as a coach would you ever...

the owners of the warehouse "requested" this.

my DD has not attended a practice there because of other commitments by happenstance (nothing regular scheduled there, they move there on reg outdoor practice nights that are rained out).

put in a call to the head or org, have not heard back

The parents should be able to come any place their children are. DD has had two coaches who don't want parents around, both of them were incompetent fools. One was her HS 'coach' after watching him and his DD get into a cry fight in the middle of practice it seemed like he was the parent who shouldnt be at practice! If a coach can't communicate with adults there is no way he can communicate with a team of players.

DD has played on a team where the indoor facility was not open to parents. She was 12U. They were practicing in a school gym and there were a couple parents who thought it was ok to let their younger children run around and "shag" balls. Um no. It was flat out dangerous. The team was hitting and there were balls flying and girls running to make catches. The younger siblings were most definitely in the way. The parents thought it was "cute" to have the younger ones out there. Coaches soon closed practice. DD had been on this team for 3 years and we had known the coach for 10 years so I was fine with it.

However - at 10U we had a parent on the team who liked to help - for reasons I won't go into here I was not ok with him being in a cage or tunnel with my daughter. I told HC flat out that either I was allowed to observe or DD would not attend practices. I had facts to back up my reasoning and HC came to find out that the info I had was indeed accurate. He also knew at the time that DD was one of his strongest players so he made some rule changes. Parents were allowed to observe that year and the parent in question was no longer allowed in the cages with any girl but his own.

HC has always had a rule that parents are not to coach their kids during practices. That is his time. He will ask a specific parent to leave if they can't keep their mouth shut.

bmakj said:

the owners of the warehouse "requested" this.

my DD has not attended a practice there because of other commitments by happenstance (nothing regular scheduled there, they move there on reg outdoor practice nights that are rained out).

put in a call to the head or org, have not heard back

Click to expand...

So it could be a liability reason. Kids have waivers signed - coaches have them too I bet. If it's carved out of a business, they might want to limit potential loss. Seen this before.

I had my first run in with similar situation when my oldest DD was in dance. The practices were closed to the parents except for a small window we could watch through (like looking in a fish aquarium). The 3 weeks before recital it was completely closed to parents; and she was only 4 at the time.... We get this sometimes with my middle DD's gymnastics practices. Not all the time, but sometimes the coaches request private practices when the girls are seeming to be distracted.

I see a point about young girls in "private" settings with coaches, but it's as a group/team. I've had days where I wish I could tell all the parents to leave. I've also had seasons where I have a bunch of "drive-by" parents that I only see from their car as they drop off and pick-up... I honestly liked having the involved parents more.

However, that all being said, it probably depends on the facility owner or just how rowdy the extra kids were being... if it's a distraction or risk to anyone for injury (player, parent, coach, or other) then maybe it's necessary to make it that way. At that point the only decision is to make it a blanket statement that no one but players allowed or else you open it up for all sorts of complaints from those that were not able to come in...