Unfortunately the biggest problem in little league sports is not the child being disappointed in losing. The biggest problem in little league sports is not your child being injured. The biggest problem in little league sports seems to be the behavior of the children’s parents. It seems like every week there is a new story about a parent being arrested for causing trouble at a little league game. Dealing with coaches is reportedly the leading cause in little league coaches quitting. So how does a little league coach deal with these parents?
Dealing with parents, or problems with anybody really, can always be improved by communication. At the beginning of each season have a meeting for the parents. Make it very clear to the parents what your plans and goals are for the season. If the little league coach is a very competitive person coach and he wants a competitive team then tell the parents it will be a very competitive team. If the little coach is more about teaching and kids doing their best, tell the parents that. Explain to the parents how starting positions and play time will be decided. Tell the parents the rules, if a player will not get to start for missing a practice then tell the parents that. This will hopefully avoid a problem in the future where the parent complains about their player not starting. It’s important to have this meeting before the season gets started while it is still possible to move players to another team. Tell the parents that you will not be offended if the parents decide they don’t like your philosophy and want to move their play to another team.
It’s important to try and have everyone attend the meeting because they’ll be more likely to listen and you can possibly get an early idea of what coaches could be a problem. There is a good chance all the parents will not be able to make the meeting though. For those parents make a printout of all the things you went over in the meeting and when they come to pick up their child give them the printout. Be sure to tell them it’s very important they read it and decide if they want their child to remain on the team.
After a little league coach has told the parents what to expect the next most important thing is to live up to your word. It’s easy to say your word is one thing and then do another thing. If a little league coach has rules and a certain philosophy on how things work then stick to them. If a little league coach tells the parents one thing and then do something else there will likely be an altercation.
It is also important for a little league coach to be open to parents’ concerns. Some parents are going to be unreasonable and complain about little things but hopefully most parents have a legitimate concern. If a parent approaches you with a concern don’t automatically get defensive. Listen to them and if it seems like a reasonable concern then try and help out. Parents will be a lot less likely to complain if they see that you are making an honest effort to deal with the problem.
If there is a parent that a little league coach is having a problem with, give him a job to do. Let the parent pitch at batting practice or catch for a pitcher warming up, or keep score during the game. Hopefully if they feel like a part of the team they won’t complain as much. If nothing else it will at least give them some busy work to do and they won’t have as much time to complain.
Finally a little league coach should keep the league informed. Most of the parents who don’t behave you will notice early on. If a little league coach sees ahead of time that this coach is going to be a problem then he should inform the league administrators. That way if a problem arises the administrators can deal with the parent.
