CYA Basketball: Why don't more parents volunteer or get involved?

[Anonymous]

I'm a CYA basketball coach and it's frustrating to have as many as 12 kids on a team because parents refuse to step up and volunteer to coach. The ideal number is 9 on a team but because of the lack of coaches, we're going to end up with larger teams and fewer assistant coaches. In the last few years, there has been a surge of new players in the Northern Virginia (Chantilly) area and hardly any of their parents want to get involved. They just drop the kids off at practice and then show up for the games, usually right at game time so they don't even warm up and the coach has to alter lineups right before the game.

Many emails have gone out to the participants' parents to please volunteer to be a coach/assistant coach. The least parents can do is to stick around and help out. CYA basketball is not a daycare center or opportunity to add to your kid's extracurricular resume.

[Anonymous]

I'm in MD and finding coaches for basketball seems to be an issue here too. Actually, its been an issue to some degree for every rec sport my sons have played. But of the sports my sons play, I do think basketball may have the hardest time with coaches.

I wonder if perhaps there are fewer parents who feel they have enough basketball knowledge/experience to coach. You might try making it clear in the emails that no experience is required -- and the simple tasks they can help with at practice.

[Anonymous]

well, we would have loved to have put our son in that league, and my husband would have stepped up...

But we have no Catholic affiliation and at least when my kid was of age, it wasn't open to us.

[Anonymous]

In general, parents don't want to coach for a variety of reasons, including (1) they don't really know the sport, (2) their child wants to play on a team with their friends and if the parent coaches, the team will be split up, (3) they don't want to deal with complaints from other parents, (4) they aren't comfortable with other people's kids. My DH stepped in at the last minute to coach our son's basketball team a few years ago and ended up with the kids that didn't have an established team. He did a great job coaching, but the teams in the league were completely unbalanced, and my DH clearly got the less skilled players. I have substituted for our daughter's coach on a couple of occasions, but don't want to coach 7-8 year old girls because frankly, I am too intense for that age group and I don't have an interest in making little girls cry. Given that I don't want to coach, I do my best to support the coach, bring my kids to practices and games on time, let them know if we will miss an event, and make sure my kids know that they have to listen to the coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:well, we would have loved to have put our son in that league, and my husband would have stepped up...

But we have no Catholic affiliation and at least when my kid was of age, it wasn't open to us.

Wow - 40years ago CYA was open to non Catholics (where I grew up)

[Anonymous]

What does CYA stand for? Chantilly Youth Association?

[Anonymous]

DH coached for a few years and loved it but my child hated it. DH loves basketball more than my son and was very tough on him, or that’s how DS felt. It wasn’t enjoyable for either since they frequently argued at home about it. He wouldn’t coach my younger child after that, and neither child wanted him to.

I’d help out more but I have no idea what I’m doing and usually dropping off last minute because I’m also dropping off or picking up my other child from a different place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:well, we would have loved to have put our son in that league, and my husband would have stepped up...

But we have no Catholic affiliation and at least when my kid was of age, it wasn't open to us.

I think you have it confused with CYO which is church based affiliates. Not CYA

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure who the OP is, but I'll give my opinion as a parent who has had 2 kids play CYA basketball within the last few years.

My first kid started in 2nd grade (the year we moved here) but didn't get put on a team with anyone from our school. For most of the kids on the team, it was their first year playing (like the pp mentioning all the leftovers being thrown together) and they were ill prepared for the first game. There were maybe 3 practices before the first game and it showed. Add to that the high school refs and it was a disaster most weeks. So when my kid didn't want to play the next year, I was fine with it.

My next kid started in first grade. We expected a few scrimmages, but ended up having games every weekend for like 8 weeks. It was more than we anticipated. We had a good coach and had learned we needed to request being on a team with kids from our school. The refs were still ill prepared to ref a game. The rules weren't clear (stealing, no stealing, fouls etc.). My second kid wants to play again so we signed up and requested the same coach.

I agree parents not doing their part to get their kid to practice or games on time is an issue. There were many kids that arrived late to practice or right at game time.

I personally do not want to coach in the circumstance I have described (a lack of practice time, ill prepared refs, unclear rules, and parents inability to get their kid there on time).

[Anonymous]

This sounds horrible but in that area, it’s because Asian parents rarely volunteer but they want to sign their kids up to play. They will sometimes volunteer for school activities that directly benefit their own child but almost never fr sports. So in Chantilly, 50% of your potential coaches will never volunteer. That’s why there are at least three parents in every age group who coach soccer, baseball, and basketball.

[Anonymous]

12 children on a rec basketball team is ridiculous. Only 5 play at once-how do you give 12 equal playing time. These rec leagues need to limit registrations to 8 or 9 per team. If there are only 4 coaches, then after 50 sign up out goes to a waitlist until a parent on the waitlist agrees to coach. The rec leagues don’t want to turn down the fees!

[Anonymous]

It is frustrating in rec basketball when coaches scheme to keep teams together-telling their team not to show up for the skills evaluation, etc and then there are three teams who have played together for years and two teams of stragglers wondering why the teams are so unbalanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:well, we would have loved to have put our son in that league, and my husband would have stepped up...

But we have no Catholic affiliation and at least when my kid was of age, it wasn't open to us.

OP here. CYA stands for Chantilly Youth League. It’s never had a religious affiliation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, we would have loved to have put our son in that league, and my husband would have stepped up...

But we have no Catholic affiliation and at least when my kid was of age, it wasn't open to us.

OP here. CYA stands for Chantilly Youth League. It’s never had a religious affiliation.

....sorry, meant Chantilly Youth Association

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds horrible but in that area, it’s because Asian parents rarely volunteer but they want to sign their kids up to play. They will sometimes volunteer for school activities that directly benefit their own child but almost never fr sports. So in Chantilly, 50% of your potential coaches will never volunteer. That’s why there are at least three parents in every age group who coach soccer, baseball, and basketball.

Bingo! That’s pretty much what I was getting at but didn’t want to call out any specific group.