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The Youth Sports Coaching Thread

We have reached the part of the calendar where it’s “tryout” season. That really means something more like SEC-like recruiting season for 8-16 year old girls. It’s absurd and it kinda breaks my spirit.

A guy in our program resigned mid-season because coaching was causing a strain on his marriage. To me saying your marriage is in trouble is like saying you’ve got cancer - it’s one of those sacrosanct serious things. We saw yesterday where a competing org announced a new team…coached by his wife. Apparently their marriage is fine if she’s coaching. And they stole our 9yo team to start their team. WTH?

That is just one example. There are others. I’m feeling down and burned out about the whole thing. I’m not sure how much more of this I’ve got in me.
 
Well, here we go again. Starting over after taking my son through his 12u season. Tonight I go back to the beginning - coach pitch softball. Should be pretty fun. I’m fully expecting chaos and that’s not a bad thing.
 
Hawk said:
Well, here we go again. Starting over after taking my son through his 12u season. Tonight I go back to the beginning - coach pitch softball. Should be pretty fun. I’m fully expecting chaos and that’s not a bad thing.
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God bless you! Lol

 
I coached my son's 6u baseball team this spring/summer. Was pretty wild at first but by the end it was really neat to see how far some of the kids had grown. A couple of them were quite good. I enjoyed it but I'm also glad it's over. If he plays next year we move to 8u so it might be a little easier to coach
 
Nerdy_81 said:
I coached my son's 6u baseball team this spring/summer. Was pretty wild at first but by the end it was really neat to see how far some of the kids had grown. A couple of them were quite good. I enjoyed it but I'm also glad it's over. If he plays next year we move to 8u so it might be a little easier to coach
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In my experience it was around 10 that it started getting easier, aside from a couple boys that werent as socially mature. Really, it wasn’t until 12 that they started self-policing. That was a huge step.
 
Hawk said:
In my experience it was around 10 that it started getting easier, aside from a couple boys that werent as socially mature. Really, it wasn’t until 12 that they started self-policing. That was a huge step.
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Yeah. My daughter is doing 10u softball and those girls seem to be much more in tune with listening and actually learning. But they're girls so 12 is probably right for boys haha
 
Nerdy_81 said:
Yeah. My daughter is doing 10u softball and those girls seem to be much more in tune with listening and actually learning. But they're girls so 12 is probably right for boys haha
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Yea - peer pressure is a huge motivator. All of a sudden, nobody cries in the dugout :LOL:
 
Nerdy_81 said:
I coached my son's 6u baseball team this spring/summer. Was pretty wild at first but by the end it was really neat to see how far some of the kids had grown. A couple of them were quite good. I enjoyed it but I'm also glad it's over. If he plays next year we move to 8u so it might be a little easier to coach
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The older the kids get, the more side show you'll have to deal with. Sucks, but seems to be the same in every sport.

I'm happy to be an assistant coach for my boy's high school wrestling team. I get to help some kids grow, and I get to be around for everything, without really having to deal with parent drama. Parents are fun...
 
Coloradomrg said:
The older the kids get, the more side show you'll have to deal with. Sucks, but seems to be the same in every sport.

I'm happy to be an assistant coach for my boy's high school wrestling team. I get to help some kids grow, and I get to be around for everything, without really having to deal with parent drama. Parents are fun...
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Yep. My wife had to deal with a few "backseat coaches" when she coached volleyball. Either coach yourself or let the coaches coach. It's not difficult but it happens all the time
 
Hawk said:
Well, here we go again. Starting over after taking my son through his 12u season. Tonight I go back to the beginning - coach pitch softball. Should be pretty fun. I’m fully expecting chaos and that’s not a bad thing.
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Today is day 3 of 2 a days for the high school football team I coach. We're real young, and numbers are down, do going to be an interesting season. Great group of kids though, and they work hard so we'll be fine. My best friend is our DC, and both our son's are sophomores (there best friends too) and will be starting both ways, so that will be awesome too. Game next Friday already! 😲
 
Well, I caved in and agreed to coach a 10U boys basketball team, this fall. I used to coach 16 and 17U boys but the travel and time got to be more than I wanted to commit to. Our tournament sites ranged for Wichita, KS to Columbus, OH and everywhere in between. They asked every year for the last 3 years and I've said no. With 10U, every tournament is within 2 hrs of my house, so I said I'd help out. I wasn't there for the tryouts, so I have no idea what the talent level is.
 
Hawk said:
Well, here we go again. Starting over after taking my son through his 12u season. Tonight I go back to the beginning - coach pitch softball. Should be pretty fun. I’m fully expecting chaos and that’s not a bad thing.
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Good for you! Pro-tip with the girls…words have weight.

There is an old adage from Mike Candrea (basically the John Wooden of college softball) that boys have to play good to feel good; girls have to feel good to play good. In my experience there is a ton of truth to it, at least for the girls.
 
I’ve coached high school football and wrestling. My wife guilt tripped me into coaching my daughter’s little league team. Never again.
 
I had a bit of a unicorn season at 2nd year 14s softball. We went 52-22, won 2 tourneys, had every player on my team team agree to return AND added a pitcher that is really going to help us. We move to 16a, with practices starting in a week.

As president of the travel club we had 2 teams fold, added a new 10u team, are trying to add a new 12u team, added 4 new coaches, dealt with jack-assery from adults running neighboring club programs and ran tryouts for a week straight.

Getting past tryout season and only coaching my own team will be like having a vacation.
 
Started our rec league U8 soccer season today. A rough first game, but a great group of kids that I'm looking forward to teaching the game to!
 
I have posted in this thread for several years now about coaching my youngest Son's Football team from 1st grade all the way thru a middle school state championship run last season. I've felt lost this summer because he's a Freshman now and playing Varsity. First summer in many years I haven't had to go to practice 5 days a week. I miss it. I've watched the boys grow into men and last night watched them all run out on the field for their first High School game, a 38-0 win, with a big smile on my face and a tear in my eye.
 
Scrimmage last night. Wife is the photographer for football since I'm coaching.

Here's my son throwing down a poor freshman by his head. 😂

DSC_0080.jpg
 
Coming off a 51-22 season we had our first weekend of fall play. It was horrific, went 1-4 and got our asses kicked along the way. It’s a head scratcher. “Last season” ended 5 weeks ago. Suddenly several other teams appear to have passed us. Some of that is tryout season - they added players to their rosters whereas I stood pat. But still, it’s a head scratcher and it was humbling.
 
Okay guys, I need some help.

After winning @70% of our games as a 2nd year 14a team we were just horrible at our 1st weekend of 16a. All of these families have been with me for at least 1 year, several for multiple years. ZERO complaints. Then after this weekend... some parents met to talk in the parking lot at practice. That led to a secret parent meeting. That led to 2+ pages of typed up "feedback" (read: complaints and commentary about how to coach).

I'm working through the emotions of it. For example, one of the comments basically said they didn't respect me. That stings. And I wonder why, if they don't respect me, are they even on the team. We played another weekend tourney and I found myself in my head, second guessing myself, making decisions differently, reacting to things parents said. It isn't / wasn't fun. I'm a volunteer. If it isn't fun and some number of families don't appreciate, like or respect me, what's the point?

How do I get past this?

PT of Order - winning 70% of games is irrelevant to me. It is about a lot more than Ws/Ls in my book. But it is context ... we went from being the 2022 Atlanta Braves to the Bad News Bears, and things got ugly thereafter.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Okay guys, I need some help.

After winning @70% of our games as a 2nd year 14a team we were just horrible at our 1st weekend of 16a. All of these families have been with me for at least 1 year, several for multiple years. ZERO complaints. Then after this weekend... some parents met to talk in the parking lot at practice. That led to a secret parent meeting. That led to 2+ pages of typed up "feedback" (read: complaints and commentary about how to coach).

I'm working through the emotions of it. For example, one of the comments basically said they didn't respect me. That stings. And I wonder why, if they don't respect me, are they even on the team. We played another weekend tourney and I found myself in my head, second guessing myself, making decisions differently, reacting to things parents said. It isn't / wasn't fun. I'm a volunteer. If it isn't fun and some number of families don't appreciate, like or respect me, what's the point?

How do I get past this?

PT of Order - winning 70% of games is irrelevant to me. It is about a lot more than Ws/Ls in my book. But it is context ... we went from being the 2022 Atlanta Braves to the Bad News Bears, and things got ugly thereafter.
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1. What sport?
2. Ive seen that situation unfold many times. A team of 14 yr old players win a lot and by the time they get to 16 or 17, other teams have caught up from a development standpoint or get bigger/faster/stronger.
Do you feel that these kids have progressed in the skills/strength areas that are needed to continue to compete? I've seen Johnny's daddy blame a lot of coaches for failing his son, when his son stops working hard to get better or simply stops growing.
 
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