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Post by coachtut on Jan 13, 2012 9:41:16 GMT -6
Coaches, This year at our sign ups BEFORE we fit kids for gear we are going to have a station set up for speaking with the parents about the commitment of playing in our organization. As a board we have noticed that most of the problems are coming from a very small group of parents that didn't seem like they were prepared for competetive football. We have another organization (boys and girls club) that offers tackle football that is available to the parents/kids that don't fit our organization. They practice less, have inferior equipment and they play all of their games in town. I am happy to send them there if they aren't going to be at practice/games on time. I was thinking that I would give them a handout and go over each item and get an initial from the parent before they continue sign ups. I would love to get some feedback or other items to add to this list; 1. We are a competetive football organization. We want your son/daugther here but we practice 4-5 days a week before school starts and 3 days/week after school starts. If attendence is a problem it will cost your son/daugther playing time. 2. We travel for generally half of our games. Our out of town games range from being 25-45 miles away. At ALL games, including home games, parents will need to pay generally $2 per person gate fee. (children are free) 3. Team formation policy, if we have enough players in one division we will form two teams. The teams will be formed by the school that the player attends, NOT where the player lives. Please see team formation chart. 4.  ?? I think this will help set the tone for the season. We had a great year last year but think that this year is going to be even better. I appreciate the help coaches! |
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Post by bobgoodman on Jan 13, 2012 16:39:43 GMT -6
As a board we have noticed that most of the problems are coming from a very small group of parents that didn't seem like they were prepared for competetive football. The problems being what, that their children weren't attending consistently? Or some other kind of problems? |
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Post by coachtut on Jan 13, 2012 19:31:33 GMT -6
As a board we have noticed that most of the problems are coming from a very small group of parents that didn't seem like they were prepared for competetive football. The problems being what, that their children weren't attending consistently? Or some other kind of problems? All of the above. Really what we are trying to accomplish is "setting the tone." Talk about commitment, traveling, etc. |
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Post by 19delta on Jan 14, 2012 21:31:14 GMT -6
You guys don't do a parent's meeting prior to the season?!?
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Post by coachschro on Jan 14, 2012 22:54:29 GMT -6
What age group do you have? How long are your practices?
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 14, 2012 23:45:58 GMT -6
tut-- how will the schools be used to breakdown the teams.... have you thought about the potential where you maybe have 22 from one school.. 8 from another and 4 from another. 34 kids is enough to break down into two 17 man teams, but the school division process may be dicey.
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Post by coachtut on Jan 15, 2012 10:23:22 GMT -6
You guys don't do a parent's meeting prior to the season?!?[/quote Having a parents meeting prior to the season and BEFORE sign ups is a waste of time. Generally no one shows up. All the coaches are saying the same thing on here and on dumcoach, what I am trying to do is PREVENT them from signing up if they are going to be late, complain about how much we practice, complain about traveling, etc. Of course we have a parents meeting with each of our teams prior to the season. What we are trying to prevent is fitting kids for gear, doing refunds, and preventing the complaining from the start. |
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Post by coachtut on Jan 15, 2012 10:25:52 GMT -6
tut-- how will the schools be used to breakdown the teams.... have you thought about the potential where you maybe have 22 from one school.. 8 from another and 4 from another. 34 kids is enough to break down into two 17 man teams, but the school division process may be dicey. For our town this has been pretty successful. Usually we only have 2 teams in each division. I think the other areas are going to open enrollment which means we will probably go to a draft. What you said does complicate things for most places, it worked for us though. |
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 15, 2012 11:44:30 GMT -6
Tut - I think you're on the right track. We always provide the parents with a number of handouts at signups and go over each one with them so they know exactly what they're signing up for and exactly what our policies are. Some items, like the code of conduct and our refund policy and our snack bar agreement, we have them sign a copy for our records, but most (like the calendar of events, practice schedule, certification checklist, equipment checklist, program philosophy/mission, education awards program, fundraising info, yearbook advertising info, etc) we simply review it with them verbally and have them take the handout.
Other things we've handed out at signups include: schedule of fees, age & weight chart, physical exam form, list of volunteers needed (with job descriptions), and a merchandise order form.
I agree that it is important to give them this info as early as possible and to set the tone for your expectations as they sign up - it helps prevent a lot of problems later.
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jeffden
Probationary Member
Posts: 8
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Post by jeffden on Jan 27, 2012 22:45:03 GMT -6
I agree whole hearted that parents need to agree upfront of what their kids are getting into. One week before the season starts we have a meet the coaches night. Each coach is able to explain their philosophy, expectations, or really whatever they want to accomplish. Along with that, there is hand out for the parents to sign explaining that it is a competitive league, playing time is NOT guaranteed, but their child will be coached and taught to the best of our abilities. It also explains punctuality, and possible penalties for tardiness and missing games and practices. Along with a few minor things.
Don't get me wrong there are always parent problems, but this does alleviate a lot of those parent problems. You will always have problems with the parent that thinks their physically awkward kid should be star running back, or QB. Hope this helps.
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Post by davecisar on Feb 5, 2012 11:14:47 GMT -6
Parent Contract- at sign-ups- part of registering Covers all you want to and more Mandatory parent meeting- at first practice- From 6-6:30- practice from 6:30-8:00 Almost all show the first practice I give the standard setting expectations speech covered here: Contract there too- free download |
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Post by 19delta on Feb 5, 2012 16:18:21 GMT -6
You guys don't do a parent's meeting prior to the season?!?[/quote Having a parents meeting prior to the season and BEFORE sign ups is a waste of time. Generally no one shows up. I run our 6th grade program here in town. The pre-season meeting is MANDATORY. If kids and parents don't show up, the kid doesn't play. Period. End of story. I have had situations where parents legitimately could not make the meeting. In those cases, the parents must schedule a time to meet with me, one-on-one, to discuss team rules and procedures. The things is...the kids and parents who typically are the BIGGEST P.I.T.A. are the ones who are "too busy"  to attend the parents meeting. This is what we do at our preseason meeting: 1) We give a presentation that discusses our team rules and procedures. 2) The kids and parents both have to sign a contract stating that they understand and accept the team rules and procedures. 3) We hand out the registration paperwork and give the parents and kids a week to decide if they want to be in our program. We do accept registrations that evening, as well. The following week, we do equipment handout. We don't issue refunds after equipment handout. |
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Post by joshnorton on Feb 5, 2012 16:51:53 GMT -6
I would strongly consider using a contract like what Coach Cisar used above. We copied the idea after reading his book a few years ago and it has filled the need for us. I think whats most important both in the prior to sign ups and in the parent meeting is just to make the expectations very clear, your on the right track. It will evolve year to year to meet your needs so dont overly concern yourself if its not perfect this season.
Sincerely,
Joshua Norton
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to attend the parents meeting.