Parent Coach Meeting and Kids Sports:
Youth Sports Coaches Start Season Right
>>A parent coach meeting is a great help for youth sports parents and coaches. No matter if you are a rookie coaching t-ball or a veteran coaching high school baseball you will need to be able to deal with parents in youth sports. Most are quite cooperative and level headed. But you will have some little league parents that take the youth sports experience way too serious. Over the years more otherwise well meaning youth sports parents expect youth baseball leagues to be their vehicle to a college scholarship or a professional career. Good intentions but highly unlikely. In fact a 2001 study by the National Alliance on Youth Sports says that 70-75% of youth league sports players drop out by the age of 13-14 years old.
Sports Parenting: Parents Kill Little League Fun
Youth sports are stressful for parents watching their children play. No parent wants to see his or her child called out , strike out, miss a ball, or sit on the bench. The natural instinct of a little league parent is to protect your child from harm or embarrassment. Unfortunately, that is impossible to control a game on the field. Many highly competitive parents in this charged up tee-ball, little league, travel league, rec league, Pony League, Cal Ripken League environment are ready to explode. If any coach, umpire, referee or other sports baseball parents interferes with their child’s success they are going to hear the wrath.
How to Help Youth Baseball Leagues Calm the Parents and Sports
Many youth leagues now offer youth sports parent programs and even have them sign a sports code of ethics or baseball code of ethics. These baseball parent coach meetings and programs are fine. But, the sports parents that need this the most usually stay far away. So what can you do as the coach to help ma and paw youth parent avoid the little league parent syndrome and become stressed out, crazed with an unhappy kid player?
Pre-season Parent/Coaches Meeting: How to Set the Tone
• Send out the pre-season baseball letter to parents to announce the parent coach meeting. Until the youth parent gets to this meeting then the player should held out of play.• Parents have the opportunity to meet and visit with coaches, ask questions and learn the coaches’ philosophies. • Introduce yourself, your assistant baseball coaches and tell a little about yourselves. Youth sports parents want to know something about who is supervising your children. • Review practice and game schedules:baseball parents want to know practice and game schedules well in advance in order to plan other family events. Try to make every effort to stick to the baseball practice schedule if possible. • Discuss transportation situations with car-pooling to practice and games. Go over procedures if rain occurs during games or baseball practice and a parent is not there at the time. • Establish rainy day policies on picking up kids. If it rains before, during or after the game or baseball practice plans you can eliminate tremendous confusion and provide a safe situation for all the players if you have a procedure in place. • Pick a team mom or two: Let the team mom’s help assist with duties so coaches can spend time coaching youth sports. Team moms can help with organize phone calls, communication, team web sites, emails, fund raising, arranging for water, ice, post-game treats, and so on.
Youth Sports Coaching: Baseball Coaching Code of Ethics
>>1. Discuss your philosophy and code of ethics at th parent coach meeting. Parents should know how you are going to develop baseball players or are you going to be win-at-all-costs approach. 2. Do not yell anything negative at any time at your kid and do not talk to me during the game. 3. I’m out here volunteering. If you have a complaint, let us wait and talk about it after the kids are gone. 4. Do not coach your kids from the bleachers. This clutters their minds and distracts them. It is disruptive and embarrassing. 5. Lay off the umpires. 6. Do not make insulting comments to players, coaches, officials, or other parents of either team. 7. Remain in the spectator area during the game and baseball practice. Stay away from the dugout area. 8. Never drink alcohol at games or come to games having drunk too much. 9. Do not get overly concerned with the outcome of the ball games. 10. Be in control of your emotions. 11. Talk to your neighbor or a parent from the other team during the game. Do not get caught up in the scores or statistics. 12. Applaud the other team when they make a good play. 13. You are welcome to attend practice but at no time may you talk to your child until you check with me first. We do not want our players looking in the bleachers to get reassurance or approval from parents as spectators. 14. And what ever you do: avoid the ride home when you say to your child, “how your child could have done better.” Kids in sports just want to play with their friends, run around under the lights, and have a good time. The stress comes from parents in sports. Help your parents and kids baseball experience avoid the dreaded pitfalls of the little league parent syndrome. Have a great baseball season! with the help of a parent coach meeting.
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