When parents and players cause problems it can sometimes be a daunting task dealing with them. Parents especially can be a demotivating experience for many coaches and often cause a lot of anxiety when they are faced with a parent that does not agree with your outlook on the game, where you played their child or the tactics that you use. The “win” parent is a nightmare!
I spoke to Gordon MacLelland the CEO of Working with Parents in Sport which supports organisations, parents and coaches in working together to provide children with the best possible sporting experiences. Gordon spoke about how to deal with the difficulties that parents and coaches face including the “did you win” question, the car ride, and how to get parents involved. Have a listen to Get Parents Onside.
Players can also cause you much grief… and discipline is a must if you want to keep control. The heady mix of parents and players causes all sorts of problems so have a look at the advice below – I hope it helps you resolve parent and player problems.
I will start with an article from my blog Dealing with critical parents. As we all know, parents cause problems because they only watch one thing – their own child. So the criticism you will get from parents should be listened to but not taken at face value. They can also be a nuisance on the touchline, shouting at the referee and their own child. Read Red card the problem parents for some tips on dealing with them at your matches and coaching sessions.
One of the other problems I am always asked about is how to tame a team of players that just complain and moan all the time. They would rather joke around than listen to the coach. My8 tips to tame an undisciplined team will help you deal with them.
Gordon Maclelland is the CEO of Working with Parents in Sport which supports organisations, parents and coaches in working together to provide children with the best possible sporting experiences. MORE
I think all of us have a dark side that turns us into critics. Some people can be more critical than others, but if you’re on the receiving end you have to close your ears to the barbed comments and just let the critics get on with it. MORE
Every coach comes across a bunch of players who mess about rather than get on with the training session. If you have problems with player ‘misbehaviour’, these tips will help you restore - and maintain - order. MORE
It’s been an interesting week for sport with top level internationals in cricket and soccer in the spotlight for the wrong reasons – and youth soccer was in the spotlight with BBC Radio 5Live doing a debate on parents and touchline aggression. MORE
“I was left to coach Under 14s by myself. My session worked but it was ruined by disruptive players. How can I ensure this doesn’t happen again?” Answer Handling that many 13-year olds is not easy and I have been in your situation many times. I’m sure you handled the problem well but at the... MORE
It’s important to make sure your players enjoy and engage in training. Use the following indicators to spot when players are enjoying. 1. They keep coming back! Absence is the biggest indicator that players are not enjoying training and that it might be time for a change. If players don’t turn up, ask why when... MORE
Possession is so important it is worth spending as much time as you can on getting players reacting to having the ball and making decisions to keep it. They must be switched on and you must get them to look for supporting runs and make the runs themselves. MORE
Keeping possession of the ball is key to winning games – if you have it your opponents haven't got it. There are tactical musts that go hand in hand with a possession game. Being aware of where the ball is and where your teammates are is essential so get your players to have a picture in their head of what they’re going to do with the ball before it comes to them. MORE
Over the next few weeks I plan to work on box-to-box passing moves – counter-attacking play that involves passing and receiving between the lines, well-timed movements and crossover runs, and the exploitation of space behind the opposition’s back line. MORE
One of the things I have done a lot of work on this season is getting my team to play right to the very end of matches. Not only that, whether we are losing or not in the last 10 minutes as a collective we up our game and try to score a goal. It helps us end on a positive note. MORE
Simple answer is “Yes”, particularly if your players regularly struggle to hang on to the attackers they are marking, or if they fail to organise themselves each time they face a corner or free kick. Given a set position, your players will grasp what they have to do and respond well to their part of the defensive responsibility. MORE
These are five of my go to sessions when I want to coach shooting or to give my players a good workout using both feet to put the ball in the net... it's also the thing they love to do at training better than anything. MORE
