Coach Your Child's Sports Team

Earlier this summer I blogged about coaching my daughter's soccer team.  The fall soccer season has begun and I've again agreed to coach my 4 year old's team.  She's moved up from the U4 level to the U6 level, which means a bigger field, but coaches still run on the field with the kids and many of the kids are playing soccer for the first time.  Often times sports leagues are in desperate need for volunteer coaches and end up doing a lot of hand wringing to get parents to coach.  As I've stated before, coaching isn't for everybody, but don't immediately rule it out.  You don't need much, if any, experience in the sport you are coaching.  I had no organized soccer experience, and very little recreational experience, at all before agreeing to coach.

If you're coaching kids in the 3 - 8 year old range, your job is less about teaching skills and more about teaching kids to be active and to work well with others.  Yes, I do teach soccer skills at my practices, but it's more important that each kid is having fun and enjoying the experience.  This means a lot of games that naturally get them practicing the skills.  Maybe you have no experience at all, but if you can work well with young kids 1 or 2 nights a week and get them having fun, then you are coaching material!  Take 30 minutes to search the web for fun sports games (or maybe the league provides you with a list of games like ours did).  If the kids are having fun, then you are a successful coach at this level.

In addition, coaching your child's sports team creates a whole slew of memories and experiences that will last a lifetime!  You get to spent time with your son/daughter in a much different parent/child role.  This is a good learning experience for both parent and child.