Question for the Coaches???

Coach, I have never had the pleasure of meeting you and in most cases cheer everything you write. In this case I could not disagree with you more. Maybe you did not mean it as harsh as it reads but it really sounds like a “bull in the glass shop” approach to me. Why would you be so confrontational with a parent that is friendly to the program and probably does not even realize what he is doing? Do you push all your parents away to a point they don’t want to help. Again I hope I am reading this wrong.

 

Let me explain

I have dealt with this before and with a lifelong friend who's son was extremely talented and a pitcher.

I would tell the player "Talk to your dad. You know that we can not have him coaching you from the backstop. I know it distracts you. It distracts the team. And quite honestly it distracts me. Tell him he needs to stop coaching you from the backstop and just let you play. Tell him if he wants to talk to me about it to call me or stop by after practice."

If the player comes back to me and says "I talked to dad and its cool." Thats the end up it unless it doesnt stop. If the player comes back to me and says "Dad is not going to stop." I then call the Dad and meet with him.

"Dad , your hurting your son. Your coaching him while he is trying to play and he can't focus on what he needs to focus on if your coaching him from the stands. Plus it is distracting for me when I am trying to coach the team to have you giving him instructions during the game. Its also distracting to the players. And you need to understand that any college coach or scout is going to see this as your son not being able to handle his own business. I appreciate all you do and you are my friend. But I am telling you this to help your son and the team. OK?"

Now in the cases I have had to deal with this it all worked out fine. But if the dad refused to stop my next conversation is not going to be as pleasant you can bet on that. You have a team to coach. What if you let this parent coach from the stands? What about the other parent that decides he is going to coach from the stands or the backstop or from around the corner of the dugout? Where does it end. How does this help the team.

If the parent refused to stop then I am going to take it to the next level. Being a supportive parent of the program does not give you the right to disrupt the team , the other players or your son while he is trying to help his team win. And it does not give you the right to coach the team or your son during a game or practice.

If this approach sounds harsh then I guess I am harsh. But a coaches job is to coach the team and help them have success. Anything that comes between that is a distraction and needs to be eliminated.

 

Thanks!

Sounded much better and I do agree. Thanks for clarifying for me. I thought at first you were just giving him the my way or highway speech.

 

Ha, Ha! It was really the "my way or the highway"... it just has a rest stop or two before you would find yourself on the "off ramp"!

 

Been there done that and Bravo is scorrect I'd try and arrange an imprmptu meeting with the parent who apparently knows some baseball and reiterate where Bravo stole my philosophy (no jjst kidding) trying to be PERFECT puts tooo much pressure on kids this level. I tell them to be CLOSE but do onot worry about perfection being CLOSE will 80% or better of the time get you the results you want from a pitcher oh doesn t that calculate to a 200 BA? This is the bottom line and I won t budge here... JMHO the succesfful HS pitchers and beyond to the next level will be able to adjust their mentality and mechanics and consequrently reach these expectations and have ALOT of success on the mound. "Dad, just trust me I'd tell him!"