[fretzel]

Wasn’t sure if this should go in sports or open mic..........while I know I am not the most prominent poster here, I like to think I was a little more visible in the community before I became head coach of my sons rep ball team. I have to say, it sure is a lot of work. But I am loving every minute of it. It is an excellent opportunity to be a positive role model to a group of young me(u14 team). My biggest surprise has been the work that it has been doing on me as a person.

Any other coaches present and past here? How did you enjoy your experience?

 

[Guest]

I used to be a BB coach for peewee's in my late teens.
The kids were great. They just wanted to have fun.
The parents were the most difficult to deal with.

 

[johnnyshaka]

I started coaching Little League when I was 17 as a helper to a friend's dad who was coaching his youngest son. I had a great time doing it and I think the kids liked having somebody closer in age to look up to...I know I did the few times I had younger coaches. I continued coaching for a dozen years until I had my own kids and now I'm enjoying watching them play various sports with no guilt without volunteering... I've put in my time. I may return to coaching later, though, because it was quite rewarding.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[steve nb]

I started coaching football when my son was 7. Two school provincial championships for us as father (head Coach) and son (superstar recruited to AUS university). I moved on to be a running back coach at university. He played in the Canada Cup twice for NB. Took 3 years off after high school. Came back to play with us at UNB, was voted by the other coaches in the league as an all-star DB and we won UNB's first championship in 50 something years.

Football has been life changing for us both.

 

[zdogma]

I coach soccer. Usual story, i was guilted into the job when no-one volunteered for my kid's team. This is my 3rd year. Its fun when the group is interested and motivated. I've been lucky the last two years and had a great group of kids.

 

[Steadfastly]

I used to be an assistant hockey coach and then the head coach of a team in Mississauga. Great kids for the most part. Bad parents putting pressure on their kids bringing them to tears, still tears at my heart. I was too young to take those parents to task. I would give them a good talking to if I were doing it today.

I also think a lot of sports are too competitive and has taken the fun out of it. When I play now, we always make sure the less talented players have a fair share of fun in the game and it's much more fun that way.

 

[steve nb]

For 6 years I listened to crazy parents. Until one crazy father (and I use that term loosely) started yelling at the kids watching the practice on the injured bench telling them they were every name in the book for being injured. Kids get injured in football, it's part of the game. I lined all the parents up, had my assistant coaches run the practice for a little while while I told the parents in no uncertain terms to butt the F**K of determining how serious their injuries. I had an army medic on staff as trainer and when she said they can't play or practice that's the law. I made a few enemies but the next season when the seniors and they're crazy parents were gone, guess what happened ... 2nd provincial championship!

 

[fretzel]

Our season was marred last year by coaching that intimidated instead of inspired. I was assistant coach to 2 guys that were buddies. After game talk generally had the coach berating them saying, “how hard is it to throw strikes and hit the ball?” This was a team of 10 returning rep players and 4 select. We went 5 and 17 in regular season. My approach is to build the boys up, find the holes and fix them(positively) and we are 3-1. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out which approach works best.

 

[fretzel]

I meant to point out above that our team this year is pretty green, 4 returning rep players, 10 select and 4 kids straight from house league. So all in all, off to a good start.

 

[leftysg]

I coached boys and girls basketball for 25 years from junior elementary to senior high school with many fond memories.

 

[cboutilier]

I've coached baseball on and off (assistant or head) since my mid teens. I love it, as much as I love the sport itself.

 

[johnnyshaka]

This thread reminded me going to watch my 10-year old nephew play baseball last week. He plays in a league with 10 and 11 year olds and this is the first year that they pitch (they use a pitching machine in the age groups below) for themselves. Boy, it was tough to watch.

For starters, my brother-in-law is one of FIVE parents hovering around the boys on the bench and on the field. How do you keep "the message" consistent among that many coaches? There is no reason to have that many cooks in the kitchen. With all of those parents involved you would think the kids would be focused and engaged in the game or whatever the coaches need them to be doing...nope. When the kids were up to bat there was a group of them playing "500 up" with the ball routinely flying into the crowd of parents trying to watch their kids play ball. Had I not been watching out of the corner of my eye I would have gotten a ball in the ear but luckily caught it just in time. Told the boys the take their game elsewhere or to grab a seat on the bench and watch the game but they just shrugged and continued to throw caution to the wind. There were a few more playing soccer with siblings. And then there were a few swinging bats all over the place. Sheesh.

The game...well, any boys pitching on my nephew's team were all over the map with their wind-up and delivery. Sometimes they'd go with a full wind-up and other times they'd go from the stretch with no rhyme or reason. At this age they can't lead so there is no benefit to going from the stretch. Pitch to pitch, everything was different. Weird. Then, to make the game "move along" they don't have walks. When the count gets to four balls the coach comes in and soft tosses it to them so they can get a better chance to get a hit. Seriously?! So what do you think the majority of the kids do when they're at the dish? Yup, they don't even entertain the thought of swinging or even standing in the batter's box and wait for "ball four" and the soft toss. Hard pass, thank you very much. What a damn joke.

I ran into my brother-in-law a few days later and asked him about what they were teaching for a wind-up while pitching and he tells me that they decided to just let the boys figure out for themselves..."do what feels comfortable" was what he said. LOL. Yeah, that's going to help 10-year olds learn how to pitch. SMH.

 

[fretzel]

It’s funny how widely rules can change across different centres. At 10 my son was playing select ball. Our town is not in a select loop so the only time you play with that team is tournaments. Regular season games are with your house league team. That year there was proper pitching and stealing. I can’t recall about leadoffs. In HL you couldn’t steal home or take first on a drop 3rd strike where select you could. You wouldn’t believe how many times I looked like an idiot at a HL game screaming go, go, go!!!! LOL