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
I grew up in Australia before moving to the UK, so it is always interesting to compare the differences in how soccer was coached in my day. Obviously in Oz, football is still developing but they are intent on catching up fast - from those at the top of the game right the way down to grassroots level. MORE
Jose Mourinho the Tottenham Hotspur manager says communication is not only difficult at youth level it's difficult at the top level as well. He said: “Sometimes people say the team has no leaders, it’s this, it’s that, but what we need is everybody with the same kind of mentality." How do you get players talking? MORE
I was asked by a coach this week about what a good warm up was for his U10 team. The answer that I gave him was to use Rondos. You can use them at any age group and they really work well to warm up players for training or matches and they don't involve much setting up. My favourites are the simple ones like 5v2 or a combination that works for your age group. MORE
Last night I played 5v2 for half an hour with stops to show what it was I wanted the players to do when they were either trying to play the ball or working in pairs. Players make a lot of mistakes in games like this but mistakes are one of the best ways the players can learn and understand the game. MORE
It was the first game of the season on Saturday and the local council had decided to close the main road leading to our club's ground. So the phone calls started coming in thick and fast: "Dave we are going to be late." MORE
