Youth football - why so many coaches?

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Sitting outside on a glorious day day watching real football and on the adjacent field is a youth football game going on. Why do they need 6 coaches on the sidelines for a pee wee game? Each of them is yelling at the same time and I doubt the kids even know who to listen to.

Is that normal?

 

[Nat Algren]

They should grab a whistle and a striped shirt instead. There's a shortage of them.

 

[TunzaHawk]

It’s a social event for those coaches

 

[The Tradition]

Pee Wee football is serious business.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

It’s a social event for those coaches

By the looks of ‘em their other social event is Golden Corral.

 

[TunzaHawk]

By the looks of ‘em their other social event is Golden Corral.

It’s a lot of work coaching so naturally they need to spend time at the feed line.

 

[HawkOptimist]

It’s a social event for those coaches

Pretty much the same can be said for most youth travel teams. Junior might suck and fizzle out by high school, but mom and dad don’t mind paying a few thousand dollars to get away and drink with other like-minded parents.

 

[gojojo]

Stupid dad's getting involved in their kids activities. What losers.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Stupid dad's getting involved in their kids activities. What losers.

I’m asking why 10-11 year olds need six coaches in uniform on the sidelines. Are they reliving the glory days or something?

 

[Bonerfarts]

I’m coaching Youth FB for the first time this year. We have 4 coaches and that seems about perfect. We can split the kids and run them through 4 different drills for about 30 minutes, then we split them into individual positions for 30 minutes and end on 30 minutes team defense/offense/special teams. Kids this young get distracted in big groups and lose focus. Divide and conquer is our strategy.

 

[artradley]

I’m asking why 10-11 year olds need six coaches in uniform on the sidelines. Are they reliving the glory days or something?

Because if some dad volunteers to coach nobody is going to turn them down. I didn’t coach when my son was young, but I did get roped into being on the executive committee for our youth league. Coaches had to set up the field, take things down at the end of the day, confirm the referees were scheduled, and a host of other things. So from an organization point of view you are happy for every volunteer you get.

As for the dads, some just want to help, some want to be involved to make sure their son gets a fair shake, and some want to try to make sure their son is QB.

 

[OILCHECKER]

Sitting outside on a glorious day day watching real football and on the adjacent field is a youth football game going on. Why do they need 6 coaches on the sidelines for a pee wee game? Each of them is yelling at the same time and I doubt the kids even know who to listen to.

Is that normal?

That real football game that you are watching must be real exciting. Surprised you have time to observe what's going on at other fields and be able to post about it here during all of the action.

 

[gojojo]

I’m asking why 10-11 year olds need six coaches in uniform on the sidelines. Are they reliving the glory days or something?

Nope. Again, just dad's wanting to be involved with their son. That's much better than what I've encountered in years I wanted to step away from the sideline or dugout; I rarely missed a year as coach because they could never find enough parents to step up. The worst experiences have been when you only have 1-2 coaches. It takes an army to keep the attention span of a group of young boys. The year we had the most fun was a flag football team of 10 year olds with 5 coaches. May seem like overkill but with dad's having busy schedules and missing a practice or game here and there it was the perfect number.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

That real football game that you are watching must be real exciting. Surprised you have time to observe what's going on at other fields and be able to post about it here during all of the action.

You never watch games before the one you came to watch starts? Ever hear of halftime?

 

[NorthernHawkeye]

Because if some dad volunteers to coach nobody is going to turn them down. I didn’t coach when my son was young, but I did get roped into being on the executive committee for our youth league. Coaches had to set up the field, take things down at the end of the day, confirm the referees were scheduled, and a host of other things. So from an organization point of view you are happy for every volunteer you get.

As for the dads, some just want to help, some want to be involved to make sure their son gets a fair shake, and some want to try to make sure their son is QB.

Your last paragraph is exactly what I was about to type. Watch closely and it becomes pretty obvious what their motivations are.

I’m just glad that in most cases those parents with selfish motives tend to be no longer involved at the high school level. They lose their shit when they no longer have control and can’t tip the scale in their kid’s favor.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Because if some dad volunteers to coach nobody is going to turn them down. I didn’t coach when my son was young, but I did get roped into being on the executive committee for our youth league. Coaches had to set up the field, take things down at the end of the day, confirm the referees were scheduled, and a host of other things. So from an organization point of view you are happy for every volunteer you get.

As for the dads, some just want to help, some want to be involved to make sure their son gets a fair shake, and some want to try to make sure their son is QB.

That’s fair. Soccer and basketball leagues my kids are in also depend on volunteers. I’ve chaperoned numerous out of town trips, kept clock and scoreboard, been a sideline ref, taken down fields, set up fields, shoveled snow off the fields, wife as team manager, treasurer, etc etc. But coaches we’ve have over these many years don’t want the help or need the help on the sidelines, and certainly don’t want 5-6 others yelling at the players at the same time.
I’m telling you, these guys were dressed like a college coaching staff. They looked ridiculous.

 

[FormerlyCyberCy]

Stupid dad's getting involved in their kids activities. What losers.

Most dads that have taken 3rd grade English know the difference between plural and possessive.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Your last paragraph is exactly what I was about to type. Watch closely and it becomes pretty obvious what their motivations are.

I’m just glad that in most cases those parents with selfish motives tend to be no longer involved at the high school level. They lose their shit when they no longer have control and can’t tip the scale in their kid’s favor.

I bet that’s a lot of it. But certainly there are those issues in other sports as well. Youth sports generally is an interesting business.

 

[tumorboy]

I’m asking why 10-11 year olds need six coaches in uniform on the sidelines. Are they reliving the glory days or something?

I doubt they ever had any glory days

 

[Tom Paris]

Sitting outside on a glorious day day watching real football and on the adjacent field is a youth football game going on. Why do they need 6 coaches on the sidelines for a pee wee game? Each of them is yelling at the same time and I doubt the kids even know who to listen to.

Is that normal?

Over involved parents.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Pee Wee football is serious business.

Big daddy gets to show off his coaching prowess.....

 

[farmandfleet]

Your last paragraph is exactly what I was about to type. Watch closely and it becomes pretty obvious what their motivations are.

I’m just glad that in most cases those parents with selfish motives tend to be no longer involved at the high school level. They lose their shit when they no longer have control and can’t tip the scale in their kid’s favor.

exactly right. The majority of the time why you have so many dads "volunteering" to coach is to guarantee their kid starts, gets the plum position. Thats in youth football and little league.

When there arent enough coaches that is different and there are a minority of coaches who insist on merit and fairness-those coaches usually played the game at a higher level.

ive even seen a "volunteer" dad coach browbeat children that were a threat to take his kids spot.

Years ago none of this happened because we had non parent coaches when i was growing up

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

exactly right. The majority of the time why you have so many dads "volunteering" to coach is to guarantee their kid starts, gets the plum position. Thats in youth football and little league.

When there arent enough coaches that is different and there are a minority of coaches who insist on merit and fairness-those coaches usually played the game at a higher level.

ive even seen a "volunteer" dad coach browbeat children that were a threat to take his kids spot.

Years ago none of this happened because we had non parent coaches when i was growing up

Makes sense

 

[artradley]

That’s fair. Soccer and basketball leagues my kids are in also depend on volunteers. I’ve chaperoned numerous out of town trips, kept clock and scoreboard, been a sideline ref, taken down fields, set up fields, shoveled snow off the fields, wife as team manager, treasurer, etc etc. But coaches we’ve have over these many years don’t want the help or need the help on the sidelines, and certainly don’t want 5-6 others yelling at the players at the same time.
I’m telling you, these guys were dressed like a college coaching staff. They looked ridiculous.

Oh yeah, all yelling at once means the head coach has no control. And I see plenty of guys who think they are auditioning for a job under Ferentz. To me, that’s all part of the entertainment value.

 

[who r u]

my uncle coached youth tackle football in CR for 25years, i helped him for 13, and he always asked for help from parents. his one rule about parents helping was that they couldnt coach their own kid.

 

[GarryO37]

Nope. Again, just dad's wanting to be involved with their son. That's much better than what I've encountered in years I wanted to step away from the sideline or dugout; I rarely missed a year as coach because they could never find enough parents to step up. The worst experiences have been when you only have 1-2 coaches. It takes an army to keep the attention span of a group of young boys. The year we had the most fun was a flag football team of 10 year olds with 5 coaches. May seem like overkill but with dad's having busy schedules and missing a practice or game here and there it was the perfect number.

This. Six is not too many in my opinion. Especially at this age, these kids need to be told what they are doing wrong and corrected. One or two coaches is not enough in my opinion. They can’t catch everything for a good number of players. The more eyes on the players the better chance more players get one on one attention even if it’s for just a moment.

A good group of coaches are worth their weight in gold when it comes to youth sports.

 

[SoFla-Hawkeye]

How are you supposed to play daddy ball without daddy on the sidelines? My oldest son played 1 year of city/rec tackle football before high school. The only starter who didn’t play defense was the QB. Every other starter played both ways. He was also the only starter who didn’t have a dad as a coach. He was “recruited” from a neighboring community. Not a single one of those kids played football as a high school senior. It’s not unusual down her to see 10-12 coaches on the sidelines.

 

[herk90]

I’m asking why 10-11 year olds need six coaches in uniform on the sidelines. Are they reliving the glory days or something?

Pretty simple. There is a guy coaching each position group. Hard to practice when we have 30 kids on our team. We don’t want kids standing around at practice. We have 14-15 guys who play line so we have half of them practice o line for half the practice and half practice d line then they switch. Same with linebackers, dbs, ru. I get backs, receivers. This way kids get to move around as well and learn other positions. They play half the game on offense and half the game on defense.
I’ll be here all day if you have anymore dumb questions.

 

[LuteHawk]

The best situation is when you have non-parent
coaches. In this way you have less favoritism &
bias towards individual players. Grade school
age boys who play football, basketball or baseball,
do not need helicopter fathers as coaches.

 

[BelemNole]

I remember having two guys coach my pee-wee teams. We didn’t stand around at practice.
Wife and I coached some rec softball. It was usually 2 coaches and a few volunteers who showed up on occasion. Some of the teams from the Bay Area would show up with 5-6 coaches. Dedicated batting and pitching coaches all in matching gear. Was a bit overkill for a rec league.

 

[farmandfleet]

i was lucky we had 4 youth football coaches that were non parents, very tough but fair-no nonsense

parents dropped their kids off at practice and left. No parents on the sidelines for practices or games. Those coaches were probably better than all the coaches i had at the high school level.

all the other teams in our city league had the same situation.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Pretty simple. There is a guy coaching each position group. Hard to practice when we have 30 kids on our team. We don’t want kids standing around at practice. We have 14-15 guys who play line so we have half of them practice o line for half the practice and half practice d line then they switch. Same with linebackers, dbs, ru. I get backs, receivers. This way kids get to move around as well and learn other positions. They play half the game on offense and half the game on defense.
I’ll be here all day if you have anymore dumb questions.

Does your 10 year old pee-wee league sideline look like this? That’s what I saw today.