Too many coaches

[BradyC87]

Over half the girls on my rec team aged out, but most of the best players were younger. I chose to keep the younger players down one more season to further develop. So, I'm mentoring a first year coach to steward the older girls for a season. I committed to assisting as much as possible with practices, games, team communication, etc., but in an assistant capacity.

Next thing I know, the coach is soliciting all the parents to help coach. At the first practice I attended there was practically one "coach" for every player. In my experience, this never goes well. Even if the parents know the game and how to coach (big if) they tend to focus only on their child and ignore the rest of the kids. The Head Coach loses credibility and the kids get confused on who is giving direction, especially if they are getting conflicting information, which is inevitable.

I'm struggling with how to approach this with the coach and debating just walking away to focus solely on my team. What's tough is that I devoted a lot of time to these girls last season and would like to keep working with them.

Not sure how your organization runs things but we require 6 hours of volunteer time from all players/families. Coaching fulfills this requirement but ONLY 1 Head Coach, 2 Assistant coaches, and 1 team manager are given credit. You will still get some that are willing to help in practices and so on regardless but if they know they don't get any volunteer credits it tends to motivate most parents to just drop off their DDs and go away for 2 hours.

 

[Ken Krause]

Part of how many coaches depends on how many players you have. A ratio of about 3:1 or 4:1 (players to coaches, not the other way around) generally works pretty well.

You might want to suggest to the new head coach that he should start identifying those who are serious and have something to contribute. Then talk to all the parents and say "I appreciate all the help, but it's getting a bit unwieldy to manage practices. So instead we're going to cut it back to A and B being the official assistant coaches. But we can use you in other capacities" or something to that effect. That way it's easier for the head coach to maintain control, and you reduce your odds of two parents going at it over whether 90% or 95% is accurate enough for a 12U beginning pitcher to hit her spots.

The keys are being honest and direct. Here's what I'm going to do, let's see where it goes from here.

If the head coach likes having all the parents coaching at every practice at least you've given your best advice. And you'll know the next time you set up a new head coach to give him/her that advice up-front.

 

[CloudofDust]

Thanks for the responses. I'll try to address each one but, understand, I am being intentionally vague just in case a coach or parent is reading.

@sluggers - Yes, I intend to have that conversation with the coach, just debating how best to handle it.

@Traps - Prior to the season, I did indicate that I would like to focus on more individualized positional instruction and let him run the larger practice. This has happened, but now I have the parents in my ear wanting me to work with their daughters on certain positions. I sort of feel like I'm plugging a leaky dam with bubble gum and I only have a few sticks of gum left. And I was only given 30 minutes out of a 1 1/2 hour to work with players that have never played these positions. The rest of the time I was shagging balls...sort of an OK use of my culinary talents.

@Orange Socks - Yes, this org does have a background check and requires IDs to be worn at all games. This has been circumvented by telling all the parents that "want to help out" to go through the background check process and obtain IDs. I'm envisioning 10-15 parents in the dugout fighting over who gets to put the catcher's equipment on the catcher and who gets to coach bases. These are not "hand-picked" parents....just any mom and dad that has a glove. It was quite comical seeing a bunch of parents in jeans on the softball field with gloves.

@RADcatcher - Point taken. The coach I'm mentoring has been super receptive to every piece of advice I've given. I really think he just feels a little overwhelmed and uneasy about how much time I'll be able to commit since I have another team to coach. I never specifically said to limit the number of "coaches" so he has no clue about what issues may lie ahead. It's a little like telling a new-to-softball player to run from 1st to 3rd, without explaining they need to go to 2nd first, and then being surprised when they knock the pitcher down.

@rambler and cvsoftball - The team only needs 3-4 knowledgeable coaches and these coaches need to be 100% aligned on what and how they are teaching. These girls are still fairly inexperienced and learning the game. I'm concerned they will receive incorrect or inconsistent direction and get confused.

@robert - I agree with most of your comments. However, 7-8 coaches for 12 players is just too many. There didn't seem to be any direction given to them or any effort made to ensure they were giving proper instruction.

@Ken - Thanks, that's good advice. I will be direct and to the point. All I can do is offer the advice and if he chooses not to take it, he'll have to learn the lesson the hard way.

 

[bmakj]

First what age group?

Explain that we don't have coaches just to have coaches they each need a role.

On defense I had an infield and outfield coach for positioning and to watch girls and I took the pitcher/catcher battery.

On offense you need two bases coaches and one coach tracking batting order and giving advice based on previous at bats spray chart and situation in the dugout etc. An extra one may be handy in case someone is gone or just as a buffer but 3 asst coaches would be my max, I also did assign one of them that was in charge anytime I was not there for whatever reason and he was my #2 and even if I was there all the girls knew we were 100% on the same page.

This precisely. at practices, if some of the parents want to help by shagging balls or running down stray balls, setting up / breaking down gear, etc., so girls and "Coaches" are focused on getting the most out of the limited time, this is great, or maybe you need a pitcher warmed up during the game and you do not have a player to do it available. but make certain everyone knows their role.

 

[radness]

Little humor...
Maybe the coaches need coaches ....
They can coach eachother!

 

[Laphoneman]

Have a coaching clinic to teach the parent coaches proper mechanics for fielding infield outfield batting pitching just so everyone is on the same page. create the opportunity for them to call if their are any questions try mentoring all of them. I believe having to many parents wanting to help has to be better than none like in our area where its drop off and leave.

 

[jaguars2010]

Trying not to repeat suggestions but here I go. Too many coaches is way too confusing for the kids no matter the age. It's great to have that many people invested in working with the kids but bottom line confusion will reign.

How about sitting down with the new coach and help him develop a practice plan that will keep everyone busy for the duration of the practice. That way if you can't be there he/she has a plan to follow.

 

[CrazyNani]

States are starting to require background checks for all volunteers that have any interaction with youth players. As far as I am concerned, my DD will not play for an organization that does not require this.

Even if they are parents of players? I can see for TB where, the coaches aren't parents but, lower levels of rec ball, most coaches are parents and many are family friends.

 

[BradyC87]

Even if they are parents of players? I can see for TB where, the coaches aren't parents but, lower levels of rec ball, most coaches are parents and many are family friends.

I am sure it depends on the state/organization but if your in rec ball which typically is ran by the local community ed around here I would be pretty surprised if your local city ran community ed and does not require background checks. I guarantee their insurance company would have something to say about them having coaches at any age that had not completed a background check.

To be honest, it's like $10 to get a background check through USA Softball, why take the chance? Every person within our organization that interacts with the players is required to get a background check, Board Members, Head Coaches, Assistant Coaches, Team Managers and so on.

 

[uncdrew]

Coaches coach.

Parents helping keep their mouths shut and just do what coaches ask. They don't instruct. It always bugged me when a parent helper would give them poor instruction based on... well, not sure really.