By Bo Hanson - 4x Olympian, Coaching Consultant & Director of Athlete Assessments

Sports programs today are predominately made up of Generation Y ("Gen Y") athletes. We are almost at the end of the Generation X ("Gen X") athlete period.As the generation of athlete’s changes, coaches will notice that Gen Y is very different to Gen X. To get the best performance out of their athletes, coaches need to be able to adapt to the needs of this next generation.

Let’s have a look at where the generations begin and end. Essentially the youngest Gen X athletes are today aged 33 (in 2013). For most sports this is entering into the final years of being a competitive athlete (although, there are always exceptions). Certainly, there are no college athletes this old!  So it is the Gen Y athletes who are aged between 32 and 20 who will be a main focus for many coaches (Gen Y athletes were born between 1981 and 2000).

Every generation is shaped by the environment they grew up in. They are shaped by the technologies they are exposed to, the ideals of their culture and the values and beliefs of their parents and the subsequent behaviors that these values and beliefs create.

Influences on Gen Y

Some of the major influences on Gen Y are, and have been:

• The total reliance and use of personal computers and sophisticated social networking technologies and flexible work arrangements.

• The use of mobile phones as a normal part of life and a method for communicating.

• The acceptance of the internet as their own technology and not something that was introduced during their formative years as it was for Gen X or in their later years for Baby Boomers.

• Economic prosperity (up until now) with parents who may have both been working and therefore being able to provide their children with what they want and when they want it. Until now, Gen Y has not seen any economic downturn.

• With both parents working, this meant that Gen Y has become much more dependent upon friends and their social network for advice, counseling and deep relationships.

Describing Gen Y

Based on these influences, some common ways to describe Gen Y are:

• Highly confident: Parents were financial and the times they grew up in were some of the most financially rewarding, until now of course.
• Technologically Savvy: Technology is not just part of their life, it is intregral to everything they do. They grew up with computers at school and the various forms of electronic networking and communications.

• Extremely well networked: Staying socially in contact with a wide diversity of people is important to them. This is a result of their electronic networks online. This generation has grown up with diversity, so they often do not consciously notice diversity; it is a part of them.

• They are independent thinkers and have had a lot of responsibility given to them. Many had both parents working (financially secure) and as such made many decisions with consultation with their peer group who were likely in the same position. You may have noticed that they do not like to be told what to do by authority figures...

• They love variety in their environment. If change is not happening around them, things become very boring. They are comfortable with change and extremely fast paced surroundings.

• They expect fast results. Fast feedback and immediate attention to their individual needs.

• They need to be treated as individuals and coached as such. If not, they simply move on to the next thing.

How to Attract, Coach and Retain this Generation

• One of the most important issues to address is to make sport a social outlet. Factor this into your programs where they can train and then socialize and make friends.
• Use technology to measure their improvement and keep track of their results. I would also give them access to this information via some type of online personalized homepage that can be networked and shared with others as a bonus.

• Give them an opportunity to create some of their program and incorporate their ideas into their training programs. Just make sure you cover off on the basic foundations of the physiological components and then let them add their flavor to make it interesting.

• Give them a chance to meet new people, travel to different places and make a positive contribution to others. This generation may be very interested in social issues and creating a sense of meaning with their life. It is not just about money and success.

Summary

Appreciating any generation is about being able to empathize with their perspective on life. Due to growing up in a potentially different environment, you can be certain they will have a different view of the world to what you may have based on your own generational environment. Successful coaches will work with this generation to understand their view and adjust their coaching style and method to suit their specific drivers and motivators.