Unfortunately, the biggest problem in minor league sports is not losing a child. The biggest problem in federal sports is not your child getting hurt. The biggest problem in little league baseball seems to be the behavior of parents. It seems like every week there’s a new story about a parent getting arrested for trouble playing little league. Dealing with coaches seems to be the main reason coaches leave less leagues. So how does a small league coach deal with these parents?
Dealing with parents, or with some problems really, can always be e communication improved. At the beginning of each term the parents have a meeting. Make it clear to the parents your plans and goals for the time. If the little league coach is a very authoritative person coach and wants to compete with the team, then tell the parents that the team will be the author. If the little coach is more about teaching and kids, tell the parents. Explain in parents how to start positions and time to play will be judged. The rules tell the parents, if the player will not have a start for practice, then the parents tell it. Hopefully this will be a problem in the future where a parent complains about their player not starting. It is important to have this meeting before the season has started while it is still possible to move players to another team. Tell your parents you won’t be offended if your parents decide they don’t like your philosophy and want to move to another team.
It is important to try and have everyone attend the meeting because they will hear more and maybe develop ideas of what the coaches can be question. All the parents are by chance, even if they will not be able to make the meeting. For those parents make a profile of all the things you have passed in the meeting and choose when they come. thank them for the printout. Be sure to tell them that what they read is very important and they decide if they want their child to stay on the team.
After a while, the league coach said that parents what do parents expect is the next most important thing to live up to your word. It is easy to say one thing and do another. If a small league coach has a certain set of rules and philosophy on how things work then stick to them. If a little league coach tells parents one thing and then does something else, there will likely be an argument.
It is important that a small federal coach is open to the concerns of parents. Some parents will be unreasonable and complain about the little ones, but hopefully most parents have a legitimate concern. If a parent approaches you with concern, they will not immediately get defensive. Listen to them and if it seems like a reasonable concern, then try and help. Parents will complain a lot less if they see that you are doing an honest business.
If a parent is present as a small federal coach, give him a job to do. A pitching parent may shape up in practice or take a pitcher to warm up, or keep score in a game. Hopefully if they feel like part of the team, they won’t complain so much. If nothing else, at least you’ll give them some work to do, and they won’t have as much time to complain.
Eventually, a small league coach should inform the league. You will observe early on that most parents do not act. If a coach sees a little league ahead of time that this coach is going to have a problem then he should inform the league administrators. This way if a problem arises, administrators can deal with the parent.
