Rich Abend | The state of youth sports and the need for connection

Rich Abend, chief executive and co-founder of mobile-based youth sports coaching and mentorship platform Famer, discusses the need for young athletes to remain as engaged as possible during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

It was Saturday, March 7th, 2020 and I was on the way back from coaching my son’s quarterfinal Long Island, New York, Catholic Youth Organization basketball win when I got a call from one of our investors. He asked me how Famer was planning to handle the Covid-19 pandemic. As a virtual and digital coaching platform, Famer had to figure out what our response was. How we would be there for the youth sports industry?  How long would play really be suspended? What role can digital play to support the industry?

My initial response was, “I don’t want to leverage or profit off a global pandemic.” That type of inauthenticity is a sure fire way to kill a young company’s reputation.

Like the rest of you, by March 11, it was official. All our kids youth sports and activities were going to be placed on hold and ultimately canceled for good. Ends of seasons gone. New seasons canceled. Memories with our teammates and friends we’ll never get back.

The digital programming, coaching, and training market was officially born. Zoom became more valuable than Exxon Mobil. All our kids went to virtual learning. If you were going to connect with athletes, digital was the only way for the next few months while the country was largely on lockdown.

Youth sports organizations were in a tough spot. Not only were they not rendering services for the spring season that many families already invested in but many organizations were unable to collect fees against their biggest season. It didn’t help that millions of families were out of work either.

So what happened? The industry adjusted on the fly. Coaches were creating content and figuring out how to use and communicate through technology, many of them for the first time. We saw one great coach create a whole training curriculum from his New York City apartment. Kids and coaches were figuring out how to connect on Zoom and other video conferencing platforms. Coaches were shooting coaching videos, workouts, skills, drills – all from their smartphones. Organizations were doing whatever they could to maintain a connection with athletes and their families.

While kids craved competition and more importantly, the social aspect of team and group sports, they adjusted. Parents were worried and any sense of normalcy or routine was needed. I saw my own son go from an athlete that played on three basketball teams and the school volleyball team to a kid who was stuck downstairs playing video games with no desire to train.

The sports industry also tried to be there for kids. There was no shortage of home workouts, skills, drills, and moves to practice. Everyone tried to do their part. Some authentically and some not, but we saw that not only did our kids need it but we saw an important industry like youth and amateur sports in distress. It wasn’t just physical. It was mental.

So now it’s more than eight months later. In some individual sports and particular locations, things have been totally back to normal for the past few months. In other places, it’s more of the “new normal” with modifications such as training in pods, not sharing balls, or getting Covid tests before you enter the field. Lots of games were lost, but in many instances, the kids are back playing. They’re back together.

Sitting here in November, as we know, the news is again not good as cases are again escalating across the United States. So what are we going to do? We can’t be caught again with no programming or human connection, can we? We’re used to our kids being outside. We’re used to our kids being in a routine. We’re used to our kids being active and we know how important that is to learning, to socializing, and to their mental health and wellness.

I urge coaches, sports organizations and parents to get prepared this time. Don’t get caught without a plan again. We all see an “end in sight”, but most of us realize we’re going to have to sacrifice for the next several months before we get there.

Kids need connection. They need a routine. They need the mentorship that only their coach or club can provide. Digital training, coaching and communication can do all this. It’s not just about training kids to be great athletes. It’s about training kids to be great humans. Many adults celebrate the impact a coach from their youth had on their development. We can’t break this. Kids need a plan and digital programming can keep them going.

Organizations and coaches can NOT go another season with a full shutdown, this time in the dead of winter for most of America. The time is now to think through what your backup plan is. What is your insurance plan? Organizers and administrators need to innovate, think differently, and think ahead. Parents need to push their local sports organizations to have a plan.

We all know there is no way to replace what happens in-person on the fields and courts across our country but we can replicate that interaction through digital.

In the grand scheme of things, very few of us will raise professional athletes. But all of us want to raise kids who are willing to train and work for something they love. That’s what sports can do and I’ve seen that with my own son. After dulling his senses, gaining weight and becoming aimless during the first part of the pandemic, we connected him digitally with a basketball coach and it changed everything. He found that sense of routine of accountability and competition, even if that competition was with himself to improve. Our kids need that more than ever. More than even in March.

Rich Abend is the chief executive and co-founder of Famer