kids vs. parents bring back THE GAME

We had a great weekend in Washington DC presenting on the topic's of coaching parents and kids and why coaches need a well grounded philosophy. Again I shared my coaching philosophy and suggested that anyone is welcome to adopt my model and build on it. 

We were discussing how a small amount of adults ruin it for the kids, when people ask me what I do... "I coach kids and rehabilitate parents" which is true a small amount of parents lack the basic education of the Athletic Development Model. We were tossing around ideas on how to educate the parents and how to get the parents involved in a way that is helpful not hurtful. 

Kids vs. Parents THE GAME

From the age of 6 to the age of 15 growing up in the burbs of Boston every thanksgiving our youth program would have a kids vs parents scrimmage or as the kids billed it THE GAME. Our season  consisted of 20 travel games and 20 practices, but the game always was one of our main focuses. The game was a 60 minute stop time with two refs one score keeper and two coaches for each bench. This was much more than just a game it was a challenge, a quest if you will for  kids to "get back" at our parents for all those times they made us come in from our intense long hours of outdoor sporting activities to eat family dinners and do homework. As well it was a time for the parents to get a sense of what it is like to play a youth game. Building up to the game as kids we rejected the notion of having our parents on the field with us, we laughed and had fun at our parents expense, and as the day approached and we were marching out to the field for battle, seeing our parents dressed up in uniform warming up to play something happened, a feeling of respect and a grin of happiness and joy that our parents were at our level. The games were full of pranks, laughs and a special bond followed up with great conversation over pizza's and Pepsi's. We never had unruly parents, every team that had THE GAME the coaches had zero problems with the parent. The kids played, the parents watched and the coaches well they coached.