I was reading this cheerleading blog today when I came up to a quote that I have to pass on. The article is part of One Two Down Up, a blog for a cheerleading coach who doesn’t make their identity easily known. (I could probably find it, but I’m too lazy)
One of the articles is about Cheer Parents,
The Ups and Downs of a Cheerleading Coach: Those Crazy CHEER PARENTS.
This Article is particularly interesting to me because of one quote:
As a coach, we make decisions based on what is best for the team. Parents make decisions based on what they feel is best for their child. As a parent myself, I understand that sometimes a parent’s love overrules logic or reason.
This is very true. Now, some parents think outside the benefit for their own child, but that is hard. In the end we always protect what is best for our family.
What I think is sad, is that often times the two conflict. Often times what is best for the team is not what is best for you. Working as coach and convincing someone to do something that might not be best for them is very hard. Add on the fact that now parents will take the side of the kid and it makes a coaches life very difficult.
This is the part of coaching that they don’t teach you while you cheer. I learned tons of technique, tons of tips and tricks, but this is a skill I was never taught. I’m still working on handling these items, and if you look at my last year of coaching, this could really be my largest struggle, but I feel I’m making progress. This post provides a couple of suggestions for handling this, worth the read if your a coach.