Many of you have already seen a bunch of my blogs where I give parents advice. Or I talk about the things that coaches feel about their relationships with the parents of the kids they coach. Well here we go again!
Parents = bad, coaches = good.
I have been both a parent and a coach for a very long time. I understand why parents feel some of what they do is justified but, thanks to my experience as a coach, I didn’t make these same parent errors.
Parents, choose to avoid these situations, please. Everyone will have a better experience and you will have a lot more fun.
- Semi Pro Dad – the dad who questions every decision, loudly. You are the parent today, not the coach, stay in your lane.
- Food Delivery Dad – the Gatorade, Chic-fil-A or candy bar can wait. That should have been done before the game and not delivered to the dugout.
- Questioning Clique – the group of parents who huddle up away from the others and speak in hush tones, under their breath about all things team related.
- Cliche Dad – the dad who always has some words of encouragement hidden in some tired old cliche. “Keep your eye on the ball!”
- Momma Bear – when your kid sits out a game it isn’t the end of the world. Don’t try to “cheer” them up, no one died!
- Post Game Hanger – if you feel like you can’t trust your kids coach to deliver a positive or realistic post game message you already know you are on the wrong team. Rather than hover around to listen in, find a new team.
- Playing Time Post Gamer – right after a game is not the right time to approach a coach about a player’s role on the team or amount of playing time they get. Wait 24 hours and then have at it.
Parents and coaches can get along. We just need to remember one simple rule. Every day we go to the park if we remember that we are either a coach, parent, player or fan and stay in that lane we are all going to get along just fine.
