Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH had the opposite coaching style in basketball; he was very aware of people's perceptions and slightly downplayed DC.

It's weird when the coach is so concerned with perceptions but coaching so poorly.

It is only "coaching poorly" if the kid of the dad coach is a star player. Otherwise it seems wise.

Anonymous wrote:DH had the opposite coaching style in basketball; he was very aware of people's perceptions and slightly downplayed DC.

It's weird when the coach is so concerned with perceptions but coaching so poorly.

DH had the opposite coaching style in basketball; he was very aware of people's perceptions and slightly downplayed DC.

It often doesn't make sense to put the five best players out at the same time. A lot of coaches are trying to get everyone some
Playtime and that means balancing out the lineups.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it’s an AAU/travel or select/county team, playing time is not guaranteed. If a house league, players should be rotated according to the league rules. You may be surprised that either equal playing time isn’t required there or your kid actually played more than you thought. Read the rules first.

It is a county select team. My son got some playing time and scored a few times. Some of the returning players were not very good and played most of the time. I would have no problem with coach’s kid and friends playing if they were good but they were playing horribly. Any other coach would have subbed them out.

Some orgs have minimum playtime rules for their county teams.

YES! It's been this way for years. They defend it by saying "you can always coach if you don't like it"

Both my daughter and my son were impacted by daddy coaches.


PS - Daughter switched AAU teams - went from bench rider to D1 recruit.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a bench player and has always scored more than the starters or even the kids who come off the bench first. It's frustrating to watch but we have no control over this. It's also not always just about scoring and my child is weak in other areas.

As a coach, I generally dont run my 5 best scorers out to start. I want some depth in scoring so that I have some balance on the court at all times.

You also sound pretty level headed and understand you son migh have somethings to work on.

The effects of Daddy Ball extend beyond playing time. Some other signs include: not calling fouls for kids or permitting dangerous play (besides their kid of course), permitting their kid to foul aggressively in practice, running plays that don't involve other kids, limited concept of the game, losing badly or not particularly concerned with winning, cutting players that are better than their kid. Not letting kids play different positions. Managing the team down to their kid's level.

My daughter is really good the on coach eventually had the club bump her up to an older age group, they have multiple coaches, so the play isn't so overtly Daddy ball, but it is still there. The thing is you can still see the effects of how the coach was coaching, in the way she doesn't challenge players like she used to. I wished the elementary schools had team sports.

If I were a coach (I've thought about it, but there aren't that many girls that want to play), in the games I would try to figure out who the coach's kid is, then put my best defender on her, make sure she doesn't get the ball. We had a game like that this weekend. The team ran a press they kept double teaming the ball handler (coach's kid) stripping the ball and shooting layups, over and over again they ran that same play. The team had a whole extra squad they put in that kept doing the same thing, double team strip, layup.

Sad but it’s the reality of basketball. Not just Daddy Ball, coaches always has favorites and you can’t do anything about it. Just keep grinding and hope you get your turn .

Same situation for my son last year, even though he never missed a practice and hustled hard in practice and in games. And he was the only player with several years of AAU experience on the better local teams.

My son started the season only playing a few minutes but ended the season playing more than half the game, once the coach realized how good he was and how often he scored. But, coach took playing time away from other good players to play his 3 favorites for most of every game (despite many turnovers, dumb shots, etc.). Team lost a championship game that would have been an easy win, if coach played the best players on the team and if he had subbed out his favorites.

My kid is a bench player and has always scored more than the starters or even the kids who come off the bench first. It's frustrating to watch but we have no control over this. It's also not always just about scoring and my child is weak in other areas.

Anonymous wrote:If it’s an AAU/travel or select/county team, playing time is not guaranteed. If a house league, players should be rotated according to the league rules. You may be surprised that either equal playing time isn’t required there or your kid actually played more than you thought. Read the rules first.

It is a county select team. My son got some playing time and scored a few times. Some of the returning players were not very good and played most of the time. I would have no problem with coach’s kid and friends playing if they were good but they were playing horribly. Any other coach would have subbed them out.

If it’s an AAU/travel or select/county team, playing time is not guaranteed. If a house league, players should be rotated according to the league rules. You may be surprised that either equal playing time isn’t required there or your kid actually played more than you thought. Read the rules first.

Everyone deserves equal time.

Is it normal for the coach to play his son and friends over better players?

It was very frustrating to watch our team play. The returning players were obviously all friends, both kids and parents.