Tips, Tools and Real World Advice for Youth Athletic Coaches

Soccer season – the real one – is right around the corner. Signups are closing and coaches are already planning their initial August workouts. Most seasons will kick off with a Labor Day tournament and end with a tournament over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Four months of soccer. Sixteen weeks to accomplish your objectives. One hundred and twenty days to turn 15 kids into a cohesive unit, advance their individual skills and provide them with an experience that’ll instill in them a love of the game and bring them, and their parents, back for next season.

• So what’s your plan and how will you measure your success?
• Have you clearly outlined and articulated your objectives?
• Do your players understand their role and responsibility in achieving those objectives?
• Do your players’ parents understand what you expect of their kids and of them?

Long time youth football coach Robin Bivona is a big believer in crystal clear communication. Over the years, he’s created handouts designed to set clear expectations for his players, his coaches and his players’ parents.

Coach Bivona’s Player/Parent handout is ten pages long and packed with incredibly insightful information intended to answer questions, set expectations and nip potential problems in the bud.

The handout contains all the basics:

• Coaches’ names and contact information
• Instructions for preferred methods of communication with the coach
• Practice schedule and locations
• Week by week summaries of practice plans and objectives
• Policy on playing time
• Mandatory Parent/Family/Fan Rules & Etiquette for a GOOD Football Experience

Bivona touches on proper nutrition, hydration, sleep habits, even age appropriate movies to rent, like “Rudy”, that support his positive approach to team sport.

His packet of handouts is among the most comprehensive I’ve seen. Did I mention he has a different one for his assistant coaches and a brief survey each player must complete at the first practice? He covers all the bases—twice.

But remember, Coach Bivona developed these manuals through years of learning the hard way. By dealing with misunderstandings, miscommunication and poor parent/fan behavior.

You can nip a lot of these issues in the bud too by creating a simple one page handout, and giving it to every parent as soon as you possibly can.

Include the following:

Your COMPLETE contact information. Email address, cell phone, home phone and work phone. Be sure to let them know your preferred method of communication, set an expectation for the timeliness of your response and be sure you follow through. Give parents explicit instructions for asking questions or lodging complaints.

Key dates. If you have a set practice time and place, this is where you tell them. Same thing for games. If you don’t have this information yet, let your parents know this and assure them you’ll provide it as soon as you’ve got the information.

Does your organization have a picture day? A skills competition? An awards banquet? Include these dates and times too. If you don’t know, you should ask your league administrator. They usually plan these dates out well before the beginning of the season and should be able to tell you.

Policy on playing time. Check with your youth organization in case the league in which you’re participating has pre-set minimum playing times for each kid, then build your policy around that.

Expectations. This can be as simple as “have fun and learn” to something more demanding, depending on the ages of your players and your youth organization’s charter. Be sure you understand this charter when crafting your own expectations and explain to your parents that your goals are in line with the organization’s goals.

Provide a short list of unacceptable parent/fan conduct. Your youth organization may already have guidelines you can use. If not, take a look at Coach Bivona’s here.

Other team needs.

• Do you need a team mom?
• Will you be expecting parents to provide a halftime or postgame snack and drink?
• Do you need help setting up fields or transporting equipment?
• Do you need everybody’s email address or alternate phone numbers?

Make a list of the things and help you need. You’ll usually have plenty of of volunteers, especially on younger teams.

Well thought out, written communication provided early and often will help you to keep the focus on fun and improving player skills.

Do you have a parent letter or a team manual you’ve developed over time? If you’d like to share it or add some insight from your own experience, feel free to chime in.