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
Everyone finds it exciting when a player goes through 1 on 1 against the goalkeeper... if it's your attacker you are on the edge thinking this is it a goal, but if your team is defending you are looking for your goalkeeper to smother the shot. Attackers should score but often they will not due to a number of reasons like taking too long to shoot, missing the target, hitting the keeper with a shot and even slipping over. MORE
When you hear mentor's talking about getting your coaching point across to get the best out of your players, one of the ways to ensure all your players are tuning into your coaching is to use small-sided games. In these games you get a much clearer picture of which players are picking up on the coaching points you have been making. MORE
I keep fit pretty much all year round due to being outside coaching most of the time. And with the enforced lay off in the UK due to the coronavirus pandemic I've been keeping myself fit in other ways. However, being fit and having muscles ready to play sport is on a different planet. MORE
It is not easy coaching in a pandemic. But one thing I know my players like doing is to give them a task to do which involves watching a match on TV. Say it's Charlie who plays left wingback ... he's a Chelsea fan so his task is to watch Ben Chilwell and give good things or bad things that happen when he is defending. The players love it! MORE
I know that when I get my team back in training one of the first games we will play will be a series of Rondos. They are food and drink to my players and they cannot wait to get back to them. So you can watch this video with your players and discuss all the aspects of Rondos with them MORE
This week I spoke to Alf Galustian the co-founder of Coerver Coaching about coaching the individual in a team. He makes some great points that are vital to think about when you are coaching your players. Is each individual developing to be the best they can be? It's not an easy question to answer. MORE
