How to Manage Soccer Parent Expectations
While the adult soccer players know a lot about how to manage things as they are maturing, the youth soccer players do not know a lot of things that might be critical for their success.
This is the part where the relationship between the coach and parents matters a lot because this relationship fills a major gap. Making this relationship strong is just one part of meeting soccer parent expectations.
So, if you are looking to manage the expectations of the parents of every youth soccer player then you need to manage things in a specific way. Here we will be discussing everything that you need to do to manage these expectations in the best manner.
Manage Soccer Parent Expectations as a Youth Soccer Coach
Managing soccer parent expectations is not difficult at all if you treat things with proper planning and work accordingly. So, here are some of the important things that will make it easier for you to manage the expectations of youth soccer parents.
Make sure that you have good communication with the players as a coach
The first thing that you would want to do is to maintain good communication with the players. Sometimes players hesitate to discuss their problems and issues with you.
This is the problem whose only solution is to communicate with the players. By exposing players to a better environment for communication you can make them feel better to discuss that issue with their coach.
In this way, you will be yourself solving most of their queries which they won’t tell their parents. This also keeps parents from being overprotective about their kids.
Hold an official meeting with the parents
Now that you have developed a better communication environment with the youth soccer players and made them comfortable to discuss their issues with you, you can ask all the parents to join you in a meeting.
Ask parents about their expectations, queries, and questions. In this way, both parties can communicate in a better way and parents will also have better and clearer answers to all their issues.
Signing a contract with the parents is important
Sometimes the overprotective parents get jealous just because you punished their kids or there is some other issue with the player. It is only because there is miscommunication as well as a lack of awareness.
While you have the parents at the meeting you need to make them sign a contract that will have all of the following things:
- Rules about playing and behavior
- Punishments for different violations
- Consequences of not abiding by the rules
This must not only include things about the kids but also about the parents so that your youth soccer club has the best performance stats.
Be consistent whether it is about timeline or rules
Well, you are making the youth soccer players follow all the rules along with their parents. What about yourself? You must also follow all the rules as well as timelines.
You will be a role model for the players so you must treat everyone with equality whether it is about coaching, appreciating, or enforcing rules.
Listen to what parents say as it matters a lot
As a coach, you need to understand that you and the parents need to work parallelly for the betterment of youth soccer players. Let parents speak up and give their suggestions and opinions.
In this way, they will be able to express their thoughts and feelings which will allow you both to work better on their kid. Sharing contact details can be even better for telling about progress and performance.
Tell every parent that there is only one coach on the sideline
How to deal with parents coaching from the sidelines is important to know for coaches. Make sure to tell parents that there will be only one coach and that will be you.
Parents can cheer and motivate kids when it is about their performance, but they must not speak about the technicalities of the game. In this way, parents on the sidelines will be better for players instead of confusing them.
Tell every parent to be alcohol and drug-free when they appear at the sideline
Parents sideline behavior matters a lot when it is about the performance of other players. As a coach, you must tell them to be alcohol and drug-free whenever they are at the sideline. In this way, you will not have to face parents yelling at soccer games and other similar issues.
Observe and discuss the negative things in children with parents
It is your duty as a coach to observe the negative things in your soccer players. It is even more important that you discuss these things with their parents. These negative things include
- Demotivation
- Lack of ambition
- Bad behavior
While you are with the kids for a short time, their parents understand them better and so does the child. This is one of the best things you can do to meet their expectations because in this way parents can work well on their child.
Make sure that parents are aware of all important events
Whether a youth soccer player is playing well, or he is getting punished, you must tell their parents about that. Regularly informing parents will ensure that their expectations from you are being met and they motivate their kids well about the sport.
Make players understand that taking their studies alongside is important as well
When kids play soccer at the youth soccer level, they must manage studies as well. This is the time when they haven’t yet decided whether they are going to take soccer as their profession or not.
When you do this the player will perform well in both fields and maintain a good balance. This will be an amazing thing to meet the expectations of soccer parents.
Final Verdict
Coaching youth soccer players is a challenge in itself and developing a good relationship can help you a lot in meeting the soccer parent expectations. If you did not know what to do as a coach, we hope that we have covered everything that you needed to do. Now that you follow all of these things you can simply train the players with a complete correspondence with their parents for their best future.
