August 30, 2023 By Carol Britton Meyer
The Hingham Youth Field Hockey Junior Coaching program is a big success, helping younger players in kindergarten through fifth-grade develop their skills and confidence on and off the field during their fall and spring sessions. The new season starts Sept. 9.
Hingham residents Madeleine Kelly and Kaitlyn Manning, who have been playing field hockey for seven years, started the program when they were in seventh grade to provide an opportunity for seventh- and eighth-grade field hockey players to practice leadership skills and to make their own unique contributions to the program. Junior coaches are paired with another junior coach and an adult coach.
Kaitlyn and Madeleine explained why they decided to start the program and what it means to them.
“Field hockey, since early elementary school, has been such an important part of our lives for many reasons,” Kaitlyn said. “We created the program with the mission statement in mind to encourage, lead, and inspire in order to give back to Hingham Youth Field Hockey, an organization for which we are eternally grateful. The junior coaching program is all about building bridges between athletes, regardless of age.”
As a member of the varsity field hockey team at HHS, Kaitlyn is looking forward to seeing the junior coaches as teammates when they get to high school.
“Communication is a vital part of any sport, and field hockey is no exception,” she said.
Life skills learned
The leadership skills the junior coaches develop within the program translate on and off the field. “These are life skills that we hope will serve them well beyond their time in the program,” Kaitlyn said. “Our junior coaches are enthusiastic, dedicated, talented athletes. You really can tell that they are having just as much fun as the younger athletes in their groups.”
She and Kaitlyn started the program, Madeleine said, so that they and their peers playing field hockey could have the opportunity to give back to Hingham Youth Field Hockey since the program had given them so much over the years.
Madeleine’s mother, Emily, started the Hingham Girls Youth Field Hockey program in 2016.
“Our program has grown and relies on these junior coaches,” she said.
Playing on the varsity field hockey team is a big part of Madeleine’s life at Milton Academy, where she currently goes to school.
“I can confidently say that I wouldn’t be half the player I am today without the Hingham Youth Field Hockey program,” Madeleine said. “Not only did it give me every single skill I now have, but it also gave me so many friendships and an incredible, undefeated team throughout middle school. I feel so lucky to have been brought into the field hockey world through HYFH, as it was always such a positive experience. There wasn’t a day that I didn’t have fun.”
Her main goal is for the kids enrolled in the program to have “the same incredible experience that I, and so many of my friends, had, so that they can build the positive relationship to the sport that we did.”
Program benefits both players and junior coaches
The involvement of junior coaches who went through the youth program and had the same positive experience “is the key to ensuring that HYFH is a beneficial program,” according to Madeleine. “This is because the junior coaches understand what it means to make the sessions fun and positive. Not only does the Junior Coaching program benefit the players, but it is also hugely valuable for the junior coaches.”
That’s because through experience they are able to understand how to “lead without bossing while also working under higher authority (the head and assistant coaches),” she explained. “Being a junior coach can be a huge task to take on as a seventh- or eighth-grader. However, we believe that lessons involving leadership are important — and applicable in any situation.”
The girls involved with the Junior Coaching program also learn what it means to work as a volunteer without being paid, “which is why junior coaching is such a good example of giving back to a community from which they have gotten something great. The program also prepares the girls to be paid assistant coaches once they reach high school.”
The junior coaches are the ones who get to know the younger players the best, Emily said. “Our adult coaches are constantly thanking me, Madeleine, and Kaitlyn, because this hands-on training is so helpful, and the junior coaches are playing field hockey themselves.”
For more details, including how to become a junior coach, go to https://hyfhjuniorcoaches.weebly.com/.