It seems as though every activity your child is in requires you to volunteer in some capacity or other. It also seems like the people doing the volunteer positions are frequently treated poorly, while the expectations of their performance are unreasonably high.
Yet again this spring I volunteered to coach my son in the U6 soccer. I have coached 2x in U4, 2x in U8, and this is my second time doing U6. I signed up for the optional coach training and attended it eager for new ideas. I wanted to teach your children new skills, improve current skills, encourage their development, encourage teamwork, and give them a joy for the game of soccer
New ideas did come, and old ones returned too. However, regardless of what I do there seems to always be a parent who is unhappy with my coaching. We aren’t winning enough games, we aren’t strict enough, there isn’t enough “drills”, the kids aren’t improving enough, the list of complaints goes on and on. However, this parent is completely unwilling to coach themselves or help out in any way. Even the laying out of cones to make the border on the field is seemingly too much work.
Complaining, however, they can do by the bucketful. Never to my face, mind you, always just out of earshot. However, they forget that my children are numerous and have ears too.
So if you are a complainer and not a volunteer…be careful who you complain to and who’s listening nearby.
Maybe instead of complaining you could stop and ask me why I’m doing something a certain way. I’ll be more than happy to explain to you that we no longer do “drills” in soccer, but prefer games instead to teach your child skills. I’d also gladly explain that in every age group there is a full 2 year age difference between the oldest and youngest children on your child’s team. And I’d be happy to explain that everything I do is teaching the children a skill they use in soccer like: running, passing, throwing the ball, dribbling, challenging an opponent for the ball, kicking, drop kicking, heading, and simply not being afraid of the ball as it comes at them when they are goalie. But, the truth is, if you stopped complaining and just took a minute to actually watch your child’s team practice you would already know this.
Maybe next spring you can volunteer to coach your child’s soccer team, what do you think?