Coach Makes Bad Decisions

Your child's coach plays players in the wrong positions and makes bad strategic decisions. As a supportive parent, what should you do?

Remember, you are not the coach. You are not the athlete. You are a supporting player in this drama, so act your part and move to the background. Following are a suggestion and two tips that will help you keep things in perspective:

Write your suggestions on a piece of paper...Put it in an envelope. On the outside of the envelope, write, "For when I become the coach." Put it in a safe place. Whatever you do, don't give the suggestions to the coach.

Let your child have her own experience with this coach without you taking over...Having a coach who makes bad strategic or tactical decisions isn't a tragedy. Your child will have talented and untalented supervisors in his life, and learning to deal with both kinds is a great life lesson.

Don't put the player in the middle...Imagine a dinner table conversation in which a child's parents complain in front of her about how poorly her teacher is teaching fractions. How would this impact this student's motivation to work hard to learn fractions? How would it affect her love of mathematics and her relationship with the teacher?

The chances of you improving this situation by making strategic suggestions are very small, while the chances of making things worse for your child or for the team are significantly higher. Do no harm. Stay out of this!