One Million Coaches Trained: Girls On the Run Helps MCC Mission To Transform Youth Sports

Through its bold vision and efforts to reshape the landscape of youth sports in the United States, the Million Coaches Challenge (MCC) has reached a historic milestone. The initiative has successfully trained one million coaches in evidence-based youth development practices.

Launched in 2021 by the Susan Crown Exchange and a coalition of 18 partner organizations, the goal of the MCC is to ensure that youth athletes are coached by well-trained and supportive individuals who serve as positive role models. Focusing on training coaches for their roles profoundly impacts confidence, belonging, and long-term participation in sports.

“For too long, coach training has been inconsistent and uneven,” Susan Crown, founder of the Susan Crown Exchange. “Some coaches receive robust preparation in youth development practices, while others have to figure it out on their own. Our goal is to close that gap. The Million Coaches Challenge has shown that when coaches are equipped with the right tools, they don’t just build athletes: they build belonging, confidence, and resilience in young people.”

MCC subsequently released two new resources for coaches to be able to further train them and expand their movement.  The first is called The Million Coaches Challenge Practice Guide: 12 Coaching Strategies to Support Positive Youth Development, which is a playbook with strategies coaches can implement to provide a safe and inclusive environment for their athletes.

The new MCC Practice Guide is a resource developed by the American Institutes for Research after conducting a comprehensive analysis of MCC partner trainings.

It identifies 12 core, evidence-based coaching practices that are shared across most of the MCC partners’ trainings, including Girls on the Run’s National Coach Training.

Coaches are informed about creating purposeful practices, providing effective coaching, building trust, and using rituals to connect teammates. The goal of this guidebook is to enhance training and provide a trustworthy and motivational atmosphere designed to complement existing training efforts.

The coach practices outlined in the MCC Practice Guide closely align with the approach used by Girls on the Run (GOTR), one of the initiative’s partner organizations. Through its National Coach Training, GOTR has long emphasized building strong relationships, fostering belonging, and helping girls grow through sport

GOTR is a program available for girls in grades 3–8 that combines physical activity with life skills education. Through a curriculum that blends running with lessons on confidence, teamwork, and goal-setting, participants build both fitness and social-emotional skills.

The program typically culminates in a celebratory 5K run, giving girls a tangible sense of accomplishment and empowerment.

Chief Program Officer Allie Riley, PhD, MSW, revealed that Girls on the Run is focused on sustaining the MCC momentum by recruiting and training more coaches, as well as advancing the broader MCC vision for youth sports by helping share the Practice Guide and advance the work outlined in the Calls to Action.

“Together, these efforts aim to make quality coach training the rule, not the exception, and to strengthen youth sports for every young person in every community,” she said.

And these efforts seem to be working. According to a 2025 end-of-season survey, 99% of participants said their Girls on the Run coaches care about them. The survey also found 93% of participants said that because of participating in Girls on the Run, they now enjoy physical activity.

Girls who were the least active at the start of the season increased their physical activity level by 40% from pre- to post-season and maintained this increased level beyond the season’s end.

“It’s not about being the best or being the fastest. It’s about being the best that you can be,” all-star GOTR coach Tiffany Reeves said.

Girls are encouraged to run their “happy pace,” not focusing on who is fastest but celebrating progress and creating and crushing goals in the sport.

Reeves is in her 20th season coaching the program at the school she works as a teacher in Wichita, Kansas. “I keep coming back just because I know how important it is and because I’ve seen how important it is to the girls,” she said.

At the start of her role, Reeves had just started running and thought it would be a great way to combine her new interest with her love of kids.

She immediately fell in love with the program, its mission, and what it does for girls. Positive self-talk is one of the most relatable lessons—a popular one she is asked to teach every season. “The lessons are important not only for the girls but also for us coaches. I always joke that the self-talk lesson… I need it just as much as the girls do.”

Reeves revealed seeing the girls in the program grow in confidence and problem-solving skills. Many of the girls who start in 3rd grade stay until their sixth and final season, often crying when they age out of the program. The older girls tend to come back to mentor the next generation of GOTR runners.

“To see them become the leaders that they are now is really awesome,” Reeves said,  “that’s what we love to see.”

And getting them active and introduced to running in a supportive environment is the icing on the cake.

Reeves participated in the GOTR national coach training back in 2023 “We really focused a lot on the inclusivity, on making sure that all the girls feel welcome and feel that they’re accepted, and on making sure that we’re creating that environment where everyone can feel that and is able to grow.”

She said the new GOTR national training has made her feel more prepared to engage with the girls and serves as a blueprint on how to handle topics covered in the program.

While GOTR’s training is separate from the Million Coaches Challenge, it still serves as supplemental positive training for coaches, which is why it made for a natural fit for GOTR to add to its training toolbox.

The MCC initiative also includes a Call to Action. This “bold agenda for the future of youth sports” is organized around policy, organizational practice, narrative, and research. Those visions include the best coaching practices, raising the bar on training, and closing the policy gap.

“To meet the needs of all coaches, we need changes to the system,” Susan Crown said. “Real progress calls for public policy that backs coach development, organizations that share standards, research that drives action, and stories that help people understand the human impact of coaching.

The idea is that more grounded coaches can better nurture athletes and have a bigger impact on youth sports development. The goal is to provide at least two-thirds of coaching with the training, tools, and support to bring this philosophy to practice.

“Reaching one million trained coaches is proof of what’s possible when the field comes together behind a bold vision,” Crown said. “But this milestone is just the starting line. The real challenge ahead is making sure that every coach in every community, regardless of level, sport, or resources, has access to the kind of high-quality, evidence-based training that helps kids thrive.