-2 h.s. hockey coaches??

[shorthairman]

I think it is going to be very interesting to see what happens with HS sports going into the future. There could be and are multiple factors for coaches getting out of coaching, and unfortunately many good coaches give it up because of parents.

One of the problems that I see is that parents think because they pay to send their kids to camps, or to have their kid get on some AAU/traveling team that that means their kid is good. Don't get me wrong, some of these kids are good, but many times if a parent is willing to pay the money, the kid will get to be on the team. Parents then translate that to the HS team "well my little Johnny played AAU so they should be a starter for the HS team." Then when little Johnny isn't a starter and they dished out a few thousand bucks for him to play they feel entitled and who gets blamed?? The HS coach.

Next is the subject of sport specialization. Little Johnny only focuses on playing that one sport so he is way more dedicated than those other guys who don't play that sport all year around. Again, because he is "so dedicated" he should be a starter...

I highly encourage that if any of you have kids in sports, do not specialize them...There is nothing wrong with your kid having a favorite sport or a main sport. That is the sport they want to focus on, or have the most success in, or maybe get a college scholarship in. Many studies have been, and are being done, to show that sport specialization can be/is detrimental to the athlete. First of all, repetitive motions done multiple times a day over the course of many months or years can lead to potentially serious overuse injuries. Second, athletes only become "athletic" in the movements associated with their sport. So they do not develop reflexes, muscle movements, strength, coordination, etc. outside of that sports specific movements.
If your kid is good enough to get a college scholarship in a sport, often times that college coach also wants to know how good of an overall athlete your kid is and will want to know what other sports they were involved in.

 

[fly2cast]

I swear that I live in an alternate universe hearing some people talk or I'm extremely lucky. So many people like to say how bad kids are today, how kids are wusses, how bad parents are, everything use to be better. Maybe I've lived with my head in the sand but from what I've seen with my four kids 12-19 years old, things are pretty good. Between them, their friends, and their friends parents, I've seen very few negative things. The kids are good, well behaved and do well at school. Parents are fine too. I've had kids in damn near every sport: cross country, volleyball, soccer, football, wrestling, basketball and baseball. In traveling sports and school sports. I have not seen wide spread problems with either coaches, parent, or kids. Yes there were some games where parents maybe should have been more quiet. Yes there were games where the coach yelled too much as refs. But all in all its been nothing but a good experience with sports and with this generation. Mind you, my kids were never very good at sports so they often sat on the bench so it's not like my kids did so well that I had nothing to complain about.

 

[shorthairman]

fly2cast- I agree that there are a lot of good kids and parents out there. Unfortunately the parents that are the most disgruntled are often the loudest when it comes to complaints and pointing out "injustices". They can get a mob going somewhere downtown and they even get people who don't go to games and know what is going on behind them sometimes. Somehow it seems like a select few can ruin it for others...
Also, if you have four kids who have been in multiple sports for multiple years and have not had problems with parents complaining about coaching, parents getting out of hand at games, kids being generally "bad" sports (bad attitudes while playing) then I would say you are in the minority and are lucky! I hope things continue that way for you!

 

[eyexer]

I grew up playing three sports. It was the only reason I even wanted to go to school. But now days, with the cost and the insanity involved we're probably better off just eliminating sports from school. Sports have become something only the wealthy can afford to do anymore. At least at a competitive level. Sound familiar? Hunting is pretty much that now. And will be worse in the future. Take golf for example. A full set of clubs costs $2000-2500 now. Green fees/memberships are ridiculous. The number of golfers are plummeting. Costs for shit are out of control.

 

[Davey Crockett]

It's what you make out of the situation and in my opinion there are so many benefits that go along with sports and extracurricular activities and they are a great form of education in themselves and leverage for making academics high on the priority list.

House rules should be Poor grades or lack of proper self discipline and kids can't play and that should be at all levels whether school affiliated or not . The price of clubs was actually a good hurdle in our household , Components are affordable so our boys ordered components and put their own sets together. Oldest boy actually made some pretty good coin all through high school regripping and reshafting clubs. Once the word got out he had a lot of business but he didn't charge enough so the older gentleman in the golf community always made sure it was worth his time.

Any contest is good , Spelling bees, Math counts, Geography bees, you name it it's all good. There is a difference between small own and big cities for sure but the opportunities are there and it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. And now shooting sports in bigger cities, That's awesome. pretty sure our grandkids will get into that.
We traveled a lot for hockey but that was our family vacations and our family was happy with that. Good thing for us was Canadian leagues , Most towns were around 30 miles and furthest was about 60. The more towns here that have sports the less teams would have to travel.
I was surprised that inhouse hockey has become less popular , Our grandkids are just getting to the age for sports and watched a couple of our oldest granddaughters hockey games, The excitement and adrenaline in her after the games was worth it . Long live youth sports.

 

[Riggen&Jiggen]

I don't believe the negative drama over youth and HS sports has changed over the years when it comes to parents complaining to the coach. What has changed is the attitude of some of the kids. There seems to be a greater amount of kids these days that will not listen to the coaches and have a shit attitude. There were kids 20 plus years ago that also had shit attitudes but they listened or they didn't get playing time. I feel that most of this could be corrected with good communication by the coach all year long and I not only communicating to the kids but also talking with the parents. Not saying that it is all on the coaches shoulders. The coach needs people in their corner (players, parents, athletic director) to help with what ever message they want known. If you don't have that support it becomes a up hill battle and you get burnt out as a coach. All the drama brought up now, I assure you happened 20+ years ago. You just did not have the internet or cell phones back then. I played hockey back in the 80s and we went from October to April and had camps in the summer. Hockey has always been a sport that you traveled a lot for. Nowadays every other sport has caught up to that. When my kids started Y ball in 1st grad a few of the parents freaked out that their precious Sally kept getting the ball taken away. I told the wife they better pull their kid out of sports if they can't handle that because sports is not a place for buttercups. My wife did not play sports and she was kind of shocked at first how some people acted. I told her to get used to it because it will only get worse. Even with the drama sports are an unbelievable experience for kids and teach them a lot about life. Sports can bring out the worst in people but I would have to say there is way more positives than negatives.