The following email “Made My Day!” because it tells me that coaches are listening and applying the FUNdamental SOCCER philosophy.
Note: The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Good Evening John & Doe,
The purpose of this email is to give you a forewarning about an upcoming game for one of my teams. I am respectfully asking your attendance at our game. We play at 10:20 am at Anxiety Field.
Here is the reason for my request: this Saturday (10/27), my U8 Girls will play Troubling Team. This concerns me because I (and many of the parents on my team) have witnessed inappropriate behavior by Troubling Team parents. There was one game early in the season when we watched an entire game wherein the Troubling Team and Disturbing Team parents began a shouting match on the sidelines.
It was getting pretty heated, so I asked the head referee, who was at an adjacent U10 field, to intervene. The coaches on both sides did not seem capable of controlling their parents and so the tension and yelling continued throughout the game. And then last week, I arrived toward the end of Troubling Team’s game only to witness parents lined up on the sideline (literally standing on the white line) yelling at the other teams’ players, parents and coaches.
Therefore, I and other parents on my team would truly appreciate if you would attend our game so that there can be another set of unbiased eyes on the field.
I remember something that the FUNdamental Instructor said during my coaching course — and that is, “That during games, the kids are supposed to reap the rewards for working hard all week at practice — there should be little coaching — even from the team’s coach.”
Therefore, for parents to be yelling anything but words of encouragement from the sidelines, goes against what I believe is at the heart of recreational soccer — especially at such a young and impressionable U8 level.
I know you are both extraordinarily busy and I appreciate your time and consideration.
Gratefully,
Concerned
Head Coach
