Southwestern Youth Sports Association: Positive Coaching Alliance Update: Maintaining Support For A Coach During A Losing Season

Press release from Southwestern Youth Sports Association:

2021-09-06

This resource stems from a question submitted to the Ask PCA blog. Responses come from our experts including PCA Trainers, who lead live group workshops for coaches, parents, administrators and student-athletes.

"Our U9 competitive soccer team has a model PCA Double-Goal Coach, but the majority of parents are struggling with our lack of wins. They chose competitive over rec in many cases because they don't want their kids on losing sides. The most competitive parents have said that their kids come home demoralized by the losses but my daughter seems able to take the losses in stride and still enjoy the games. How can I keep the parents supportive of our Double-Goal Coach?"

PCA Response by Jim Thompson (@JimThompson18), PCA Executive Director
As a lone parent who recognizes the value of the situation your child is in, you have to be thoughtful about how to try to make the situation better. Here are some thoughts:

Cheer other kids on your team for their effort. This is good for them and it will endear you to other parents. To a parent, no one is as smart as the person who recognizes their child’s good points!

This press release was produced by Southwestern Youth Sports Association. The views expressed here are the author’s own.