Walk A Mile in Your Kid’s Coach’s Shoes

Written by Esther Kempf, Rockland Elite, Rockland County, NY.
Shared with Travel Ball Parents by Patty Costello- DeSapio

These are the coaches. They look like regular people because they are.

They are husbands who come home late, because they head straight to the fields right after work. They are sometimes absent from the dinner table because they are grabbing something on the go either on the way to or from a practice or game.

They are fathers who sacrifice time spent with their other kids because they are molding their players, not just into athletes, but into young men who respect their coaches, their teammates, themselves, and most of all – the game.

This is another full time job which they will never receive a paycheck for, nor would they ever want one. You show up to drop off your kid while they have been there for a couple of hours. They have been up watching the forecast, thinking of ways to get that field to be playable, they’ve been strategizing over the line up & equal playing time. They’ve been moving their schedules around and answering more emails & texts than humanly possible.

Remember that woman you sit next to in the bleachers is also sacrificing. She will never have a clean car because she lugs around all the team bags. She has landed herself a part time assistant position that she never applied for. She sees every eye roll you may give towards her husband. She hears all of your comments and questioning of his coaching. She may never say a word because she knows you just don’t understand. You see your own kid on the field while our husbands see an entire team.

So before you have a negative thing to say, please remember that they’re just regular people. Time spent on the field is time away from their families. The calls they make are well thought out, sometimes painstakingly difficult, but with the belief that they are the right ones.

So if you look onto the field and believe they’re not doing the right job, fielding the right nine players, subbing enough, or anything else, perhaps there’s room on the coaching staff for you and all of your expert opinions.