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[quote=asksoccernova]Playing time:

Generally, the club will set the guidelines for playing time, which are outlined in the Club Bylaws, especially for the younger ages. An example would be 50% for U9-U11, 25% for U12-U14, and no minimum for U15 and over. If the coach deviates from that in league games or anything outside of a tournament, it's a problem.

Bottom line is there must be a clearly communicated policy on playing time that everyone understands.

As the ages get older, the rosters get larger, and the games get more competitive, the coach will have more leeway to make more of a personal judgment about how many minutes each player receives.

I'm sure it happens a lot, but I've never been directly asked by a parent why their player isn't playing more. A coach should lay out the policy on playing time and make sure its clear to parents before the season starts. As long as the coach follows the plan, there should't be any issues.

More important than this is the coach's relationship with each set of parents. If the coach has a positive relationship with each set of parents and takes some time to speak/meet with each of them individually, parents will trust the coach's decisions more. If the coach does not take time to communicate with parents and just dictates things, they will feel like its a you vs. them thing rather than everyone being here for the same reason, which is to to create a good experience for the players.

If a parent were to ask me about their player's playing time, it means I have done something wrong already, either not communicated effectively or not followed a policy that was already laid out.

The best way to respond would be to just listen to what the parent has to say and then think on it before responding. It's a sensitive issue because playing time can be linked to just "how good" the coach thinks the player is, vs. "how good" the parents thing the player is, and all that. That's why player evaluations are also important.

If the parents have a copy of the player's evaluation, and they are ranked #18 out of 18 players in terms of their score, it should be understood why the player isn't playing more (and here are areas where the player can improve so they CAN get more playing time).

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