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From Little League baseball and basketball right through high school and college sports, parents exist who yearn to remain in coaching long enough to have their own child on the team. Based on experience I must confess that few matters are more difficult than putting father and son/mother and daughter or any combination into such a trying position.
Yes, there are advantages to coaching your child. Foremost, if you are an excellent, well-rounded, and brilliant coach, your child will be rewarded with exceptional guidance as fundamentals will be practiced to perfection and skills will be honed to high quality. This is of great value, regardless of the parent/child relationship since athletes that are taught well are able to maximize their talents and be proud of their performance.
With a parent coaching the child can most often be assured of a starting position on the team. No languishing on the bench when Dad is in charge. For building confidence, this can be beneficial, especially if the child has worked hard and has the performance skills necessary plus has earned the opportunity through effort, dedication, and team play. The fret over playing time can disappear.
As the coach you also select the team so you can be certain that the “best” players are yours. Best can include moral, physical, social, and mental attributes that enhance the worth of the team. The riffraff and ne’er-do-wells can be sucked up by another outfit. Oh, these last two paragraphs have taken on a caustic tone when there really are advantages to coaching your own child.
Working together with your child under the intensity of a sport can build positive relationships. Coaching automatically boosts extra time together performing an activity that hopefully both parties love. My son started playing basketball as soon as he could walk and lug that enormous ball around the court and football came right behind; his Dad is a dedicated coach of both games with an acute eye for recognizing and then developing fundamental skills and individual talent. Father and son worked well together throughout childhood, junior high, and into high school. Dad always worked to avoid playing favorites with his team as he also maneuvered to remove himself from coaching altogether when son hit the varsity level of play. In a small town this was not easy because extra coaches are not always available and so he remained his son’s head football and assistant basketball coach.
Fortunately, Son loved both sports, practiced hard, and played harder. But regardless of the Father/Son attitude and belief in the team, jealousy pocked the season. Whether your son is a starter, a star, or simply an average team member, “someone and his Dad” are never pleased. Riding this out and staying positive while moving the team forward in skill and success is not easy and often some of the fun of the game is extracted. Imagine the problems that arise when the coach is ill-prepared and the child forced to play in a position where …