Coach Smith was an easy hire as the head coach of a new high school lacrosse team in Tennesseee: She had two decades of coaching experience and a doctorate in sport and exercise science.

After signing the paperwork, which guaranteed a stipend of US$1,200, Smith – we’re using a pseudonym to protect her identity – had four days to complete a background check, CPR and concussion training and a Fundamentals of Coaching online course. After spending $300 to check all these boxes, the job was hers.

The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s mission statement highlights how high school athletes should be molded into good citizens and have their educational experiences enhanced by playing sports.

Yet Coach Smith hadn’t received any guidance on how to accomplish these goals. She didn’t know how a high school coach would be evaluated – surely it went beyond wins, losses and knowing CPR – or how to make her players better students and citizens.

Over the past 15 years, our work has focused on maximizing the benefits of high school sports and recognizing what limits those benefits from being reached. We want to know what high school sports aspire to be and what actually happens on the ground.

We have learned that Coach Smith is not alone; this is a common story playing out on high school fields and courts across the country. Good coaching candidates are getting hired and doing their best to keep high school sports fixtures in their communities. But coaches often feel like they’re missing something, and they wonder whether they’re living up to those aspirations.

Dating back to the inception of school-sponsored sport leagues in 1903, parents and educators have long believed that interscholastic sports are a place where........

© The Conversation