It is that time of year again...

[Skipper44]

Transfer to Iowa.

Great idea! Cire can be the pioneer of travel football in the KC area and I would like to invest in this can't miss biz

[Daddy Claxton]

Anyone coaching any basketball this year?

From a few years ago, and a few pages back in this thread (another nod to MichiganCat), I coached my daughter's 3rd grade team and it was great.  My daughter has not played since, but I'm now running the boys program (6th, 7th and 8th grades) at my daughter's school!

It's awesome!  But I'm still learning how to simplify things.

The kids are great, and no parent issues this year (so far)!

[Sandstone Outcropping]

Anyone coaching any basketball this year?

From a few years ago, and a few pages back in this thread (another nod to MichiganCat), I coached my daughter's 3rd grade team and it was great.  My daughter has not played since, but I'm now running the boys program (6th, 7th and 8th grades) at my daughter's school!

It's awesome!  But I'm still learning how to simplify things.

The kids are great, and no parent issues this year (so far)!

Thank you for your service. I would be a terrible coach but I've always appreciated the people who volunteer to coach my kids teams.

[steve dave]

I coach both 10u basketball and 9U baseball. Our basketball team is just rec and comprised of kids that play baseball for our baseball team. Also all of our kids are 7/8 years old but because of a weird cutoff age rule and the fact that our rec has no 9U we play 10U. As such we get absolutely dominated by kids 8 inches taller than us sometimes but also win some games because our kids are good at hustling and not timid. Also we mostly just play knock out at basketball practice because it’s just a hobby sport for us.

[steve dave]

Also I help out with flag football (not an official coach though) and we think we may go to tackle next year and that seems kinda young to me but whatever the kids want to do.

[steve dave]

Also sports schedules are absolutely wild. Just 24/7/365 crap going on, wtf.

[Sandstone Outcropping]

Outside of school sports teams, our kids have only done what amounts to rec league stuff. They've had great coaches with one exception. A few years ago, I had a fifth grader whose coach would yell, glare and scowl at them throughout practice and games. She went from loving basketball to hating it during the course of the season. Unless you are on the track for a D1 scholie (which my kid is not), sports should be fun before they are anything else at that age.

[Daddy Claxton]

I coach both 10u basketball and 9U baseball. Our basketball team is just rec and comprised of kids that play baseball for our baseball team. Also all of our kids are 7/8 years old but because of a weird cutoff age rule and the fact that our rec has no 9U we play 10U. As such we get absolutely dominated by kids 8 inches taller than us sometimes but also win some games because our kids are good at hustling and not timid. Also we mostly just play knock out at basketball practice because it’s just a hobby sport for us.

My 6th grade team is all non-basketball athletes, and they're great.  VERY aggressive!  My focus is getting them converted to basketball.  I already have one complete convert from lacrosse.  His dad told me he had to put up a goal at their house, and the kid does nothing but play basketball now.  Well dad, sorry you spent all that money on lacrosse gear, lacrosse club, and lacrosse private lessons, but it gave your kid a really good base for becoming my best basketball player in a couple years. 

[KST8FAN]

If you're a young parent I highly recommend coaching a kids sport.  Volunteer or be leader in something your child participates in.  Very rewarding. 

I got asked to coach #1's basketball team in 4ht grade because they couldn't find anyone to do it.

I never imagined being a coach, but I got hooked.  That first year I just told myself just get thru this and they'll find someone else.  It was stressful as heck too wondering before the first game if we would even score a basket.  A funny thing happened.  We weren't world beaters, but we weren't terrible either.  The parents asked if I was coming back ...

By the time #2 hit high school I had coached 20 seasons worth of baseball,  basketball,  and football including teams I didn't have sons on.

You will have some 'parent moments' but the kid moments will make those tolerable. Seeing kids develop and grow is a great experience.

Honestly I think it made me a better dad.


Tom

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[steve dave]

Yeah, I never planned it either but here I find myself and it’s probably one of the more great things I do.

[Daddy Claxton]

Has anyone used an good phone app for communicating with the team/parents?  We’ve been using email and I can barely manage my inbox.

[michigancat]

Has anyone used an good phone app for communicating with the team/parents?  We’ve been using email and I can barely manage my inbox.

teamsnap is pretty decent

[Stupid Fitz]

Lil SF had a big baseball tryout this week. His two buds got the welcome text right after the tryout and we didn't.  It was a brutal 2 days before we got the text that said he made the team. Poor little guy would have been devastated that his 2 buds made it and he didn't. He is just as good or better so he had no idea why he didn't find out when they did. I had pretty much written it off, but he just kept asking me "dad did I make the team yet". Stud knew the whole time, but dad was preparing for the worst. Kids are cool like that I guess. I also never want to do that again and didn't figure I would have to at 9 years old. 

[steve dave]

Lil SF had a big baseball tryout this week. His two buds got the welcome text right after the tryout and we didn't.  It was a brutal 2 days before we got the text that said he made the team. Poor little guy would have been devastated that his 2 buds made it and he didn't. He is just as good or better so he had no idea why he didn't find out when they did. I had pretty much written it off, but he just kept asking me "dad did I make the team yet". Stud knew the whole time, but dad was preparing for the worst. Kids are cool like that I guess. I also never want to do that again and didn't figure I would have to at 9 years old. 

Oh man, I’ve been there and it is so nerve wracking for dads (not kids). Personal rejection and defeat is like no big whoop for us dads but the thought of it is so scary when we think about it for our kids. But, like you said, I think they handle it mostly like we handle our own so maybe we should chill? Easier said than done for sure.

Congrats to lil SF!

[steve dave]

Has anyone used an good phone app for communicating with the team/parents?  We’ve been using email and I can barely manage my inbox.

I will rank in order from good to diarrhea:

1. SportsEngine (by NBC apparently because their logo is on it?)
2. TeamSnap
3. Playerspace
4. Playmetrics (maximum diarrhea based mostly off the spam it spams me all the damn time)

I really like SportsEngine but I think the key for all of them is the consistent and thorough use by the coach. Communicating through the app consistently, updating schedules, parents being active in both the chat and the RSVPs.

Also bonus points for RainoutLine app which we use for a couple sports and it blasts rainouts to all participants and you can set alerts for whatever level/sport your kid is in.

[Stupid Fitz]

Lil SF had a big baseball tryout this week. His two buds got the welcome text right after the tryout and we didn't.  It was a brutal 2 days before we got the text that said he made the team. Poor little guy would have been devastated that his 2 buds made it and he didn't. He is just as good or better so he had no idea why he didn't find out when they did. I had pretty much written it off, but he just kept asking me "dad did I make the team yet". Stud knew the whole time, but dad was preparing for the worst. Kids are cool like that I guess. I also never want to do that again and didn't figure I would have to at 9 years old. 

Oh man, I’ve been there and it is so nerve wracking for dads (not kids). Personal rejection and defeat is like no big whoop for us dads but the thought of it is so scary when we think about it for our kids. But, like you said, I think they handle it mostly like we handle our own so maybe we should chill? Easier said than done for sure.

Congrats to lil SF!

Thanks. He's pumped. It was supposed to be a "show up and you are fine deal", but ended up being way more than we expected. There were like 25 kids there, stop watches, stations, etc. We weren't prepared at all. He did OK, but I think he prob mostly made it because his old coach was there and prob vouched for him. Wouldn't have been that big a deal, but his 2 buds made it. The worst part would have been finding another team to play on. Our area has very little baseball and he has like 2 friends left still playing even at just 9. We would have had to join a random team and that is very hit and miss. People say all the time that kids aren't playing baseball that much anymore and it seems true at least in our area.