The Meeting Waters YMCA is proud to offer Coaching the Whole Athlete, a one-day workshop for coaches of any sport and any age group. This unique program was developed by MWYMCA Executive Director Steve Fortier to enhance coaches’ skills in developing social and leadership skills, building character, and teaching important values during practices and games. We’ll introduce you to approaches and activities that weave life skills right into the drills that develop the physical skills necessary for athletic success.

The program draws upon research and practices promoted in the YMCA of the USA’s SuperSports program. It also introduces the “Games Approach” developed by the American Sport Education Program, the Developmental Assets model promoted by the Search Institute, and practical ways that Adventure Education activities can be altered for both teambuilding and skills development.

It is the mission of the Meeting Waters YMCA to help people put principles like caring, honesty, responsibility and respect into practice. We do this by offering programs and services that help people build healthy spirit, mind and body… both their own and others. Coaches, like parents and educators, play an influential role in a young person’s moral development. Yet, there are few training programs that help them develop the skills to do so. We hope that Coaching the Whole Athlete fills this void.

The workshop is highly experiential. We’ll learn by playing and discussing.

The outcome objectives for the workshop are as follows. At the end of the workshop coaches will:

• understand the role of coaching within the youth development field,
• be able to apply to their coaching role the research on “40 Developmental Assets” young people need to thrive,
• be prepared to use experiential learning activities to simultaneously develop “life skills” and sport-specific physical skills,
• have in their “bag of tricks” a simple, fun activity to help athletes identify the team and personal values that are important to success, fun and fair play,
• be able to use the Experiential Learning Cycle as a way to “debrief” games and practices with a focus on character and values, as well as other aspects of team and individual performance,
• understand the “The Games Approach”– a coaching framework that keeps players’ interest, helps them learn skills within the context of the game, and builds on success,
• be able to use an effective and respectful communication technique to point out ways their athletes can improve skills,
• know many other area coaches,
• have enjoyed a fun day of learning!

Coaching the Whole Athlete is offered in an open-enrollment format three times a year. It can also be brought to a school system or recreation department that has a large group to be trained. For more information, please contact Steve Fortier at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (802) 463-4769.

Participants in a previous Coaching the Whole Athlete workshop had the following to say:

"(The) workshop was most helpful in getting me to see that there is a place in coaching for developing better people as well as better athletes." — Rod Payne-Meyer, Director of Recreation for the Town of Putney

“Coaching the Whole Athlete workshops are fun and introduce new ways of viewing old ideas. A great opportunity for coaches at all levels of play!” — Sheila Raymond, Sports Director at the Keene Family YMCA

“All youth sports coaches should take this workshop.” — Larry Kraft, basketball coach at Riverside Middle School, baseball coach at Leland & Gray Union High School

About the workshop developer and presenter:

Steve Fortier is the Executive Director of the Meeting Waters YMCA and President of CommuniTeam, a training and consulting company focused on youth development and community health promotion. He is the author of Youth Leadership in Action, a book being used by over 6,000 youth groups worldwide. Steve has been a featured speaker at many national conferences including the 1996 congress of the National Recreation and Parks Association. His training workshops have helped thousands of professionals who work with youth. Steve has coached high school cross-country, youth swimming, middle and high school track and field, and an elite cycling team. He is now in his thirty-eighth year as a competitive athlete.