re: Anyone do volunteer coaching for youth sports…does it ever get better?

I was an assistant baseball coach for my son's team. Two things happened, while practicing with my son playing catch, he got hit in the face twice during the one session. He said he was done. Not interested anymore. Before that I had a group of about eight guys off to the side throwing fly balls to them. It wasn't far between us and maybe air threw the ball twenty five feet up in the air. Another kid eyed the ball and didn't lift the glove and he was done with baseball. I gave up.

Years later my son said he wished he would have stayed with baseball.

26 yrs of coaching. Remember, its about the kids , never forget that. Some parents will be ______, the majority of our parents have been really great over the years. Really! Some just are...
The thing that gets me the most is the ones that drop their kids at practice and don't see a minute of what they do/don't do and never have a positive thing to say about coaches ,referees,parish recreation
Its fun to see them grow from pee wee to varsity when they leave for jr high
IT MUST ALWAYS BE ABOUT THE KIDS !!

It doesn’t get better. All parents are bad. Some are blind to their kids talent or lack of. It’s miserable

When you get good at it you can get paid - nicely too

I did it 10 years and while it has its moments, the bond with my child was worth every second. It wasn’t that bad although we had a few pains in the butt for parents. I think the coach sets the mindset of the team. Realize it’s a sport for fun and everyone follows.

It's a thankless job. A lot of work with little to no reward unless you're doing it to get ur kid more PT.

In the third year of coaching, I finally made the statement in a Board Meeting.

"If we removed all the adults, plowed up the fields, pulled all of the chain linked fences down, put cows in the field and left. The kids would gather, make a field of their own and play baseball."

I believed that until I had dedicated myself to Football officiating. I was having heart problems and had passed out on the field during a football game. Fire and rescue arrived and completed their work. Paramedics arrived to transport. Kid is working on me and stops ....."XXX XXXXX from Cross Bayou Little League?" "Don't tell you are one of my kids." "I played for the Blue Jays, We all wanted to play for you and Cap." "Good , because all my kids are in prison." That makes your heart melt, to know you made an impact on a kid.

We would coach and after game time, line them up, backs against the backstop. Parents welcome to be in the stands behind them. We went over the entire game. Pointing out where the confusion cost the game. We went three straight seasons without a loss. Meetings were shorter.....No one got yelled at, we coached. When they did good things, they knew they were appreciated as a team. When we screwed up, it was pointed out where it took place. The parents learned baseball as well. They sat right behind the team.

It pays to coach in Florida. One ball player asked if his friend could sit in the dugout with us. We could have three coaches inside. We welcomed a Hal of Fame Detroit Tiger as a third coach. All he wanted was to sit with the kids. For 80 years old he had the best stories to share with the ball club. I listened one night between innings. "I hated him. We were all good players in our own right. When he would arrive the entire crowd would build "Here comes the Babe" "I hated him .....

never had one issue with parents and i’ve coached u4-u10 in soccer and football

kids were the biggest headache

a lot of them kids need to be medicated

No, it doesn't, for all the reasons stated. Mostly parents.

Most are decent and grateful, but the bad ones ruin the entire experience. If the kid is playing like shite, it’s because of the coach. If the kid is playing well, it’s in spite of the coach. That’s the mindset of the a-hole parents.