This coach doesn’t understand anything about the game! Why does your coach always get you to stand over there? You should be where the action is! As a coach, the above dialogue from the sidelines is a big reason why you should encourage parents to attend practice.
Why coaches should encourage parents to attend sports practice. Having parents at practice allows them to understand and support your coaching philosophy and message, creates an inclusive team environment outside of just athletes and coaches and gets your players accustomed to performing in front of other people.
Now, the parents don’t need to be at every single practice session. Having an open policy is what’s encouraged here. And I’ll let you coaches in on a little secret – the more parents enjoy the work you do and how you coach their kids, the less they’ll want to be at practice anyhow.
So here are 4 reasons why you should encourage parents to attend your practice sessions.
Parents Understand Your Coaching Philosophy and Can Support It
Parents just want what’s best for their kids, right? Unintentionally though, I’ve coached in games where dad has been supporting from the sidelines, suggesting their child perform a certain action, which goes entirely against what you want as a coach. Extremely frustrating for you, but what about the player stuck in the middle?
Embracing your parents at practice helps significantly with transparency of your coaching philosophy. As you are coaching players new to the game, most likely parents too, how you watch the game to teaching it are two very different things. Providing an insight to the parents from seeing practice, allows them into the method to the madness and what’s required to have their child play the game the right way. Check out this article on why good players get benched for more information here.
Parents should seek out or establish sport programs that emphasize cooperation and mastery during childhood and youth.
When coaches and parents teach their kids that winning is everything, the ugliness comes out in everyone.
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Now, it’s important you set expectations of what can be commented on at practice if anything. This includes comments to you and the players. You are still the main voice and need to be heard when in the playing environment. However, when you leave the confines of your group, it’s the parents responsibility to support your message.
A prime example here is you might ask kids to complete skill training in their own time. The last thing you need is a parent instructing them something different, because they watched a Youtube video that’s going to make them like the best in the world. Having parents at practice allows them to see see the drill, ask you technical questions regarding how to perform the task and make sure the kids are performing it in the right way at home.
Creates a Wider Team Environment, Outside of Athletes and Coaches
Some of my best memories as a child was playing in basketball tournaments, where we would stay together as a big group and hang out with the other players and their families till the early hours of the morning. Coaches were with us too and albeit they always wanted us to look after our bodies and get plenty of rest, they also saw that we were having a blast and loving every moment of being involved with the game.
Having parents at practice allowed the parents themselves to build bonds, that in plenty of cases go way beyond the length of time their children play sport together. A strong parent group also meant that my job as coach was made much easier.
Parent buy-in would make finding volunteers to assist with certain roles a breeze. I never had an issue with finding a team mom. A number of my parents turned into assistant coaches, so if work got in the way or practice, they could help out. We even had someone dedicated to organizing travel for our road trips. It’s not easy planning a youth sporting team and here is a Link to team mom article.
The other benefit to having regular parent attendance at practice was it provided me a platform to communicate. I always wanted to give my players the responsibility of delivering a message, though if I needed to speak with their guardians collectively about a potential time change for practice, or an upcoming tournament, I didn’t need to make 15 phone calls or send out the same volume of text messages.
I believe for any person to perform at their best, they need to feel supported in that environment. In the case of youth sports, coaches might get to see players for 1-2 practices and a match per week. Majority of the support for the game comes from the home. Having your players see a united front from the most influential people for them, goes a long way to keeping them involved with the game and having fun.
Related post: What are the Responsibilities of a Youth Sports Coach?
Gets the Children Accustomed to Performing in Front of Others
There is a viewpoint that having parents at practice impacts the dynamic between coaches and players. However, when was the last time you witnessed a youth sports event without any spectators? Grandparents, extended family, friends are all invited to check the games out. I want them attending too as coach, as it makes our young players feel warm and fuzzy about the support they have from their community.
However, there are some players who struggle to perform when the bright lights are shining. They struggle to deal with the external noise occurring and how to focus on the task at hand. So what better way to condition that athlete to playing in front of fans, then having their supportive parents at practice.
However, you must set ground rules for both players and parents. When you are talking, the young player must be looking at you when speaking, not mom or dad. If you are disciplining the child for not following instruction, parents can’t signal for the players attention. Parents must not yell instructions from the sideline whilst the player is in a drill.
If supported, this is a way for the player to understand at a young age the player/coach dynamic is first and foremost, with parents and spectators needing to be blocked out when it’s game time.
Now, not every kid, and by extension parents, you coach will be perfect and follow your instruction. So when it comes to players, you can put rewards in place for performing to expectations. Penalties might occur when they can’t follow instructions.
Parents are a little different though. Let them know they are here because of their child and collectively supporting them is what’s required. There is a time and place to talk about a decision they may not agree with and it’s never in a public forum or when the player is present.
Lastly, if a child feels too much pressure playing in front of the parents, keep this in check, as the parents presence shouldn’t be a burden. Growing up, my mom was secretary of the club and also team mom, so I’m not able to remember a practice she wasn’t there. I also had friends, who’s parents didn’t listen to my earlier instructions, and really struggled with feelings of intense pressure at all times.
As coach, I believe it’s your job to address this with the parent. Though with understanding these types of people, or helicopter parents, you may not have the conversation play out in your favor. But the players best interest must always be first and foremost with you.
Parents at Practice Keeps Us Coaches in Check
I’ve left this last for a reason, as some coaches may get offside with this comment. However, I’ve listed it here as I do believe all youth sport coaches will have this moment and it’s important to understand how to handle it when it does arrive.
We are all human. And when coaching, we are placed into an environment where we want to do our best, both for our players and by virtue of that, ourselves. I still receive great enjoyment from watching a player perform a new skill or come off after practice and tell me, I think I’m really improving here coach.
However, we are typically volunteer coaching and because of this, something else is paying the bills. We may have families, external pressures and just life in general, which can sometimes impact our thoughts and feelings. Now throw in player x, who’s just decided he doesn’t want to do this drill and he’d prefer to chat whilst you are talking. Your patience is starting to wear a little thin…
Having the parents at practice keeps you in check. You are the role model. You are the mentor. You are the person these young, impressionable players look up too. It’s your responsibility to bring the coaching A-Game, no matter what may impact you outside of this environment.
If having a parent at practice makes you second guess how you would communicate to a player or team, then I believe this is a good thing for you. Your coaching demeanor or style shouldn’t change one bit, irrespective of who’s in attendance. Consistency in your message and its delivery will lead to greater performance for your team and will ensure a much more supportive opinion of you on the home front also.
Summary: Why Coaches Should Encourage Parents to Attend Sports Practice
Coaching youth sports isn’t a glamorous job. You are giving up your spare time to help the youth of today. Though parents are also spending countless hours and money on supporting their children’s passions too.
So really, why not embrace each other and your responsibilities and make your experience around one another as enjoyable as possible.
The single most important ingredient in the recipe for success is transparency because transparency builds trust – Denise Morrison
Invite the parents into your environment and watch the team flourish.
Coaches, why did you decide to encourage parent participation at practice?
Cheers,
Daniel
