Too many coaches

[CloudofDust]

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.

 

[sluggers]

Inform the coach that, in your experience, too many cooks spoil the stew. Since he has a lot of help, you are going to concentrate on your own team.

I agree that having a lot of parents involved with coaching will not improve the girls. But, you don't have any real control over the coach. He should run the team the way he wants.

 

[Traps71]

Is there a particular facet of the game (hitting, base running, outfield) that you could speak to the head coach about taking ownership of? In my case, our head coach asked me to run the pitching practices this offseason. I plan out the drills we use for each session and oversee them. Before he took that step, I would be willing to help, but the other assistant coaches (who have DDs that pitch) were always lurking about, there were too many voices, and the practices tended to devolve into a kind of mindless throwing if not actual chaos. I help in other areas only if asked and mostly otherwise shag balls.

 

[Orange Socks]

Most leagues require some sort of background check, or ACE certification, or PCA classes in order to be allowed on the field with the kids. If this is a requirement, have all the parents gone through the vetting process?

I do think that having a few hand picked parents to help run drills or stations is ideal at the younger ages...but there is a breaking point.

 

[radness]

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.

Common conundrum .

Hmmmm ? Your mentoring the Head Coach?
Yet the Head coach made a big decision and opened this can of worms on their own?!

Whomever this person is you originally thought you were mentoring....
Is the Head Coach Right?
So whats the mentoring part?
Just sayin' assistant coach usually gets mentored?....

If you approach with sluggers suggestion...too many cooks...
And you dont see a light bulb come on.
Ends what you thought mentoring was....
And step away...

 

[Rambler34]

In 6U and 8U you need several but after that it can be cut. With two defensive coaches on the field in 6U and 8U plus having a coach pitch we probably needed 4 or 5 in the dugout. By 10U 3 or 4 was the max. Once we got to 14's 2 or 3 was enough depending on responsiblities.

During practices at the young ages we did have several parents help with part of practice. We could do stations with their help so all the girls go work on different things at the same time. There would be 8 people out there during parts of practice with coaches running different stations and a parent helping.

 

[cvsoftball]

unless all of your ACs know what it is you're trying to accomplish and the how and why of it and buy into it, you're asking for trouble.

 

[robertc3]

I have not found that having a big rec. coaching staff is a problem if it is managed correctly. You don't say how old the girls are, but assuming they are 12u or younger this may not be a problem. I wouldn't have 8 coaches on an 18u travel team, but six coaches at 10u? That can work well in my experience. The practices can be very effective if you have six groups of two running simultaneously. Sure, sometimes you want a group of four for a specific station, but that can be accommodated with a good practice plan. For example, group 1 Tee hitting working on contact points, group 2 hitting long tee, group 3 hitting whiffles, group 4 and 5 working on infield grounders, and group 6 working on flyballs. The girls rotate through the stations spending two rotations in the infield.
There are a few prerequisites to making a big staff work.
1. The head coach has to be a good leader of the staff. The assistants need to understand what they are responsible to do pretty precisely.
2. The head coach needs to do the technical teaching unless the assistants have a high level of knowledge and skill.
3. During games the staff is limited to three coaches in the dugout/on the bases and the coaches that are not in the dugout/on the field are in the stands cheering as parents.
I just drafted my rec team for baseball and I have at least four parents who will help coach. Some are very knowledgeable, so maybe less so, but the kids will get a ton of reps and I know they will improve more than if I just had one or two assistants.

 

[djcarter1966]

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.

 

[BradyC87]

Most leagues require some sort of background check, or ACE certification, or PCA classes in order to be allowed on the field with the kids. If this is a requirement, have all the parents gone through the vetting process?

I do think that having a few hand picked parents to help run drills or stations is ideal at the younger ages...but there is a breaking point.

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.