below to get you started. These eLearnings describe the Y’s philosophy on youth sports; offer basic coaching techniques, including practice plans, skills, drills, rules, and tactics; and outline valuable volunteer resources.

Tips & Tricks

- Our eLearnings allow you to move at your own pace, so your time for completion may differ from the estimate provided. That’s OK!
- You must have Adobe Flash installed and JavaScript enabled to launch an eLearning.
- In addition to the eLearnings listed in the table, check out the following resource:
  - Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports. This 30-minute eLearning lesson from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is designed to help you recognize if an athlete has a concussion and respond appropriately.
  - Online Risk Management Training and Toolkit. Created for the Y by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, these trainings and tools help us keep everyone in Y programs safe.

Any difficulty accessing the e-learning, please call 1-800-872-9622 to reach the YMCA of the USA Contact Center.

Click the course name from the table below to get started!

Name	Description	Course Length
Core Courses (Please take these courses in the order provided)
1. YMCA Youth Sports Programs	Discusses program philosophy and introduces the volunteer to Y youth sports programming.	15 minutes
2. Parent’s Role in Youth Sports	Discusses the benefits of Y youth sports programs for both parents/caregivers and youth.	30 minutes
3. Volunteers Make the Team	Discusses how volunteers impact and ensure the success of youth sports programs at the Y.	30 minutes
4. Safety and Emergency Action	Discusses the importance of safety, responding to an incident, preventing injuries, and protecting oneself in an emergency situation.	45 minutes
5. Coaching YMCA Youth Sports	Provides an overview of coaching Y youth sports programs and discusses how coaches influence the positive development of today’s youth.	30 minutes