Anonymous wrote:Ten minutes, maybe. But 30? Consistently? Sounds like the coach needs to be more efficient getting through his plan for the day.

Having time to get homework done, a good meal and a decent night sleep are more important than 30 more minutes of drills.

This. And it shows they are short-sighted and dont see the kids as young student athletes who need more sleep the more active they are, better food, and time to rest and recouperate. B2B practices also show me the coach doesnt care what hes doing. He cares about that season only.

Ten minutes, maybe. But 30? Consistently? Sounds like the coach needs to be more efficient getting through his plan for the day.

Having time to get homework done, a good meal and a decent night sleep are more important than 30 more minutes of drills.

8 pm is absurd for under 12

It’s an old story from Reader’s Digest -

A older guy took up running - slowly - for exercise at the high school track. He jogged most days in the early evening. One Fall day he did not have his watch on, but the high school football practice ended about 5 so he would keep running until the practice was over.

He ran on, and the kids kept up with their dnd of practice exercise drills. He kept on until, finally, he just had to give up. While walking out, really beat, one of the coaches walked by on the way to the parking lot too. The coach said, “I’m really glad you finally stopped when you did. We knew you stopped about the same time as us. So, we told the team that they could certainly run as long the older guy on the track could keep going.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the outrage. I would not complain when an experienced coach gives more of his / her time for free to improve my kid's skills. If you have something more important scheduled at 8, go ahead and tell the coach that you've got places to be. The coach is not going to use force to keep your kid after the official end of the practice.

Because my kid doesn’t want to be pulled from the end of practice because I want to get home and make sure everyone has their homework done,etc, before bed. Because the kids are worried that the coach will unfairly penalize them for “leaving early” Because youth sports are not that important that coaches need another half an hour to impart their wisdom.

There are other things in some people’s lives besides youth activities. It’s not fair to consistently go over a scheduled practice. It’s rude to make parents and siblings sit in a car for extra time wondering how long it will be. Self important and rude.

Even though I would personally value the extra time that the coach offers, I do understand where you are coming from and I acknowledge that our circumstances are different. It looks to me that the club culture doesn't fit yours. You like a structured environment, where an activity starts on time and ends on time. It might be time to find a different club that values timing to the same extent as you do. This became extremely clear after you called the coach "self important and rude."

Anonymous wrote:Your child is in an extracurricular optional activity. You are aware that the coach runs practices late. You have the choice to withdraw your child from the activity or participate under the conditions.

You can also just go and take your kid off the practice field at 8:00 or 8:05 and tell the coach that the kid has to leave.

+1

I don’t see how an extra few minutes is a big deal, but I am not you. If your kid needs to leave (mine occasionally does, most do here and there)- just walk up and beckon your child over, thank the coach “sorry coach, Larla needs to take off now- see you tomorrow!”. At age 8 the coach is not going to hold it against her.

The coach probably loses track of time, a drill or something took longer than planned, or is just willing to stay late to provide extra reps & help with skills (awesome!). Be grateful.

Coaches (and some parents here) need to get a grip. There are often diminishing returns to holding kids at practice longer at the younger ages. Kids who are sleep deprived can’t benefit from their hard work as much as kids who get enough sleep. The brain needs sleep to consolidate learning.

People need to stop acting like 8 year old sports is the be all end all. Half the kids who are good at 8 flame out, and other kids who catch up end up passing them in the teen years. Everyone needs to just calm down and take a balanced approach in elementary school.

Your child is in an extracurricular optional activity. You are aware that the coach runs practices late. You have the choice to withdraw your child from the activity or participate under the conditions.

You can also just go and take your kid off the practice field at 8:00 or 8:05 and tell the coach that the kid has to leave.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the outrage. I would not complain when an experienced coach gives more of his / her time for free to improve my kid's skills. If you have something more important scheduled at 8, go ahead and tell the coach that you've got places to be. The coach is not going to use force to keep your kid after the official end of the practice.

Because my kid doesn’t want to be pulled from the end of practice because I want to get home and make sure everyone has their homework done,etc, before bed. Because the kids are worried that the coach will unfairly penalize them for “leaving early” Because youth sports are not that important that coaches need another half an hour to impart their wisdom.

There are other things in some people’s lives besides youth activities. It’s not fair to consistently go over a scheduled practice. It’s rude to make parents and siblings sit in a car for extra time wondering how long it will be. Self important and rude.

My kids flag practice is supposed to end at 730. Hes 6. It kept going 10, 15, 20 minutes over. Weve got dinner (I feed him before practice too but hes hungry kid!) shower and a drive home.

After 2 practices like that, I walked up at 730 and told him its time to go. His Coach called him over to run another round of plays and I said, sorry Coach its 730! Weve got to get enough sleep so he can learn tomorrow! - in my nicest, firmest voice.

I had two other parents thank me on the way out and then went to get their kids.

My agreement with sports is we show up on time to practice, he behaves during practice, and we show up to games. We make our commitment for the time allotted. You dont get to infringe on time beyond that.

If the Coach had a problem with it, we would no longer be on the team and I would ask for a refund. Kids need their sleep. Youve got 90 minutes. Figure it out.

I don't understand the outrage. I would not complain when an experienced coach gives more of his / her time for free to improve my kid's skills. If you have something more important scheduled at 8, go ahead and tell the coach that you've got places to be. The coach is not going to use force to keep your kid after the official end of the practice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s normal, you don’t have to play sports though.

Not normal for practice to run 20-30 minutes over repeatedly.

Most of DS's basketball team will stay and shoot around or play each other until the coach tells them to leave. They're the last ones in the gym and usually go for a half hour after practice

My kid and his friends do that, too, but that's not the same thing as the coach continuing practice for an extra 20-30 minutes.

If the coach wants longer practices, adjust the schedule and communicate it to parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s normal, you don’t have to play sports though.

Not normal for practice to run 20-30 minutes over repeatedly.

Most of DS's basketball team will stay and shoot around or play each other until the coach tells them to leave. They're the last ones in the gym and usually go for a half hour after practice

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not normal at the rec level. No idea about the superstar Olympic level though.

The strict early start times doesn't sound like rec level. The op wants the prestige of travel ball without the work

Nobody thinks travel ball is prestigious.

If the practice is scheduled to end at 8, it should end at 8. Especially for third graders. With three kids in travel we’ve never had a coach regularly go past the end time, even when we’ve had the last practice of the day on the fields we use.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An 8 year old has practices two nights in a row, is this travel ball? The expectation is that the coaches push the kids.

On a nice night like last night I used to run practice until all the kids got called away by their parents and there were no more kids left to coach. It could rain the next three weeks, practice when you can.

Did you tell the parents that? I would be livid if my kid’s coach ran practice that way.

You'd have probably checked the league bylaws and reported me to the board.