November 19, 2016
3 Not-so-secret Secrets about Parents – Best Stolen Ideas – Part 7
One of the favorite questions I ask every coach I interview is:
‘What is the best thing you have ever learned or stolen from another coach?’
As we wrap up this series, here are 3 really good nuggets about relating with parents and being a parent-coach:
- Always remember that everything a parent does – is because they love their child. In return – as a coach you ask the parents to remember that as a coach – you have to worry about all the children in the program (not just their one kid they love.) – Rich Czeslawski
- David Klein learned from his Dad: ‘You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.’ Almost without exception every team has 1 or 2 negative parents that you cannot please, don’t try to appease them and do the right things and stick to your guns.
- 3 things to say to your child after every game: – Dr. Lindsey Blom
- I love you
- I love to watch you play
- What do you want to eat?
A great resource to use as a coach to enhance your relationships with parents is from my good friend Janis Meredith – a very affordable book called 11 Habits for Happy & Positive Sports Parents. An effective use of these is to buy them for all the parents on your team and go through some key points in your pre-season parent meeting. If you buy 10 or more they are only $4 each.
Teams are not just made of coaches and players, they are a community of people supporting the same cause, so include the parents in your planning! It will enhance the experience for everyone.
