This resource is from a case study in Jim Thompson’s (@JimThompson18) book, The High School Sports Parent.

The Ineffective Coach: Your son’s coach is ineffective. He is occasionally late for practice, often appears disorganized, and doesn’t command the respect of the athletes. You think the athletes deserve a better coach. As a Second-Goal Parent®, what should you do?

The Hippocratic Oath doctors take says, “Do no harm.” Doctors do nothing if they think they might make things worse. The chances of you improving this situation by offering suggestions to the coach are very small, while the chances of making things worse are high. Do no harm. Stay out of this.

Here’s what you can do:
Write on a piece of paper your suggestions for how you think your athlete’s coach should handle the team. Put it in an envelope. On the outside of the envelope, write “If I were the coach.” Put it in a safe place. Whatever you do, don’t give the suggestions to the coach.

If the school has an evaluation mechanism to get input from parents, take advantage of it to share your feedback.

Let your athlete have his own experience with the coach. Having a sub-par coach isn’t a tragedy. Your teen will have talented and untalented supervisors in his life, and learning to deal with both kinds is a great life lesson.

To purchase the entire book The High School Sports Parent, and to learn more about other PCA books, click here.

These books are used in PCA’s live workshops. To learn more about our interactive sports parent workshops, click here.