Anal Retentive Coach?

T-Shirts and shorts? Wow even for me that is hard core LOL
If you already have 1 practice in the snow, probably makes sense to get into the gym
I find those other things as a distraction and agree they should be kept to a bare minimum

I'm not sure exactly what it means when the parents say they want to paint the boys' faces. Do they just mean putting on some extra eye-black, like war paint? Or do they want to do the whole crazy fan, paint the whole face in team colors thing? I don't think the eye-black is too much, but full face, full color face painting would be a distraction - the kids would all be comparing their face paint jobs and not be thinking about the game. Plus as the game goes on and they sweat under their helmets (or get their faces wet from the snow, LOL), that stuff will run - you definitely don't want to deal with paint running into eyes during a game. Maybe you could compromise and arrange a pizza party or something for AFTER the game and let them do all the face painting they want at the party.

I'm also not sure what speakers with music means. If they want to bring a boom box in the stands, I'm not sure you can stop them unless your league or program prohibits that. If they want to bring a boom box down on the field for warm ups, I think that would be a distraction when they need to be completely focused on preparing for the game. We sometimes allow a boom box during the warm up period of practice, but that's with older kids who aren't so easily distracted and we never do that for games.

Regarding the snow, I'm with Dave - if you've already done one practice in the snow and convinced the kids it's going to work in your favor, then try to take your remaining practices indoors. Try to find a gym, but even if all you can get is a large room, you can still at least do walk-thrus. If you can't get into any reasonable indoor facility, consider doing a video session.

Good luck coach.

I am a routine guy...we follow a routine, and stick with it. Not matter if it is a playoff game, or against the worst team in the conference...we will warm up and apporach our practice week the same way...week after week... No face paint...no extra hooplah...at all... No extra music...no extra fan fare... All of that is for after the milestone...whatever that may be...

...now...what is this snow that you speak of?

Coaching for Snow: My first year coaching, we played a couple of games with about an inch of snow on the ground. These were 10-11 year olds and it was a pretty good distraction, there were lots of fumbles, fumbled snaps, poor execution and loss of focus. We lost those games but the snow really affected both teams.

The next year we practiced in a light snow storm because I felt there was a competitive advantage to get them used to it. Had lots of complaining from kids and parents but explained to them that why we were doing it and kept the practice fairly short and focused on ball handling and quite a bit of hitting. Telling them to wear gloves and such. I think we sort of changed their mind set and were ready to go for the game in a couple of days. Problem was it kept snowing and snowing so much that we had about 2 feet just prior to the game so it was cancelled. Too bad, because I do really think these kids were starting to at least tolerate the snow and we would have had an advantage. I remember Bud Grant the old Minnesota Viking coach wouldn't let his guys have heater on sidelines during games and practiced outside in extreme conditions. I think your decision would depend on how competitive your league or team is and wants to be. 8-9 year olds would probably be pushing the limit I'd probably try to get a gym.

Face Paint: I think it would be a distraction. I once had parents bring a bag of sliced oranges to the players at half time when I'm trying to make adjustments and talk to them. It's tough enough trying to get these kids to focus and do their job. They are distracted very easily.

We used to give our players fruit and gatorade at half-time. But, my wife was the team mom and in charge of distribution. She has awesome organization and management skills.

No one got anything until after the coaches were through with our half-time talk & adjustments. When we were finished. My wife and I made eye contact. I'd nod my head. She'd say in a loud voice, something like, "Tigers! Get ready for your snacks!" and, snacks were in place and done within about a minute.

My wife did not allow the parents to give their kids the half-time snacks directly. The fruit had to be in baggies, gatorade at the ready. My wife and my two daughters and/or, two parents that she pre-designated were the only ones allowed to distribute the goods. She also had the parents & players under a gag order. No talking. Hand the stuff out. Prents get back to the stands.
It was all done with military speed & precision. I used to giggle and shake my head. The other coaches and I had tried handing out snacks once. It was like herding cats. That's why my wife took over. I don't refer to her as Sergeant Major for nothing.

Hmmm I think you got to let the kids have fun. Given it's playoff time, chalk it up to this is how we do it. Sort of like rally caps in baseball. You see it done more as the games become important. With proper management you can get the stuff that doesn't run due to perspiration and get it done early enough in pregame that it coincides with getting tape.

I think music is good too. A particular song can become a theme song.....a winning theme song. I still remember our theme song...Rubber Band Man. We went undefeated and believe that song had something to do with it.

You gotta keep it fun...otherwise the kids will go play soccer instead.