Regardless of the sport or level of competition, the Head Coach and assistant coaches must have goals and a philosophy that will become the foundation for their team. As a youth coach, the list of goals may vary, but at the top of the list should be that all kids continue to play football the following year, and each player has fun at practice and in the games.

Our philosophy for our high school program at Cary-Grove (IL) was that we wanted all players and coaches to C.A.R.E., which was an acronym for Consistency, Attitude, Respect, and Enthusiasm. 

As high school coaches, we were responsible for guiding our players on and off the field, which included classroom performance and behavior. As a youth coach, your role may or may not involve classroom guidance but you do have the power of influence. The section below is what we handed out to our players and can serve as an example to draw from to use in your coaching philosophy.

All players and coaches must C.A.R.E.  Our program is determined to develop good people as well as good football players. This is what it means to really C.A.R.E.:

• Consistency: Practice, attendance, on time, ready to play every day, classroom work completed, making, and keeping commitments.
• Attitude: Will to win, be coached, the team first, want to improve, recognize that input determines output, believe in your coaches and teammates.
• Respect: For yourself, team, coaches, opponents, the program, training rules, the school system, parents, and family.
• Enthusiasm: For the opportunity, your parents have provided – the opportunity to challenge yourself, teammates, and opponents; enthusiasm is just being positive.