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Wow! It’s hard to believe that this is the 200th episode of the podcast. I’m so grateful to everyone who listens and supports the show by commenting, emailing a question or posting a link on social media. Even just mentioning the show to a fellow coach helps to spread the word.
This was the first week of games for my teams. Early season games mean that we were missing a few players. That gave me a chance to bring in guest player to make up the numbers. It’s never too early to start looking at players on the team below to see if they’re able to compete at the level of my players.
Playing in August also means that we’re playing in the heat. That’s an even bigger challenge when the kids haven’t been playing all summer. Fortunately the league has been smart and instituted water breaks halfway through each half.
One of my teams played their first 11 v 11 game. That’s always a challenge but the girls played well and enjoyed the new larger sided game.
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Today’s question comes from Matt. He’s asking about substitutions.
Matt says, ” I have a question about substitutions. I coach a U12 rec team and have typically subbed every 5-6 minutes or so. However, I am starting to wonder if I should be subbing at the quarter mark (30 minute halves, 9v9). Positives are the girls get more extended playing time and get to work on things in the rhythm of the game, which probably benefits them long-term.
I worry about stamina for a prolonged period for about half the players, bad match ups for an extended time, more difficulty making minor coaching points on the sidelines and if they will get bored on the sideline. They run as much when we scrimmage at the end of practice though. Your thoughts?“
Thanks for your question Matt!
My biggest concern at the younger ages (U12 and below) is having the players get bored and out of the flow of the game. If I were in your situation I’d be subbing every 5 or 6 minutes as well.
In this Episode
Back in episode #83 I talked about Stealing Our Player’s Learning Opportunities. That was really focused on the coach’s role. Today I want to talk about the impact of parents coaching from the sideline on their children and the team.
Here’s the video I talked about in the episode:
Future Episodes
I have a couple of interviews and topics planned for the coming weeks but I haven’t settled on one for next week. I received some great suggestions last week so feel free to email me if there’s something you’d like me to cover.
I liked the episode and felt it really hit home. The challenge as a coach is that I agreed with everything you said but you never hit on strategies to combat this behavior from parents. We aren’t going to get recreational parents to listen to your podcast. What advise would you give to communicate this to passionate parents?
Larry,
I go over this with my teams in our preseason meeting. We talk about the roles for the player, parents, referee and coach. I talk about the balance between instructing the players and allowing them to play in order to discover.
The support of the parents is important to the team but they should be praising the things that have already happened (ie Great Pass!, Nice Shot! Great move!) not trying to direct what happens next (ie Pass it down the line! Get it out! Hussle!).
You’ll have to continue to reinforce these ideas throughout the year with additional meeting or even reminders during the game but setting the expectations during that first meeting is a good start.
Tom
This podcast was fantastic and really hit home as a parent of a young player and a head coach of a high school team. I wish I came across this prior to the start of the season to share with the parents. I am currently dealing with parents trying to coach the team, and it has been defeated. As you said in the podcast, the players are confused as who to listen too. I would love to share this with the parents now, but I am afraid on how it will come across to them. Any suggestions?
Nik,
I would meet with the parents and talk about the issue. Once you let them know how what they are doing is impacting their kids hopefully they’ll stop ‘coaching’ from the sidelines.
In my opinion this is such an important issue that you shouldn’t be worry about stepping on some toes.
Good luck,
Tom
Great topic!
Had a pre season parent meeting about sideline coaching and group texted a reminder prior to the first match. Started off well. Then by the 5th and 6th match (month in as you said), it creept up to where two parents gave contradictory instruction. So I sent a reminder text and mentioned those two instances and reminded them to only praise. It was a very enjoyable 7th match. Strong win, lots of passing and we could hear the team talk. Proud of my boys and parents!
Jeff, That’s great! I’m glad to hear that your parents embraced the idea of letting the players play and the coaches coach.