[dawgbyte02]

I agree 100% with this statement. I coach Jr. High Baseball and the first thing I do is meet with the parents and players. My first comment is "this isn't Little League, your son will have to earn playing time and he will sit the bench until he proves he belongs on the field. We are a competitive program that is fair to all, but I will put the best 9 on the field at my discrection."

I see kids who in LL were average at best, but begin to catch up physically to the better ones and this makes the parents of the better players uncomfortable that someone is challenging their son for playing time. If you tear a kid down for making a mistake, you should talk about it with him and build him back up, most kids respond well to this and will preform at a higher level for the coach. Lack of effort is completely unexcusable imo. If you dont want to put in the time and effort required to help your team win, quit and take up tennis or track.

A mark of a true coach is meeting with the PARENTS and players to go over what is expected. I have found this one single thing does more to prevent misunderstandings. For example the LC football coach prepared a packet that had every single thing to do with the football program through November. One of the items was a MANDATORY parents meeting. Also complete practice schedules, required fundraisers, camp schedules etc. A lot of work went into this and most "coaches" don't do this but a true coach will. This allows a parent to schedule a July vacation in March because they know the schedule. True coaches don't yell at a player for throwing his batting helmet then turn around and kick a bucket of balls all over the dugout because he is upset. I think maybe a new thread should be What is the definition of a true coach?