Ribman

I might start by asking them what they think the difference was between games.

That age is tough- are a lot of the kids doing a bunch of other stuff where they might be tired- or even sick- I remember a game last year when half my team was just dead and not hustling. I said something on the bench just thinking out loud- and anothe kid shared that the flu had rampaged through their class this week and my Center and SF had temps over 100- (didn't share this with me) lol- so suddenly they were actually playing pretty well.

Competition is big at that age- practice is usually the challenge not the games-
Are they working together as a team or have they started playing more individually?

thank you- great info- yes I see where a zone makes it difficult to use- and we actually see alot of zone- sadly at this young age

appreciate it

CYO can be an especially rough climate. I coached a 7th grade c team mainly becuase my son is at that level and they never get much attention as far as coaching. I can handle poor athletes but some of the kids behavior and attitude was tough to handle. I sat 1 boy out of a practice for constantly screwing around and disrupting practice. At that weeks game I planned on playing him the minimum minutes. In the 2nd half he starts complaining about his time. i reminded him of the practice and his consequence. he begins loudly being obnoxis rude and disrespectful to me so I call a timeout and waive the AD over to escort him from the game. Guess who the parent are mad it?
Unbelievable. I'm on trial - the thing they were most upset about- his minutes? Same kid was complaining about his dad being at games earlier-it's just sad and it gets worse if you try to help. It really put a sour taste in my mouth the rest of the year and made the whole thing work not fun. I was at the same place as others who was ready to quit coaching. The main thing I would do differently is just more communication and clarification with parents up front. I made the mistake of keeping some things "in practice" If I disciplined a kid -sprints whatever- I felt it was a basketball thing and didn't need to get the parents involved unless it was serious. In retrospect I should of been letting parent know as much as possible up front- though some parents just would have used that against me.

I had 8 kids and 2 of them wanted to be there. Most were angry that they weren't on one of the better teams or were playing becuase they had to not wanted to. They had never won anything in 3 years and we went 6-3 plus 2nd and 3rd in 2 tornaments- but most of them just didn't care. They like winning-they didn't like practicing. I had no parent volunteers- first time ever coaching not a single parent stepped up to help out- just a nightmare.

I also coach high school kids who live in a treatment facility- basically delinquents and those kids rarely give me a problem which is ironic- they just love the fact they get to play in a real league

My 4th grade daughter asked if I would coach her girls team they wanted to start. I thought about it and realized I've had 1 bad experience in 5 -6 years of coaching. I know the 4th grade parents from other sports and everyone is on the same page. The girls are good kids and eager to learn so I say yes but I go into wiser

I can handle everything but this subject-talk about killing your spirit. Communicate early and often and have a support system -such as ad- other coaches- assitent coaches etc.