AC Dad's

[JerseyBall]

I've assisted coached the past two years and our TB organization thought it was time I became HC. So for now it's just me and my one AC who has been with the organization a few years now. During try outs I had 5 dads ask if they could become ACs. Myself, I never asked for the role, the HC asked if I could help out after one of his AC's moved on to another team.

I told them all the same thing, that for right now we're ok but we might need some help with stations and field prep when games start. I also mentioned book keeping, to which most of them said they're not very good at. If I decide to take on another AC, the thing I think I'll be looking for most is how they interact with their own DD. For example, we had a dad last season who would often call out instructions to his dd during games and she would sometimes glare back at him. He would get the message, but he'd be right back at the next game. He's one of the requesting dads. Nice guy, but his presence in the dug out would negative effects on his dd, and we can't have that.

I also know of one other nearby team where one of the moms is the book keeper and helps out at practice but doesn't instruct at all. To me, I think having that female presence in the dug out is likely a good thing.

So I'm curious how other coaches handle this.

 

[JerseyBall]

Thanks Screwball and I certainly didn't mean to come across as though females just make good book keepers. It just so happens on that team the mom doesn't instruct because she's not comfortable doing so. But I know the players respond well to her and she does a great job organizing and helping the girls out. I had asked if we had any recent 18u players now in college that would be interested in assisting. But your point is well taken.

 

[quincy]

Parent interaction with their own child is interesting, AC or not AC.

What do you want you AC to do or provide?

 

[YOCOACH]

As a former HC myself, I can tell you that this usually causes more headaches for you. Most coaching staffs' opinion is that they entrusted their DD to the existing team and coaching staff, let them do their jobs without interference. Usually the only reason that those Dads want to help is so they can yell instructions to their DD from the dugout without getting shut down by the current coaching staff as most won't put up with them yelling instruction from the stands. This past year I was not a coach on DD's TB team and although I saw a lot of mistakes made by both the HC and DD, I kept my mouth shut, let the staff play the game they wished and only opened it to cheer for all the girls on the team. I figured if they wanted my help, they would ask for it. They did so in several practices and games when they were short coaches due to work conflicts. Since then, I have been offered a position as an AC. I did not ask for it, they came to me. This, in my opinion, is as it should be...not the other way around.

 

[chinamigarden]

Take a look at the girls to see if her dad might be a good choice. If for example if a girl doesn't throw properly, how is her dad going to teach other girls (in a finite amount of time) how to throw, if in the infinite amount of time he has with his dd he was unable to teach her properly.

 

[starsnuffer]

You basically need one AC for every 2 buckets your team needs for practice, since AC's only have two hands.

-W