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Erin Chastain: Too Much Yelling Has No Place In Youth Sports

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Erin Chastain (@ChastainErin) has served as DePaul University Women's Soccer Head Coach since 2007. Earlier, she spent five seasons at national soccer power Santa Clara University as an assistant coach. During her tenure with the Broncos, the program reached the championship game of the 2002 NCAA Championship, the semifinals in 2004 and the quarterfinals in 2005. She also helped the program to West Coast Conference titles in four of her five seasons. Erin also spent time during her first three seasons at Santa Clara working with several youth teams in the Bay Area, including the DeAnza Strykers and the North Valley Tornadoes.

Erin, a positive coach, tells of the disappointment she feels when coaches yell too much at their high school-age players during games. Of course, she is against any form of verbal abuse, and is particularly sensitive to negative coaching of young women who may already be struggling with a developing sense of identity during their teens.