Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: angry parents, how to win, meeting, parents, players, problems
There will be times as a coach when you have trouble dealing with parents.
Parents are one of your main support links with the team and you rely on them for lots of things – mainly getting their child to training or matches. However, your biggest supporter could become your biggest problem if they feel aggrieved by the way their child has been handled.
This can result in problems in the coach-player relationship
A cross parent can be difficult to get through to because when dealing with their child logic or reason goes out of the window. This can be very stressful for coaches, and in some instances could threaten their job with the team.
Here is my blueprint to dealing with parents.
- Arrange a meeting rather than have a stand up argument at the side of the pitch.
- Hold the meeting in private but have another coach or some other person present.
- Do some digging and find out if the parent has previous history of aggressive or unreasonable behaviour.
- What does the problem revolve around? Playing time/Not starting games/Upset by coach. You could put together a plan of how to resolve this but if the parent is being unreasonable don’t agree to something that means other players will suffer – time on the pitch for example.
- Give parents time to get their point across without interruptions.
- Give your point of view but don’t give too much information than is necessary and don’t discuss other players.
- If possible, document the facts or details of the parent’s complaint. Determine whether any and all supportive information will be available at the meeting.
- When meeting with the parent, always have another person sit in on the meeting, perhaps the AD, assistant principal, or another coach–someone to verify what actually takes place.
- Meeting alone with the parent can develop into a no-win scenario.
- At the meeting, allow the parent to vent his or her spleen. Make mental notes, but do not interrupt.
- Avoid attacking the parents over the reasons they may be attacking you.
- If parents start being rude or shouting at you stay calm and let them calm down
- Go over the meeting in your mind and action any points you have agreed with the parents. What could you have done better? How could you have made it easier for yourself?
Filed under: Better Soccer Coaching Blog Guests, Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, fall, John Terry, kieran gibbs, slip, trip
It’s raining heavily. I’ve just gone outside to put some things in the car and I’m already soaked. The pitch is going to be a nightmare.
To be fair there hasn’t been many matches this season where the rain has spoiled things but I can tell this is not going to be fun. We have two matches to play with one of my three teams having the Saturday off. The pouring rain brings added problems – two players phone up ‘ill’ so we have not substitutes for the first game.
We’re playing a team that is top of the division above us so it’s going to be a test and judging from the state of the pitch when I arrive at the ground the ball will not be easy to pass.
During the first half one of my players is like Bambi on ice. He can’t stay on his feet so he’s not tackling or intercepting any passes like he usually does. Suddenly it dawns on those of us watching that he’s playing in trainers.
It hadn’t crossed my mind that any of the players would forget their boots but today of all days he’s forgotten his. His dad runs to look in the car but they aren’t there. We lose the game 4-2 – after being 2-1 down at half time. The difference between the teams was the size of one of their players, the boggy pitch so we couldn’t play our normal passing game – and of course my player without his boots.
It is worth checking when your team arrives on match days that everyone has all their kit with them including shinpads and boots. There would have been time for his dad to drive home and get them had I checked or had he told me, but because I neglected this small task it had a big effect on our game.
Players slipping can give goals away… or make you miss. Go to my blog and see some clips of Kieran Gibbs for Arsenal and John Terry for Chelsea slipping at vital times.
