Coaching your child on a team can be confusing sometimes. You are the parent and the coach. But what you need to realize and do is separate the two. Both of these functions work and integrate, but certain aspects need to be separated when coaching your child as the coach of the team.
Here are some tips to help you coach your child.
Tip 1- Treat Everyone The Same
As a parent, you want your child to play well. As a coach, you want all children to play well. So, it would be best if you treated all players equally. You have to remember your child is a player. And all players get equal treatment. You don’t want to be seen as picking favorites. And, there is no reason to be harder or strict on your child to improve their performance or guise your parent/coach relationship. Doing this, can be detrimental to your relationship off the field. Understand your child whether a part of the team is at practice and in the game. So, treat them the same.
Tip 2- Don’t Force
Don’t try to force your child into playing a sport or position you want them to play. Let them discover their interest and skills as well as their place on the team through trial and error. If you push them and they don’t enjoy playing a sport or a position you insist they play, they are more likely not to perform well. They will lose interest. Your child needs to have fun too and wants to belong to the team and not be singled out.
Tip 3- Keep It Fun
Tiger Woods Dad was his coach. Although he was the coach, Tiger says that his Dad always kept his practices fun. If you teach the game as fun, you will produce the greatest athletes. Fun is the attraction to want to play and learn more. If the sport becomes too belaboring, they will lose interest and not be motivated to want to play or be better. Fun produces passion, and passion drives motivation. Being intense and hard on a child to perform flawlessly is too much stress. Stress produces disinterest, especially as a child.
Tip 4- Understand Your Motivation
Understand why you want to be a coach. If it is to coach only your child on the team, you may need to rethink your actions. Venus and Serena Williams, when young, used to say, “My Dad is my coach.” And their Dad would say, “Don’t say I am your coach; I am Dad. Richard Williams motivation was to be a Dad who taught his daughters how to play tennis. And, the girls ended up loving the sport. He never forced tennis on them and motivated and inspired his daughters to want to play through their own volition. Richard also believed they could not abandon education as well as being children. So, have the right intentions and motivation for your child that integrates their interest and lets them be a child having fun and you will have success.
Tip 5- Enjoy Coaching
Don’t just coach because you try to be close to your child or think you can push them to be the best. You must have good intentions, sincerity, passion, and the will to want to be a coach. It can only be simply based on this reason, coaching your child or not. It would help if you enjoyed coaching to inspire, teach, and motivate children. If you don’t enjoy it and have an ulterior motive, the players will see and feel it.
Remember, what makes a great relationship as a coach or a parent is fun. Coaching your child can be rewarding and teach them to be independent under your watch. However, you will have to learn to wear two hats, to be a coach and parent, because their qualities are intermingled. Be understanding, considerate, patient, and flexible, and you will be successful as a parent coach.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
MOST POPULAR
Coaching your child on a team can be confusing sometimes. You are the parent and the coach. But what you need to realize and do is separate the two. Both of these functions work and integrate, but certain aspects need to be separated when coaching your child as the coach of the team.
Here are some tips to help you coach your child.
Tip 1- Treat Everyone The Same
As a parent, you want your child to play well. As a coach, you want all children to play well. So, it would be best if you treated all players equally. You have to remember your child is a player. And all players get equal treatment. You don’t want to be seen as picking favorites. And, there is no reason to be harder or strict on your child to improve their performance or guise your parent/coach relationship. Doing this, can be detrimental to your relationship off the field. Understand your child whether a part of the team is at practice and in the game. So, treat them the same.
Tip 2- Don’t Force
Don’t try to force your child into playing a sport or position you want them to play. Let them discover their interest and skills as well as their place on the team through trial and error. If you push them and they don’t enjoy playing a sport or a position you insist they play, they are more likely not to perform well. They will lose interest. Your child needs to have fun too and wants to belong to the team and not be singled out.
Tip 3- Keep It Fun
Tiger Woods Dad was his coach. Although he was the coach, Tiger says that his Dad always kept his practices fun. If you teach the game as fun, you will produce the greatest athletes. Fun is the attraction to want to play and learn more. If the sport becomes too belaboring, they will lose interest and not be motivated to want to play or be better. Fun produces passion, and passion drives motivation. Being intense and hard on a child to perform flawlessly is too much stress. Stress produces disinterest, especially as a child.
Tip 4- Understand Your Motivation
Understand why you want to be a coach. If it is to coach only your child on the team, you may need to rethink your actions. Venus and Serena Williams, when young, used to say, “My Dad is my coach.” And their Dad would say, “Don’t say I am your coach; I am Dad. Richard Williams motivation was to be a Dad who taught his daughters how to play tennis. And, the girls ended up loving the sport. He never forced tennis on them and motivated and inspired his daughters to want to play through their own volition. Richard also believed they could not abandon education as well as being children. So, have the right intentions and motivation for your child that integrates their interest and lets them be a child having fun and you will have success.
Tip 5- Enjoy Coaching
Don’t just coach because you try to be close to your child or think you can push them to be the best. You must have good intentions, sincerity, passion, and the will to want to be a coach. It can only be simply based on this reason, coaching your child or not. It would help if you enjoyed coaching to inspire, teach, and motivate children. If you don’t enjoy it and have an ulterior motive, the players will see and feel it.
Remember, what makes a great relationship as a coach or a parent is fun. Coaching your child can be rewarding and teach them to be independent under your watch. However, you will have to learn to wear two hats, to be a coach and parent, because their qualities are intermingled. Be understanding, considerate, patient, and flexible, and you will be successful as a parent coach.