Remember, these kids didn't drive themselves.

Coaching youth sports is often so much more refreshing and rewarding than coaching the high school kids, primarily because they are kids. Younger kids just want to play the game and be with their teammates/friends. They aren't buried in their cell phones or worried about boyfriends or girlfriends. Yeah, it can be maddening at times when you're giving them your big speech and they're staring over your shoulder at a game on another field or wherever the shiniest or loudest object might be in the vicinity, but there is something to be said about the simplicity these kids bring to the field or court with them.

Yet, did you ever stop and ask yourself how the kid got there? I'm pretty sure they didn't drive themselves, walk, or ride a bike to practice. There is an almost absolute certainty that somebody took time out of their day to get your players to and from practice. And just like you expect your players' parents to be to practice and have them ready to begin on time, those same parents have the right to expect that you will end your practice at the time you said you would in your text or email. That doesn't mean you end your physical practice at that time, and then talk to your team another for another 10-15 minutes, it means that kids are heading to their cars at that time.

I'm sure we have all been in this situation at one point in time as a parent. Coach said that practice would be over at eight o'clock; yet, as you sit outside of the gym in your car the dashboard clock keeps creeping up on 8:15. You've still got work to do or things to get done for tomorrow, yet Mr. Coach thinks his big speech or one final drill is the most important thing in the world. The same thing happens when you pull up to the ball diamond at the pick up time and you still see the kids doing a baseball activity. You get that sense of relief when you see the kids get called together, but yet the huddle doesn't break for another 5-10 minutes. Inevitably, when your child gets in the car and you ask what they were talking about for so long, the most common answer is, "I don't know."

As a coach, it is always so frustrating when the kids just aren't grasping something that you're working on. What you planned on taking 15 minutes has now taken 25. The practice you've spent time planning is not going very well because the kids are not focused and goofing around, so now you feel the need to lecture them for ten minutes on how disappointed you are in their effort. These things happen all the time as a coach. However, an effective coach must learn how to adjust their plans on the fly. A skilled coach can combine two things into one, or cut something else out or spend less time than intended. If their is something that needs to be addressed to the team as a whole, it needs to be done within the time-frame of that practice time. Kids can see the clock on the wall, or they know when practice is running long because of all the parents huddled around the field. If they haven't tuned you out by that time already, they most certainly will early on in your lecture.

More importantly, parents will begin to tune you out too. Parents will begin to assume that six o'clock means six fifteen. Soon you'll have kids lingering around after practice that you're responsible for, and you don't understand why nobody is there to pick them up. So the next practice you decide to give another big speech at the end of practice on how important it is to communicate with your parents on when practice is over. Next thing you know you've gone ten minutes over, but you got your message across, or so you thought.

Being an effective coach starts with your practices. They must be organized and scripted. If not, you'll never maximize your team's potential. More importantly, you'll get everything accomplished that you intended within your practice time. If not, you'll know exactly what to do and for how long at your next practice. However, if you are constantly running over on time, you are invading into your parents personal time. Moreover, you are sending a message to your parents that you are unorganized and/or you do not value their time. If you do this on a consistent basis, don't act surprised when your parents are hesitant to commit to anything that takes up more of their personal time. Embrace the simplicity these kids bring with them to practice, but always keep in my those people who spent the time to bring them.