re: Coaching youth sports...the parents.

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The best moments of most games were when the "least" kid made a play and you saw his face and the face of his teammates.

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This year I coached 7/8 girls. I had a 7 year old that had never played before. Through the first 7 games of the season, she was 0-19 at bad. 18 strikeouts, 1 ground out to the pitcher.

In the 8th game. she struck out the first time at bat. The second time at bat, she hit a shot, right at the first baseman, ground out.

She came up for the third time, last inning, we were losing by 8 runs, first pitch, smokes the ball into right center, stand up double.

I called time and walked to second base and picked her up and hugged her. She had a smile on her face that I will always remember, and her teammates and the fans were cheering her name.

That's why I coach rec ball. Screw the hater parents. I was more proud of her that night than the kid that went 3-3.

This is my 18th year. Football, baseball, basketball. Some parents will test your character. The kids growth is the most important. I love what I do. Making an impact on a kid and having them tell you thank you years later is an awesome feeling. I watch their jr high and high school games as much as possible. They sure made us proud this Saturday - pee wee's won 12-6 , JV won 19-0 , Varsity won 28-0

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its too early for me to go postal on parents...cause if I did I will then have to keep dealing with the BS for the rest of the season making my entire fall horrible and shitty...more than it is right now...this one Dad...I really want to punch him in his face and let him know his boy is soft because of him...and his lack of being a good father...it is so obvious this kid never touched a football until this year and that is Dad's fault...get out and throw ball on a pretty day with your boy and get that kid off the damned xbox and maybe he wouldn't be such a wimp....but i guess it easier to blame me though...

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Start his kid for the first drive and let him see how shitty his kid is.

Kudos man, let it out.

I have found in life, that typically, those that bitch the most, do the least.

Just think about that the next time one of these lazy parents is yelling at you.

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if a kid sucks and would do better in band...the truth hurts...you sound like a shitty person...

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You give up on ten year olds who want to be part of a team for the sake of winning something that doesn't matter.

Youth sports are about teaching the fundamentals of sport but more importantly they're about building concepts of team work, focus, discipline, etc. - shite that actually matters down the road. You aren't a HS coach. You aren't a college coach. If you want to coach to win and have serious discussions to young people about which path to take, then turn an application in to your nearest HS.

Maybe you should evaluate your practices. How many kids on the team? How many coaches do you have? Do you have a practice routine? Do you split the kids up into groups during practices?

It's been my experience that Rec ball coaches, for the most part, do not know how to organize a practice. Often times coaches will spend the majority of time going 11 on 11 while others sit and told to watch and learn. (Like they kids really learn from watching )

You mentioned parents thinking their kids are going to the nfl. Well some coaches think they're going to get a job offer on the collegiate level because they coached a rec team to 3 consecutive county/city titles.
Your job as a coach is to teach them proper mechanics, footwork, technique and proper work ethic. Winning should not be a priority at that age unless you are looking for self gratification.
So again, maybe you need to evaluate your practice routine as well as your coaching style.

Encourage parents to sign up their kids for football camps at the local HS or even a college camp.
Split kids into groups and dedicate ample time to work on drills. Ex: (Lineman work on footwork and blocking, skill players work on cuts and route running).
Your job is to help grow the kids in the sport of football and to prepare the kids for middle school ball, not winning some silly assed $35 trophy for winning a rec ball championship.

You sound just like me. We had "daddy ball" in 3rd/4th grade youth football. My kid was the fastest on the team in 4th but the coach had him at guard and defensive line. Put his son in at QB, of course, and the other coaches sons at RB. His son was horrible and was afraid to get hit. He ran a play to the outside and just fell to the ground instead of running into two defender that were in his way. Well we had one game were his son got hurt and he had to put another kid in at QB. We actually started to move the ball and didn't have fumbled snaps etc. After that he wised up and never played his son at QB the rest of the year and we won the rest of our games. Of course all the coaches sons, for every team, made the all star team and we got destroyed by our cross town rivals.
5th/6th grade ball are coached by guys that have been there for years. Our coaches have been doing it for 16 years. Needless to say they put the talent were it should be. My son is playing HB and LB and has been Captain 3 out of 4 games this year based on practice and game play. He's come a long way. I tell him, like I did last year, playing on the o and d lines helped him become a good blocker and tackler and toughened him up going against kids twice his size on the line. Now he's taking on RB's that have 40lbs on him and making the tackle even though half the other team is scared to tackle the kid. But that's another story...

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partsman103

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now you are patronizing me...I have very good practices and I went out and found guys that I work well with who have experience at the HS, College, or Semi Pro level to coach specific position groups...we break up into OLINE/Backfield/DB's/DLINE and LB's...every practice and work on targeted skills and footwork, etc. for each one...I know what I'm doing and don't have to win every game...just don't like assholes who haven't coached a snap trying to tell me my business...that was what this rant was about.

He'd play everyday no problem. I took him out to practice place kicking yesterday but he mostly wanted to run around and kick the soccer ball. It's damn hot though...I mostly wanted to stand under the goal and throw back footballs.

He's just a guest player on the other U11 team, so out of the season it'll likely only be 2-3 tournaments with them. Those can be stressful for him though, so we may not seek anymore out.

Mandatory pt is weak. I'm glad I coach HS. What we do is sneak a kid in at DL, that way you don't have to worry about your qb or rb hurt.