Friday Practice Not A Good Idea?

[coach44 0]

I am looking for some advice my assistant coach and I can't seem to agree on practice days for flag 9-10 year olds. He wants to do a Friday evenings as a day, I am trying to tell him that might not be a good idea because from past experience you loose kids always someone is missing its hard to have a consistant practice. So could I have some thoughts on that good or bad so either I can be persuaded or I can show him from other experiences that its not a good idea.

Thanks a bunch,

Chef44

[Johnp2 21]

Full-disclosure: Friday is my favorite night for practice (if that is one of the days agreed upon by all the parents).

I always tell the parents we could be doing worse with our Friday evenings then be at football practice with our kids. ;-)

We usually hold our practices from 5:15-6:30. A lot of our parents (most of whom are good friends) will simply go out and eat dinner with the kids after practice on Fridays. This instead of rushing home to ensure Johnny does his homework, gets to bed early, etc.

If your intent is to ensure you get 100% participation in practice, the best way to do it is to get all the parents together and select which days/times works for everyone.

This ensures all the parents "sign-off" on the agreed upon day(s). You would be surprised at how many parents register their kids to only play in games and have little motivation to get their kid to practice during the week. If they all agree on a Friday practice, then there is little excuse for them to miss.

Good luck (and this is an interesting topic).

[GeorgeC 1]

I just went this through for scheduling practices. There are so many variables that I doubt if anyone can give you a definitive answer. It's going to depend on you and your assistant and your personal work schedules. It's going to depend on the parents' work schedules. We are in an area where lots of people leave for the weekend to go to lake houses, farms, or other 2nd houses. Fridays would always have kids missing.

So, for me, I don't like Fridays. I don't like Mondays so much because that's when there are lots of Federal holidays and kids are not available.

Here's what I did .... I sent email to all parents, asking them to respond and to "X" out when their sons had a schedule conflict.

Monday, 3:30pm

Monday, 4:30pm

Monday, 5:30pm

Tuesday, 3:30pm

Tuesday, 4:30pm

etc...

I set up a little spreadsheet to help me identify the least conflicted time. You'll probably not have any perfect time slow. But now you know which parents you need to work with.

As a side note: The best slot for us turned out to have one conflict. I emailed the mom to see if she could move the son's conflicting tennis lessons. Her curt response: "we'll find another team." It seems the dad had signed the kid up with our team, but "drama mama" was unhappy with having to do any work.

[Coach Rob 26]

I liked Friday practices because it kept everything fresh in their minds for the upcoming weekend game. We did run into a few snags where kids had something going on or the family was going out of town though. My son is finishing up two different basketball leagues, both of them had practices on Friday nights.

Here's what I did .... I sent email to all parents, asking them to respond and to "X" out when their sons had a schedule conflict.

I set up a little spreadsheet to help me identify the least conflicted time.

There's a free online meeting planner called Doodle. I've used it before to schedule team meetings, practices, etc. www.doodle.com. Works pretty well.

[Johnp2 21]

As a side note: The best slot for us turned out to have one conflict. I emailed the mom to see if she could move the son's conflicting tennis lessons. Her curt response: "we'll find another team." It seems the dad had signed the kid up with our team, but "drama mama" was unhappy with having to do any work.

Yep. This only emphasizes the need to have parents' complete buy-in for the practice schedule. As I mentioned earlier, I get all the parents together for a "kick-off" meeting. I let them know the #1 agenda item is for everyone to agree on practice days/times. For those that cannot make this meeting, I ask them to let me know the absolute black-out days/times for their family, and serve as their proxy for the meeting.

There is a lot of negotiation that transpires, but we always come up with a schedule that works. Only twice have I encountered parents who were not flexible enought to make the the days/times that worked for everyone else. In both instances, I not only told the parents their son cannot be part of our team due to practice conflicts, but helped them find another team that can adhere to their schedule.

The best advice I can give any new coach (with respect to off-field decisions) is to ensure that you have all the parents' commitment to practice. This is done by allowing them to make the decision on when they can attend. If it turns out they cannot make adhere to the schedule of the rest of the parents, then there is nothing wrong with asking them to find another team--and perhaps help with that endeavor.

It's a win-win for all!

[ifly8o8 1]

Yeah get parent feed back. I personally dont like Fridays on ly cause if it rains then your screwed. If practice is on another day say Thurs and it rains then u can always move it to Friday. Friday rains and its hard to tell parents meet on saturday.

[Johnp2 21]

Yeah get parent feed back. I personally dont like Fridays on ly cause if it rains then your screwed.

So do you guys postpone practice when it rains...or when there is lighting? This is a question for everyone. I personally LOVE practicing in the rain (as do the kids). ;-) I'll only cancel practice if there is "dangerous" weather. You make a valid point, however, if you have to cancel a Friday practice (for whatever reason), you've essentially lost it.

[GeorgeC 1]

So do you guys postpone practice when it rains...or when there is lighting?

Our practices are all in city parks, and we can't practice in rain. They don't want to mess up the turf. The police would chase us off.

We do whatever we need to do to get some time in. If the weather forecast matches up with another time to practice, then we'll schedule something. If it is available (we are lowest priority), then we have a gym that we can go to. We can then at least have walk-throughs and practice throwing and catching. Mostly we try to find a make-up day.

[ifly8o8 1]

Im the same as you,John. Only in dangerous weather, cause the kids gotta know how to play with a wet ball and not the ideal conditions. But in Hawaii at this time of year its pretty bad. One time we had forty days of straight rain. Its such freak nature here that you almost need to have an alternate day.

[gm6386 0]

I am looking for some advice my assistant coach and I can't seem to agree on practice days for flag 9-10 year olds. He wants to do a Friday evenings as a day, I am trying to tell him that might not be a good idea because from past experience you loose kids always someone is missing its hard to have a consistant practice. So could I have some thoughts on that good or bad so either I can be persuaded or I can show him from other experiences that its not a good idea.

Thanks a bunch,

Chef44

I am fairly new to coaching youth sports, but I have learned a few things so far. One of the most important lessons I have leaned so far is that you will probably NEVER get every parent on the team to agree to every practice day/time. The beautiful thing about being the Head Coach is that YOU determine when and where. If that doesn't work for Johnny's mom, she can be the head coach next year. I am not trying to sound like a bully, but I have never been part of a team (I have 5 sons) where everyone agreed to day and time. However, I have been involved with teams where the Head Coach simply says, "We'll be practcing at X park on Y day at Z time." Participation is almost always 100%.

[Johnp2 21]

I am fairly new to coaching youth sports, but I have learned a few things so far. One of the most important lessons I have leaned so far is that you will probably NEVER get every parent on the team to agree to every practice day/time. The beautiful thing about being the Head Coach is that YOU determine when and where. If that doesn't work for Johnny's mom, she can be the head coach next year. I am not trying to sound like a bully, but I have never been part of a team (I have 5 sons) where everyone agreed to day and time. However, I have been involved with teams where the Head Coach simply says, "We'll be practcing at X park on Y day at Z time." Participation is almost always 100%.

What if you said "practice is every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:00 pm---see you all there!" and only half show up?

The problem I believe that you run into when you mandate when practice will be is the following:

1. There is a very good chance a one, two, three or more players' parents will have a conflict at that time. If not, you've simply lucked out, but it won't be that way each season, guaranteed.

2. Assume your league promotes "no practice/no play" like mine does. You can tell the parents, "This is when practice is, and if your son is not there, he will not play". Right there you have lost that player. If enough players have a conflict, you might have 3-4 players simply sitting on the bench that game.

3. Assume your league does NOT allow "no practice/no play". Then you are stuck with keeping kids in who most likely do not know what to do.

I believe this Spring will be my 15th team (of varying sports) to coach. I'd say out of 14 of those teams, I was able to find a two or more days/times that does work for everyone, and many seasons I've had 16+ players.

Don't get me wrong. You are absolutely correct that you have to be very firm in insisting you get 100% participation at practice. I can just tell you that I've learned during my time coaching, your chances are far greater getting 100% attendance if you work with the parents to come up with agreed upon days/times. Is it easy, no. I always urge the parents to be VERY flexible when we negotiate.

As mentioned, there have been a few times that a parent could not make the only days/times that work for everyone, and in that instance, I've helped them find another team--as I will only have players who can make 100% practice (with the exception of being sick, etc.).

[Coach Rob 26]

I personally dont like Fridays on ly cause if it rains then your screwed. If practice is on another day say Thurs and it rains then u can always move it to Friday. Friday rains and its hard to tell parents meet on saturday.

Good point, depends upon on the league though. i9 promotes practice one hour before the game. If I played in a different league, I'd probably schedule a reg practice during week to work on fundamentals and a second practice on Fridays for going over plays and scrimmaging.

I am not trying to sound like a bully, but I have never been part of a team (I have 5 sons) where everyone agreed to day and time. However, I have been involved with teams where the Head Coach simply says, "We'll be practcing at X park on Y day at Z time." Participation is almost always 100%.

Agree, this has been my experience as well, both as a coach and a parent.

[Johnp2 21]

I am not trying to sound like a bully, but I have never been part of a team (I have 5 sons) where everyone agreed to day and time. However, I have been involved with teams where the Head Coach simply says, "We'll be practcing at X park on Y day at Z time." Participation is almost always 100%.

Agree, this has been my experience as well, both as a coach and a parent.

I find this interesting (and not in a bad way). As a parent, yes--the two seasons I was not a coach--I made sure we were available and made my son's practice top priority. And yes, both coaches threw down the mandate (and practice was usually 70%).

However, when it comes to determining a practice time for my teams, I've been a sucker to make sure we do it as a collaborative effort. ;-)

Honestly, I know if I were to throw down a mandate, I would still get 100% participation, and this is simply because I know all our parents are dedicated--but would not want to take advantage of that in the event someone needs to move heaven and earth to get to practice.

The main thing is that we agree on the importance of practice, and the #1 problem I hear from new coaches is the lack of practice participation. Whatever you need to do (be it a mandate or work with the parents) to get 100% participation, everyone on here will tell you that should be your goal...else you will pay the price come game day.

[GeorgeC 1]

Where I am, the mommas are the ones who coordinate the kids schedule. Accordingly, I always look to my wife for the first pass at schedule attempts. Often, she'll know which kid has other practices and when. I'm on the side of trying to coordinate. I don't find it that hard to throw out options and let the parents (the mommas) respond. It costs me maybe an hour total. According to my wife though, out of all of my 3 kids basketball, volleyball, and soccer, I'm the only one who does try to coordinate. She tells me that the other parents recognize it and appreciate it (they talk on the sidelines). I think it is worth the parents buy-in to at least make the effort.

[Coach Rob 26]

However, when it comes to determining a practice time for my teams, I've been a sucker to make sure we do it as a collaborative effort. ;-)

Don't get me wrong, if we picked a practice day and received feedback from more than one parent that it wasn't going to work, we'd figure out a another day. I just never wanted practice days to be like picking a team name. Which reminds me, my son's 3 on 3 b-ball team was having a hard time coming up with a team name, so I threw out "The Justin Beibers", "The Disney Boys", and "Those 4 Guys". Guess which one they picked? I'm thinking you could do the same for a practice day. Give them a choice of 5:30am Sat morning, 10:30pm Sun night, or Thursdays at 5:30pm.

[Johnp2 21]

Don't get me wrong, if we picked a practice day and received feedback from more than one parent that it wasn't going to work, we'd figure out a another day. I just never wanted practice days to be like picking a team name. Which reminds me, my son's 3 on 3 b-ball team was having a hard time coming up with a team name, so I threw out "The Justin Beibers", "The Disney Boys", and "Those 4 Guys". Guess which one they picked? I'm thinking you could do the same for a practice day. Give them a choice of 5:30am Sat morning, 10:30pm Sun night, or Thursdays at 5:30pm.

Got it. I was thinking you just threw out two days and that was that. Again, whatever works--as long as you get full attendance, that is the most important part. I guess your team selected the "Justin Beibers?" ;-)

This season, I'm actually going to move where we have practice--right now it is walking distance of our house. 99% of my players live about five miles north of where I am. Does not sound like much, but we are in a congested area and they have 30 minute commutes to practice. Seeing as they have all been so accomodating during the years, I am moving my practice to their area.

[RoyalFlush18 6]

Are you practicing more than once a week?

Only thing I don't like about Friday Practices is if you get rain/weather you can't reschedule.

Good Things:

1.) Practice is Fresh for the Saturday Game.

2.) Don't have to rush home, cram homework, bath, dinner in and get the kids to bed (Probably 30 minutes late).

That being said, we practice early in the week so if we do get rain/weather we have the chance to make it up.

As the coach I believe you should set the schedule for when you want to practice, not what works well for your Parents. If it doesn't work out there are lots of other teams (and kids).