Mentoring young boys requires meeting them where they are and allowing them to experience and release their emotions in a safe environment.

“In those moments when a boy is triggered by some trauma from being bullied, I meet them right where they are. I give that boy what I always wanted.”

He emphasizes the importance of keeping one's word and honoring commitments made to young players to build trust and set an example.

“these kids who I have now my 2026 class they were they were incoming freshman and I told them man by the time you guys are Juniors I'll coach you guys and this was their this was their junior year so it was one of those things where I just had to honor my word you know even when I had my doubts like”

He believes that consistent, genuine care from mentors is more valuable to him than receiving material support or transactional relationships.

“When they show consistency of caring about me instead of wanting from me. Yeah. Cuz I'm somebody that read the room, I know what's going on. I can see somebody text me how you doing and then boom, can I hold this? Come right after. Straight up. When you know somebody show me the consistency of, man,”

Providing positive extracurricular activities and mentorship is essential for keeping youth away from negative environments like gangs and crime.

“If you want kids and teenagers and people to change, you've got to give them something to do.”

He believes that military school was instrumental in saving his life by providing structure, discipline, and a sense of collective purpose.

“And in many ways that that sending me to that military school really helped to helped to save my life.”

Youth work is valuable but should be treated as a temporary measure with the ultimate goal of helping young people achieve independence through employment.

“In my opinion, it's employment. Yeah? There is no silver bullet to this. Youth work is brilliant. I believe in youth work. I've given more than half my life over to youth work. Yeah? But youth work is like an entertainment.”

Sidney Coates claims that he could not find a path to legitimate success in his hometown because the local economy lacked quality employment opportunities.

“Cuz see where I'm from, the economy ain't It It It's no jobs. We don't have no NBA, NFL, major league teams, no major colleges. You know, we had AT&T. That shut down so I couldn't work there. General Motors shut down. Like all the good jobs was shut down. So it's either you going to work at Burger K”

He argues that the primary challenge for youth employment is technological displacement caused by AI, rather than economic policies like government debt or borrowing.

“Well, again, I mean, my whole AI series is about my instinct, which is we're going to find fewer and fewer jobs because of AI and technology, not because the government isn't borrowing and printing money.”

The UK should prioritize rejoining youth mobility and educational programs like Erasmus Plus.

“Now, as we go back in, I want us to be picking up youth mobility. Do we all like youth mobility? Let's do polling on it. Okay, we all like youth mobility. We can agree that brick and place.”