A Guide to sport parenting (part 3)

This is the third and final part of my simple guide to sport parenting. In the first article I asked you as parents to answer the following question – what values and principles do you wish you son and daughter to follow in their sporting environment? In the second article, after answering this question, I advised you to seek out organizations/clubs that have similar values to those that you have predetermined are important your son/daughter follows.

 

Now that you have successfully registered for a sporting organization and the coaching staff has met with the players and parents to clearly outline the policies, procedures, and expectations of all involved the competitive season can get underway. As parents it is now your role to support the coaching staff by allowing them to do their job, ensure that your son/daughter is on time for practices and games, that they are respectful to their peers and coaches, and most importantly that you continuously relay positive and constructive feedback to your son/daughter.

 

If the organization, coaching staff, players, and PARENTS adhere to the expectations outlined at the start of the season then the season should be a “success”. As parents if you feel that the coaches are not demonstrating the expectations that they outlined then there must be a reporting mechanism in place for you to follow, and vice-versa. All too often parents confront coaches at in appropriate times and locations, which ends up being very negative for all involved.

 

In the pre-season meeting the coaches should also have discussed the appropriate method for communicating and dealing with parental complaints. Typically the complaints should be dealt with away from the sporting environment in a non-confrontational, but formal conversation. The problems should be discussed and action plans put into place to resolve them. If you feel that the problem can not be resolved at the team level, then the major benefit of being part of a strong organization is that your concerns can be forwarded on to the “next’ level, within the organization.

 

At the end of the day if there is a massive discrepancy between the coach and the parent in terms of the meeting, or not meeting, the previously determined expectations, it is important that the un-resolved issues do not grow into bigger and more complicated problems. I’m not going to suggest how you handle these situations as there is more than one solution, but what I can say is all too often “unhappy” parents/players negatively impact the individuals involved, the team, or the organization – so please address the issues quickly and efficiently.

Craig Dalrymple

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