How to complain about travel coach without getting our kids in trouble?

[Anonymous]

OP, everything you posted is fairly common, and you got lots of not-helpful responses (other than at 8:33).

The truth is, it is very frustrating when you realize that you committed your kid (who loves soccer) to a year with a pro coach who is (1) not good for the age group, (2) in a bad place personally, (3) checked out because they are aiming for other opportunities, or (4) some combination of those.

Or to a team that is not developing the way you had hoped, and where kids stop even showing up to practice.

But ultimately it is a trap to think, "Imagine what this team could be, and how the players could develop, if the coach only coached exactly the way I would want them to, and if the other players behaved the same as my kid."

Focus on what you can control. If practices have no skill development, use Youtube or Techne or DribbleUp or whatever, and make up some drills and have your kid do them regularly. What are your kid's other weaknesses, and how do you help them improve if they want to? If money is no object, consider HP Elite, Capstone, private coaching, etc.

But you don't want to be in the same situation next year. So in the meantime, reach out to some other families/coaches and start going to practices for other (appropriate level) teams NOW. Don't wait until May tryouts; there will be less opportunities and less time to see what you think is a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes someone has to speak up before the clubs know these things. If you have a technical director or director of coaching and don’t want to call them, send a letter and say that then explain what is happening. It’s normal for parents to worry like you are, so that should be enough to at least get the word to them.

[Anonymous]

U10 LOL

Just stop.

Signed mother of more than one divison one player.

At that age your kid needs to be having fun.

At teen years like 12-14 then this would be an issue not at U10. Hello burnout injuries etc.

MYOB about how others participate make sure your kid has fun and move on. Because I guarantee your kid and those six others only one will be left at HS teams and none will be scholarship material.

One of mine never played til junior year still got spot on a college team. LOL parents are so ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On our kid's travel team many of the parents are not happy with the coach. He is new to coaching travel (started last fall) and is not experienced with coaching young kids (U10). He often gets frustrated and doesn't train them in drills, technique, etc. Something that should be a focus at this age. He also is very relaxed on kids attending practice or games, thus making it harder on the kids who actually attend regularly. There's other issues.

About 5-6 of us parents have talked about these issues, but we're not sure how to address it without our kids getting in trouble with their coach. Do we speak directly to the club or the age director? Any feedback is appreciated. This is our second year in travel.

It doesn’t get any better. We had better coaching in rec with our British fútbol fanatic volunteer dad coach. Once we moved to travel, it went all downhill. Even with our player advancing up a level each year. I really wish I was exaggerating but I’m not. Horrendous coaching year after year and coach after coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U10 LOL

Just stop.

Signed mother of more than one divison one player.

At that age your kid needs to be having fun.

At teen years like 12-14 then this would be an issue not at U10. Hello burnout injuries etc.

MYOB about how others participate make sure your kid has fun and move on. Because I guarantee your kid and those six others only one will be left at HS teams and none will be scholarship material.

One of mine never played til junior year still got spot on a college team. LOL parents are so ridiculous.

Tell me your a troll without telling me...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U10 LOL

Just stop.

Signed mother of more than one divison one player.

At that age your kid needs to be having fun.

At teen years like 12-14 then this would be an issue not at U10. Hello burnout injuries etc.

MYOB about how others participate make sure your kid has fun and move on. Because I guarantee your kid and those six others only one will be left at HS teams and none will be scholarship material.

One of mine never played til junior year still got spot on a college team. LOL parents are so ridiculous.

Tell me your a troll without telling me...

PP loves that title and prob uses it on their Linked In. Their kids must be mortified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way to do it.

Sign up for a different team with a different coach next year.

+1. At this point in the year, if the club hasn’t stepped in on a 1st year coach to do some quality control, course correct him on what he is teaching in practice, etc., it tells you what you need to know about the club.
You might also need to re-align your expectations to what you should expect from a coach, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On our kid's travel team many of the parents are not happy with the coach. He is new to coaching travel (started last fall) and is not experienced with coaching young kids (U10). He often gets frustrated and doesn't train them in drills, technique, etc. Something that should be a focus at this age. He also is very relaxed on kids attending practice or games, thus making it harder on the kids who actually attend regularly. There's other issues.

About 5-6 of us parents have talked about these issues, but we're not sure how to address it without our kids getting in trouble with their coach. Do we speak directly to the club or the age director? Any feedback is appreciated. This is our second year in travel.

How does your coaching experience, knowledge and licenses compare to his?

I may not have property soccer coaching experience, but I played sports through college and almost made the Olympic team in the late 90s. I've also coaches several sport's at the high school level. In terms of soccer I coached three years of rec (which I hated), but every parent loved it because I trained their kids very well. We moved our son into travel when he was getting too good for rec. However, it's not just us parents concerned over the coaching. Other coaches we know are aware of the lack of proper coaching for this age. You don't have 5-6 parents raising issues if there isn't one. Last thing we need is more things to deal with. We're not looking to have the coach removed. We're looking for some way to address the issues. One major issues is not holding certain kids accountable. Example: One kid will constantly yell and scream at other kids who aren't as good. This has become a major issues with team camaraderie, etc. As a prior athlete and coach this is where the coach should step in and teach property sportsmanship and being a good teammate.

Sounds like the Coach has a problem of dealing with horrible spoiled entitled kids not being raised right.

[Anonymous]

Your kid is going to experience good and bad coaches. If your kid doesn't love soccer enough to be practicing drills at home (which you can actually help them with), there is no point to travel soccer.

How would you hold kids accountable for not being at practice or at games? This is extremely difficult to do in a pay-to-play environment. My kid loved it when they only had 1 or 2 subs. More playing time. If your kid can't play most of the game on a small field for U10, the athleticism may not be there as they get older. The coach has little control over parents. Do not complain about this. Nothing is going to happen.

My kids also dealt with other kids who were poor sports. In a competitive environment this is absolutely inevitable. You have to tell your kid to ignore this other kid, or, to speak up, and tell him to keep his trap shut. The coach knows about this. They have possibly said something to the parent. Parents say we are working on it. Johnny has ADHD and poor impulse control. Nothing will happen. Better to teach your kid strategies for dealing with the team a**holes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On our kid's travel team many of the parents are not happy with the coach. He is new to coaching travel (started last fall) and is not experienced with coaching young kids (U10). He often gets frustrated and doesn't train them in drills, technique, etc. Something that should be a focus at this age. He also is very relaxed on kids attending practice or games, thus making it harder on the kids who actually attend regularly. There's other issues.

About 5-6 of us parents have talked about these issues, but we're not sure how to address it without our kids getting in trouble with their coach. Do we speak directly to the club or the age director? Any feedback is appreciated. This is our second year in travel.

How does your coaching experience, knowledge and licenses compare to his?

I may not have property soccer coaching experience, but I played sports through college and almost made the Olympic team in the late 90s. I've also coaches several sport's at the high school level. In terms of soccer I coached three years of rec (which I hated), but every parent loved it because I trained their kids very well. We moved our son into travel when he was getting too good for rec. However, it's not just us parents concerned over the coaching. Other coaches we know are aware of the lack of proper coaching for this age. You don't have 5-6 parents raising issues if there isn't one. Last thing we need is more things to deal with. We're not looking to have the coach removed. We're looking for some way to address the issues. One major issues is not holding certain kids accountable. Example: One kid will constantly yell and scream at other kids who aren't as good. This has become a major issues with team camaraderie, etc. As a prior athlete and coach this is where the coach should step in and teach property sportsmanship and being a good teammate.

1. Of course you did (eyeroll).
2. Perhaps you should have spent more time on academics. Your post is a grammatical horror story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On our kid's travel team many of the parents are not happy with the coach. He is new to coaching travel (started last fall) and is not experienced with coaching young kids (U10). He often gets frustrated and doesn't train them in drills, technique, etc. Something that should be a focus at this age. He also is very relaxed on kids attending practice or games, thus making it harder on the kids who actually attend regularly. There's other issues.

About 5-6 of us parents have talked about these issues, but we're not sure how to address it without our kids getting in trouble with their coach. Do we speak directly to the club or the age director? Any feedback is appreciated. This is our second year in travel.

How does your coaching experience, knowledge and licenses compare to his?

I may not have property soccer coaching experience, but I played sports through college and almost made the Olympic team in the late 90s. I've also coaches several sport's at the high school level. In terms of soccer I coached three years of rec (which I hated), but every parent loved it because I trained their kids very well. We moved our son into travel when he was getting too good for rec. However, it's not just us parents concerned over the coaching. Other coaches we know are aware of the lack of proper coaching for this age. You don't have 5-6 parents raising issues if there isn't one. Last thing we need is more things to deal with. We're not looking to have the coach removed. We're looking for some way to address the issues. One major issues is not holding certain kids accountable. Example: One kid will constantly yell and scream at other kids who aren't as good. This has become a major issues with team camaraderie, etc. As a prior athlete and coach this is where the coach should step in and teach property sportsmanship and being a good teammate.

1. Of course you did (eyeroll).
2. Perhaps you should have spent more time on academics. Your post is a grammatical horror story.

not nice

[Anonymous]

I think you need to call the club. The directors may or may not be aware of this. We had a similar issue, which started last fall. They let the coach go before the spring season. Nice guy but spread too thin to make the practices and we were constantly changing nights. Clubs do not hire coaches to not do the job. However if nobody speaks up when there are issues the director may be completely unaware. Speak up!

[Anonymous]

Why don't you volunteer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you volunteer?

Because this isn’t rec soccer. We spend a lot of money and have a right as consumers to ask for quality coaching.

[Anonymous]

If nobody will say anything your club leadership may not know. Anonymous letter if you’re that concerned about reprisals but someone should say something.