As a young coach myself, I have already become accustom to parents trying to persuade me. I have been a coach for one full season and it has already happened to me. A lot of these complaints are coming from parents who are first time parents with this being their oldest child. Now I love parents who get involved and bring the kids waters and everything, but at some point they have to learn to take a step back.
I have coached last summer and this current spring and I have already had parents trying to tell me what to do. "My kid should be playing here" or "why isn't my son getting the playing time he or she needs?" is all I hear. Parents, I beg you let me and the other coaches in this world do our jobs. In the age I coach, there is no set playing requirement. If you're good enough you will play, if you aren't you won't. I play in a league where I get young 14 or 15 year olds who I'm just trying to help get ready to play in high school. So I play everyone and even then, parents are saying their kid isn't getting enough time. I am baffled by this because I treat my players well. I was just in high school and I know how to work them to get them to a point where they can succeed. But, it is hard to do when I every time I turn around I have parents in my face.
Please parents stop and think. Do you think complaining to us will help you and your child? Because I can tell you now, it will not help. But hey, who cares what I say. The next day my boss will get an email or call if I don't give parents an answer they want. What parents must learn is that these coaches work hard for their jobs. They spent years coaching younger kids and years coaching different levels to get to this point in there careers. If you can honestly walk into a coaches office or an AD's office and get them fired, shame on you. To some coaches, this is their life. I know at my high school, our baseball coach has spent his life getting to this point. He spent more than 25 years coaching JV, then he finally got his shot. Coaches will do anything for their players but at the end of the day we have to play who will get us the W.
Parents please I ask before you do anything to any coach, is it worth it to cost this coach their job just so your son or daughter could possibly get a little bit more playing time? That coach might of been thinking about starting your son the next day. But if you get him fired, who knows? The next coach might even cut your kid.
