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Who should coach kids? The short answer is: anyone who is interested in helping a kid learn how to play a sport and have fun at it. To be considered an effective coach by the kids and parents, however, is still another challenge.
Since the early days of sandlots, kid-coaching has been a challenge equal to finding a needle in a haystack. Because of this, some folks think professional coaches should be hired to coach kids. They say that kids sports should be left up to the recreation district (meaning government), to hire the coaches. Some people think they need someone with a recreation degree, a “real pro” who knows what he is doing. These people often think that parents should take a pledge to stay out of the process. This is the modern trend. Other folks think parents should organize and coach kid sports. I favor parents doing the organizing and coaching at young ages for reasons that will become apparent. You can decide for yourself.
The coach may be a parent, teacher, or recreation district professional. Whether done by paid or volunteer coaches, however, the parents must not be left out of the process. Parents often know the sport as well as anyone. They know kids better. They have a vested interest in both the process and the outcome. There is nothing taught in college that trumps parents’ knowledge of their kids.
Yes, sometimes parents are destructive. Sometimes they get carried away – too far away. This is often a problem with the process, not the parent.
On occasion, problem parents do need to be purged from the organization. When the government is in control, it’s very difficult to purge troublemakers. How can the government tell a taxpayer to take a hike? It can’t, and it doesn’t. Thus, the school or recreation district asks all parents to take a pledge to stay out of the process. Yes, the rare parent is a troublemaker. But parents come at no cost. No taxes are needed to pay parent coaches. For all these reasons, parental organizing and coaching of kids’ team sports is generally better than using professionals.
Paid coaches generally think they have to do it all alone. After all, isn’t that what they are paid for? Therefore, they exclude the parents. Sometimes, recreation districts adopt the paid coach approach. They typically ask parents to sign a pledge to “keep out of it.” This is exactly the wrong approach!
The paid coach will want a paid assistant, paid mileage, trips for training, seminars for improvement, and other costly extras ad nauseam. Then the organization needs more money to throw at “the problems.” Often, these very problems are created by excluding parents.
Don’t believe the mantra that “parents are different now than in the past.” They “don’t want to be involved” or “don’t have time to be involved.” Parents are no different now than they ever were. Their kids are usually number one in their hearts and minds. They want to see their kids get the best teaching and training available. They want to see them succeed. They generally want to be involved in their kids’ sports. They will find the time to be involved. In kids’ sports, there are many ancillary jobs that don’t take much time but will get the parents involved, as I will discuss later.
Who needs the government to coach kids’ sports anyway? Probably those parents who want someone to baby-sit their kid. Should we pay taxes to make youth sports a baby-sitting service? The few parents who don’t want to be involved should hire a baby sitter, not dump their kids on a coach. An association of parents, with parents coaching and helping, is the better choice.
Volunteer parents should be used to coach, officiate, organize, and administrate. Parents should coach the kids and organize the program while the government should furnish the field, rink, park, or court and pledge to stay out of the process. The parents lead, the kids follow, and the government gets out of the way.
Having said this, I recognize that paid coaches may be here to stay in some communities. Whether they work for a recreation districts or schools, paid coaches should still include the parents in the process. Paid coaches and their organizations should follow the rules I’m recommending.
Whether you are a volunteer or paid, realize that some days nothing works. That is how it will seem. That’s the time to put the mind to work over the matter. If nothing seems to be working, it is probably for lack of positive planning, thinking, training, and practice – coach’s responsibilities. Think over what went wrong and resolve to correct it by the next practice.