Coach turning Parent

[James Smith]

The Golden Rule.

Some of our best parents have been TB coaches, commissioners, etc. They all have cheered a lot and left the coaches, umpires and players alone. It is the wanta be coaches that cause problems.

 

[Bucketmom]

Stay clear of the softball mom's!!!! The gossip in the bleachers is like Jr High all over again!!!

 

[Easton33]

Disagree with that James. Like one poster said, "it is easy if you have good coaches". My daughter plays for two different teams, coach on team 1 is awesome, coach on team two is not. Ex 1) Runner on third, two outs,.......play is at home? Yep, had the infield playing at the plate instead of first! Not easy to be quiet on that situation and most wouldn't.

 

[chinamigarden]

yep, I can see me doing that. Oooooh man I hope I dont turn out to be "that parent!" lol

Keep your mouth busy cheering the kids and saying stuff like. Nice block 6, great play spanky love that pitch there...

 

[Phathead]

Doing this right now. DD made all stars. I down loaded app for batting tracking and stats. Input data while they bat. On D I track pitch stats. Im the only one looking at it and it keeps my mind busy and mouth shut except for some cheering. Tough on me because I don't agree with everything they do. Reverse roles and Im sure they would feel same so I do my best show them respect and let them do their thing for better or worse.

 

[justanotherguy]

I've been the head coach for my DD's basketball team and an asst coach on her baseball team. After reading horror stories here, I'm much happier sitting in the stands and watching the game, enjoying it. Coaching other people's kids is too much stress for me, worrying about my every move and how it affects a whole team. Now I just get to worry about my DD only. It's quite nice just watching with my wife and enjoying the game! I suggest just trying to do the same, get joy from seeing a group of kids having fun.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

I stopped coaching DD 3 years ago. I found that keeping score electronically keeps me too busy to make stupid comments.

 

[cooperg]

Recently, I had my first game where I was not a coach on the field for my DD. It was weird, but it's getting easier. One thing I find is a good coaching staff will keep each other accountable if they don't agree with an approach (and therefore I don't have to volunteer my "expertise"). I've seen this happen first hand, but without anyone being a jerk about it. Definitely keep your distance from the malcontents! I should thank them for making themselves so easy to spot. Enjoy the games. You'll always be her "coach."

 

[WB Coach]

This is the first time in many years that I'm not coaching DD and I love it! I can finally sit and relax and enjoy a game, providing HC doesn't ask me to do the book . Having been on the other side of the fence for so long actually makes it easy for me to not put in my .02, but then again, their HC is pretty good and I haven't had the need to second-guess him in my mind yet. The most surprising thing to me is that I've been able to resist giving DD any advice during game time. So when she called me over to the dugout during Monday's game to ask me a question about her last at-bat I was ecstatic. So yeah, good times~!

 

[Carty]

At 16U , DD switched travel teams so I didnt coach. Had a really good coaching staff so that made it easy. Rarely did I wonder about a particular call and I know being an armchair warrior isnt the same as making a decision on the front line. Started learning to score electronically so that was a big help to keep me occupied. DD went to a different HS then I coach at so the scoring helped a lot on the games that I got to see. It just kept me busy and I am now pretty good at it. But the best thing was that by being quiet, I could just enjoy watching DD play. I am looking forward to her games at college.