Coach every kid with confidence
Put Me in Coach gives first-time and returning youth coaches a complete, step-by-step playbook — covering child development, practice planning, team culture, safety, and parent partnerships — so you walk onto that sideline ready for anything, from T-ball to varsity.

"Every coach I've ever admired had one thing in common: they made every kid feel like the team needed them specifically — and that's a skill you can absolutely learn."— Leigh Baumann

What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Design age-appropriate practice plans and drills that build the essential skills responsible for 80% of on-field success across every youth age group.
- Communicate effectively with children of varying ages, ability levels, and learning styles — including neurodivergent athletes and kids with disabilities — to keep every player engaged and improving.
- Build a winning team culture rooted in positive reinforcement, inclusion, and confidence-building so every athlete feels valued and motivated to return each season.
- Recognize injury warning signs, respond correctly to common emergencies (sprains, head injuries, medical crises), and apply proper equipment and prevention practices to keep athletes safe.
- Apply youth protection best practices — including safe communication boundaries, one-on-one situation protocols, abuse recognition, and mandatory reporting responsibilities — that protect both kids and coaches.
- Partner effectively with parents, set clear expectations, and use at-home skill development activities to extend team growth beyond practice and build a supportive community around the team.
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 28 lessons

Know Your Role, Know Your Athletes
Coaches assess their own experience level, understand child development stages from ages 3 through high school, and set the foundation for age-appropriate coaching.
- 1.1The Coach in the Mirror: Self-Assessment and MindsetIncluded
- 1.2Little Legs to Long Strides: Child Development Across Age GroupsIncluded
- 1.3Matching Your Coaching to the Kid: Age-Appropriate ExpectationsIncluded
- 1.4Your First Day on the Sideline: Roles, Responsibilities, and First ImpressionsIncluded
Game Fundamentals and the 80% Skills
Coaches master the essential rules, terminology, equipment, and the core skills that drive the majority of success in youth competition.
- 2.1Rules, Lingo, and Equipment: What Every Coach Must KnowIncluded
- 2.2The 20% That Wins 80%: Identifying the Essential SkillsIncluded
- 2.3Drilling It Home: Teaching Skills Through Effective RepetitionIncluded
- 2.4Practice Plans That Actually WorkIncluded
- 2.5Game Day Strategy: Plays, Adjustments, and Competitive ReadinessIncluded
Coaching Every Kid in the Room
Coaches learn to communicate, motivate, and adapt their methods to reach athletes of every ability level, background, learning style, and need.
- 3.1Talking So Kids Listen: Communication Across Ages and Ability LevelsIncluded
- 3.2Attention Spans and Energy Levels: Keeping Kids EngagedIncluded
- 3.3Every Athlete Belongs: Coaching Beginners, Advanced Players, and Everyone BetweenIncluded
- 3.4Coaching Neurodivergent Athletes and Kids with DisabilitiesIncluded
- 3.5Handling Challenging Behaviors and Conflict on the FieldIncluded
Building a Winning Team Culture
Coaches create an environment of inclusion, confidence, teamwork, and positive reinforcement where every athlete feels valued and wants to return.
- 4.1The Culture You Build Is the Team You GetIncluded
- 4.2Positive Reinforcement That Actually MotivatesIncluded
- 4.3Teamwork, Roles, and Making Every Player Feel EssentialIncluded
- 4.4Confidence on and off the Field: Building Kids, Not Just PlayersIncluded
- 4.5Team-Building Activities That StickIncluded
Keeping Athletes Safe: Injury Prevention and Emergency Response
Coaches learn to select proper equipment, prevent common injuries, recognize warning signs, and respond confidently to on-field emergencies.
- 5.1Safe from the Start: Equipment Selection and FitIncluded
- 5.2Prevention First: Warm-Ups, Conditioning, and Injury AvoidanceIncluded
- 5.3Recognizing the Red Flags: When Something Is WrongIncluded
- 5.4First Response: Handling Common Injuries and Medical EmergenciesIncluded
Youth Protection, Parent Partnership, and Community Building
Coaches apply safe-sport boundaries, mandatory reporting responsibilities, and parent engagement strategies that protect kids and build a thriving team community.
- 6.1Safe Coach, Safe Kids: Boundaries, Communication, and One-on-One ProtocolsIncluded
- 6.2Recognizing and Reporting Abuse: Your Mandatory ResponsibilitiesIncluded
- 6.3Partnering with Parents: Setting Expectations and Staying AlignedIncluded
- 6.4At-Home Skill Development: Extending Growth Beyond PracticeIncluded
- 6.5Building Your Team Community for the Long GameIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
First-time rec league parent
You volunteered before you knew what you were signing up for — now you need a real game plan before the first practice.
School PE teacher turned team coach
You know kids and movement, but running a competitive team with parents, game-day pressure, and a real roster is a whole different challenge.
Church or community league organizer
You're building a program from scratch and need a foundation that keeps kids safe, engaged, and coming back every season.
Returning coach leveling up
You've got a few seasons under your belt but want real strategies for inclusion, neurodivergent athletes, and building culture — not just running drills.
Youth program director
You oversee multiple coaches and teams and need a consistent, credible training baseline that covers safety, protection, and coaching best practices.
Parent of a kid with special needs
You want to coach — or understand how to advocate — so your child and kids like them are truly included, not just tolerated, on youth sports teams.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Leigh Baumann
Hey, Coach. Can I call you that? Because that's what you are now — whether it feels like it yet or not.
I know where you might be standing right now. Maybe you signed up because nobody else would. Maybe your kid begged you, or your school called in a favor, or you genuinely love this sport and figured, how hard can it be? And then you looked at that group of kids staring back at you — different ages, different skill levels, different energy levels, one of them already crying, one already bored — and thought: I have no idea what I'm doing.
I've been there. And I can tell you honestly: that moment of "I don't know" is the best possible place to start. It means you care enough to want to get it right. That's already more than a lot of kids ever get from the adults in charge of their athletic experience.
Here's what I built Put Me in Coach to do: give you the actual tools. Not just the theory, not just the "believe in every child" motivational stuff (though we'll talk about that too, because it genuinely matters) — but the concrete, practical, real-world guidance that walks you through every situation you're going to face. How do you write a practice plan that keeps twenty kids moving and learning instead of standing around? How do you talk to a seven-year-old differently than a fourteen-year-old? What do you do when a kid gets hurt, when a parent loses their mind on the sideline, or when a child on your team is clearly going through something at home? We cover all of it.
I also want to be straight with you about something: this job is about way more than sports. The research is clear that the adults who coach youth athletes have an outsized influence on kids' confidence, their relationship with their bodies, their ability to work as part of a team, and their willingness to try hard things and fail and get back up. You are not just teaching dribbling or base running. You are shaping the way kids see themselves. That's a responsibility worth taking seriously — and it's also one of the most rewarding things a person can do.
So this program meets you where you are and walks you step by step through everything from your very first day on the sideline to building a team culture that kids carry with them long after the season ends. You'll learn how to coach every kid in the room — the superstars and the beginners, the kid who can't sit still and the kid who's scared to try. You'll learn how to keep athletes safe, how to protect yourself and your players with proper youth protection practices, and how to build genuine partnerships with the parents on your sideline.
You said yes to these kids. I'm here to make sure you have everything you need to make that yes count. Let's get to work.
— Leigh Baumann
Start your journey today
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- 6 modules, 28 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed