5 behaviors that are sure to annoy your child’s coach

By Janis Meredith | Posted 2/3/2015

Whether they mean to or not, parents do things that annoy coaches. To find out more about those annoyances, I sat down with a veteran coach – my husband – and asked him about his 28 years of coaching. His insights may cause you to re-examine how you interact with your child’s coach, with your child and with your child’s game.

  1. Don’t yell negatively to kids from the sidelines. It doesn’t matter if parents are trying to help or just vent. Players hear them, and it distracts them from their game.
  2. Don’t coach kids during the game, even if it’s done quietly. Dads used to come to the dugout when my husband was coaching high school varsity softball and tell their daughters what to do. What parents do on their own time with their athletes is up to them, but at practices and game time, let the coach do his job without your “help.”
  3. Don’t yell at coaches from the sidelines. This was a pet peeve of mine as a coach’s wife. Don’t you think that the coach who spends hours and hours of his time working with your child’s team knows how to manage the game and call the plays? There’s nothing worse than armchair coaches who think they know better than the coach. Yelling from the sidelines does nothing but irritate coaches and their wives.
  4. Don’t pull kids out of practice or games for a week smack dab in the middle of the season. At the Little League level, it’s not a big deal, but when your child reaches high school, it can hurt the team rhythm when kids are gone. Family emergencies are one thing, but skipping a week to go hunting or to the beach? Most families are able to arrange their vacations around the team schedule, so in respect for the team, coaches appreciate it when kids don’t take off in the middle of the season.
  5. Don’t take problems about the coach to everyone but the coach. Parents who have problems with a coach should talk to him or her directly – not other parents, not the administrator. If that doesn’t resolve an issue, a meeting with the administrator and coach may be needed. But any administrator worth his salary should tell a parent to talk to the coach first anyway. 

One thing that should not annoy coaches: As I listened to my husband voice his annoyances, I noted that he didn’t say anything about parents confronting him with playing time, position concerns or any similar grievances. He understands that part of a coach’s job is to communicate with parents and address their concerns. 

Coaches, what do you think? Are there any other ways that parents annoy you?

Janis B. Meredith, sports mom and coach's wife, writes a sports parenting blog called JBM Thinks. She authored the Sports Parenting Survival Guide Series and has recently launched a podcasting series for sports parents. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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