The Challenge
While most coaches recognize the key role they play in promoting youth development, they often don’t feel supported in doing so. Coaches report that existing trainings are either too costly, too time consuming, too hard to implement, or fail to incorporate youth development practices. The majority of coach training that exists is designed to win games—not necessarily to help kids thrive.
Less than one third of the country’s six million coaches have been trained in youth development practices. This is a missed opportunity. So we called on the boldest, most innovative actors to close this gap.
In fall 2025, the Million Coaches Challenge reached one million coaches trained in youth development. Along the way, we learned what works, what barriers remain, and what it takes to scale quality training across diverse contexts. These insights now guide our next phase of work: Empower Every Coach.
Meet Our Partners
MCC’s work is powered by a community of exemplary organizations across sports, research, public health, and youth development — partners who helped reach one million coaches and who are now driving the systems-level change at the heart of Empower Every Coach. Together, we’re building a future where all youth are equipped with the skills they need to thrive.
What’s Next: Empower Every Coach
Reaching one million coaches was never the finish line — it was the beginning. Empower Every Coach (EEC) is the next phase of the Million Coaches Challenge: a national effort to dismantle the systemic barriers that keep quality coaching out of reach.
Training matters — but training alone isn’t enough. Quality coaching is a systems challenge, one that requires coordinated action across policy, funding, research, and culture. Through EEC, MCC and its Partners are working to transform the structures, policies, narratives, and organizational practices that shape youth sports nationwide.
Through EEC, MCC is funding ten leading organizations — backed by more than $2M — to advance projects across the four areas of MCC’s Calls to Action: Insights, Narrative, Organizational Practice, and Policy. As part of the initiative, Partners come together in a learning community, facilitated by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, to share knowledge and tackle challenges collectively.
Join Us
Visit the Get Involved page to sign up for regular updates on the Million Coaches Challenge