Coach Responsibilities
The coach is the adult teacher, parent or leader responsible for recruiting players and preparing teams for the LifeSmarts online and in-person competitions. Coaches in past years have been high school teachers, 4-H leaders, home school educators, interested parents, and community leaders who work with youth.
Responsibilities include recruiting and educating the team in LifeSmarts topic areas, preparing teams for competitions and keeping families informed, collecting and submitting permission forms and chaperoning teams at in-person competitions.Online Resouces
Teaching
LifeSmarts U - LifeSmarts' virtual online classroom currently features lessons in Technology, Personal Finance and Consumer Rights & Responsibilities. Health & Safety and Environment lessons will be coming soon!
TeamSmarts - Monthly 100-question quiz focusing on a LifeSmarts topic that teams will complete online and compete against other teams in their state. Coming soon!
Question-of-the-Day Calendar - Downloadable monthly calendar with questions focusing on a LifeSmarts topic.
Practice Competition Rounds - Retired state and national competition rounds of questions.
Lessons in LifeSmarts - Complete lessons, quizzes, activities, terms and resources.
Lessons in LifeSmarts Quizzes - To complement the Lessons in LifeSmarts publication.
Federal Government Scavenger Hunts - Activities that help students navigate the multitude of consumer resources available online courtesy of various federal agencies.
Fast Facts - Quick facts to help students brush up in specific topic areas which include an introduction, resources, mini-quiz and glossary terms.
Coaching Resource Links by Topic - To help direct students' exploration and navigation with the internet in the 5 LifeSmarts topic areas.
Quick Quizzes - Printable quizzes in each of the 5 topic areas and multiple sub-categories.
Mini Quizzes - Extensions for each chapter in Consumer Savvy's Consumer Roadmap for grades 9-12, developed for the National 4-H Cooperative Curriculum System in partnership with LifeSmarts.
Personal Finance Glossary - A collection of terms divided by LifeSmarts topic area, providing students with a helpful reference tool.
Federal Citizen Information Center - Helps with consumer problems and questions, from shopping from home to protecting yourself from fraud. Click here for the Middle School Consumer Action Handbook Scavenger Hunt.
Promoting
Download the complete LifeSmarts Media Kit to help promote and increase media visibility of your local and state LifeSmarts program. (coming soon!)
Coach's Corner
Once you have registered as a coach, use the Coach's Corner to create teams, retrive student usernames and passwords, check student scores and the status of your team within your state, and see how questions are being answered by all students this year.
Resources for Purchase
2010-2011 Coach's Guide - Introduction to LifeSmarts, directions for online and in-person games, sample questions, resources and learning activities. $7.00 each
Lessons in LifeSmarts I - 400+ page activity book for teaching topics in LifeSmarts. $30.00 each or $25.00 each for 2 or more
Join NCL - click here for more information. $35.00 per year
To order, download the order form, and follow the directions to mail, email or fax the completed form to the National Consumers League.
Rules
State Competitions - Organized by the LifeSmarts State Coordinator. To participate at the state in-person competition, a team must have competed in the online LifeSmarts competition and received a qualifying score. Teams may be made up of four or five students (please contact your state's coordinator to determine how many team members are allowed at in-person competitions in your state). At least four players and one adult coach must be present to compete. Learn more.
National Competitions - Organized by the National Consumers League. Winners of Varsity state finals are invited to represent their state by the National Consumers League. Teams competing in states without a state coordinator have the opportunity to qualify directly from the online competition. Teams may only be made up of four or five students. At least four players and one adult coach must be present to compete.Forms
To meet eligibility requirements to participate at any in-person LifeSmarts competition, Permission and Release Forms are required of all coaches, assistant coaches and team members. An Organization/School Release Form is also required of each team. Failure to provide these forms by the Paperwork Due date listed for your state on the State Schedule page will disqualify a team from competing in person.
Please note: New forms must be submitted each year. Any form(s) without proper signature(s) are invalid.
Organization Release Form - Required of the organization or school the team represents. Must be signed by an official representative of the organization or school.
Coach / Assistant Coach Release Form - Each adult coach and each assistant coach must complete his or her own form for each team of which he or she is coach or assistant coach.
Student Release Form - Each player on a team must complete his or her own form. Players under the age of 18 must have a parent or guardian complete the bottom portion of this form and sign it. Each player - regardless of age - must also sign his or her own form.