Answers to the
questions coaches
actually ask.
Every post here starts with a question a volunteer coach or a league director sent me, and answers it in a way you can use at practice this week. Written on the sideline and after it, by someone who still coaches.
Coaching your own child: how do you avoid favoritism and protect your relationship?
Be their parent first, hold every player to one standard, keep the ride home off the game, and save the skills talk for practice where it belongs.
How to run your first youth practice: a 60-minute plan
Get there early, learn names in the first eight minutes, warm up with a game instead of a lap, teach one skill through games, then play 3v3 and huddle.
How to handle youth sports playing time
No. Equal time fits a young rec team, earned time fits an older selective one, your league's floor beats both, and the policy goes on paper before game one.
How long should a youth sports practice be?
Forty-five minutes for 7 and 8 year olds, built as four blocks with nothing over eight minutes. Practice lengths and block counts for ages 5 through 13.
How to tell if a volunteer coach has checked out
The tell is attention per kid, not the record: has every player been looked at individually. Then a team chat quiet for two weeks. Then you call the coach.
Parent complaining about playing time? What to say as a youth coach
Say little in the parking lot, stay calm, and offer a real time. The next day, listen first, then talk minutes, practices, and what you saw, never other kids.
Preseason parent meeting: what to say (free script and handout)
Hold a 20-minute meeting before practice one. Cover playing time, the 24-hour wait, sideline behavior, and safety, then let the parents talk.
Stations, not lines: one assistant and 18 kids
Four stations of four or five, eight minutes each, one whistle to rotate. Your assistant and a parent each run one off a card, and you run none of them.
Team communication for parents: how to pick a system they'll actually read
Parents do read. They just look in the wrong place. Put the schedule, every change and the parent chat in one spot, and Saturday mornings get boring.