Coach missing games

How common is it for a coach who has about 4 teams to miss games because of a scheduling conflict? DD is on his younger team, so I see why he would go to the older girls' game, but just curious if this is the norm. And if so, how many times in a season is it ok for him to not be there? (there is a backup coach, we aren't having to forfeit)

Very common a coach with multiple teams to have some scheduling conflicts! Although, I would have a problem if it was my DD team's games he was having to miss! Questions? Does the coach communicate when he will miss. What is the relationship with the reserve coach? How do the girls feel about the coach missing?

the only time I have see it work was sons team had an assistant coach that was at many of the practices so when he had to coach games there wasn't any change.

totalsoccer wrote:Very common a coach with multiple teams to have some scheduling conflicts! Although, I would have a problem if it was my DD team's games he was having to miss! Questions? Does the coach communicate when he will miss. What is the relationship with the reserve coach? How do the girls feel about the coach missing?

He sometimes communicates with the manager, other than that we don't know until the start of the game. My DD adores the reserve coach as much as the team coach; and doesn't even mention her coach not being there. It basically doesn't bother her at all; but we are new to academy and just trying to figure out how things work.

I think it depends on the year of your player. If you have an 03 (who are now in their last year for Academy) and are wanting to go select with this coach come this Fall then I, personally, would want a coach who could be at most of the games this Spring before select. But if your player is any younger than an 03 AND the reserve coach does a decent job and your player gets some play time, then I'd worry only about practice as practices are much more important to your players' development in the long run. If you are getting good quality practice (no matter who coaches) and they are not cancelled all the time, than that is what is most important (in my opinion anyway).

working wrote:

totalsoccer wrote:Very common a coach with multiple teams to have some scheduling conflicts! Although, I would have a problem if it was my DD team's games he was having to miss! Questions? Does the coach communicate when he will miss. What is the relationship with the reserve coach? How do the girls feel about the coach missing?

He sometimes communicates with the manager, other than that we don't know until the start of the game. My DD adores the reserve coach as much as the team coach; and doesn't even mention her coach not being there. It basically doesn't bother her at all; but we are new to academy and just trying to figure out how things work.

That will be the million dollar question is does it work for your DD and you! Go99 has a point it can work and sometimes having two coaches working with a team can be a bonus!

My dd has been on two teams with a coach that had multiple teams. Of course it is frustrating at times when they are not present at games. Consistency is very important at the younger ages so an Asst Coach the girls like and trust makes all the difference. In general I think that the policy was with conflicting games, the oldest team gets the coach, unless the game for the younger team is a key game or a final or something. We were rarely told ahead of time if our coach would be absent...generally found out at game time.

We did have issues with one of the teams because it didn't have a consistent asst coach...actually no asst coach. We'd generally just get another coach from the club (some the girls liked and some they didn't), or a few times the manager stepped in to coach. He typically had no involvement in practices or games...the girls liked him ok but I think most parents want a "coach". Also in this case, rarely was it communicated that the coach would be absent prior to a game.

working wrote:

totalsoccer wrote:Very common a coach with multiple teams to have some scheduling conflicts! Although, I would have a problem if it was my DD team's games he was having to miss! Questions? Does the coach communicate when he will miss. What is the relationship with the reserve coach? How do the girls feel about the coach missing?

He sometimes communicates with the manager, other than that we don't know until the start of the game. My DD adores the reserve coach as much as the team coach; and doesn't even mention her coach not being there. It basically doesn't bother her at all; but we are new to academy and just trying to figure out how things work.

Here's an unfortunate warning for you: If the coach misses more than a few games each year, the parents will grow more and more annoyed... especially if the team plays poorly in his absences.

Often, there is a sub-coach that is assigned through the club. I've seen this work out well when the fill-in has spent a reasonable number of practices in the past working with the team. But among the larger clubs, you may have some person show up - paper in hand that the head coach emailed him that morning - and he won't even know the girls' names. Ridiculous.

The best solution in my opinion is to have a true assistant coach in place. It's a delicate matter, though. The team won't be able to afford to pay an assistant, so they would probably have to chose from one of the parents with actual soccer experience and who has time to attend some practices. Using the manager for this is normally a very bad idea. If you have a parent that knows the game, has a daughter who is very good anyway so there is no question on her playing time for the matches he covers, and a head coach that will train the assistant plus make it clear to the parent that he/she is to be respected, it might work out.

When coaches have multiple teams conflicts are unavoidable. In most cases, no matter how well it is handled or communicated, someone will be unhappy.

The smart coaches clearly communicate in advance how conflicts will be handled to minimize dissent. As others have mentioned a great deal depends on the age of the kids and the consistency of the substitute.

One of mine played for a great coach who travelled at times to play professionally. We knew that going in. He had an assistant who was at every training session, the kids loved him and the gameday substitutions, playing time, etc. were virtually the same as with the regular coach. Essentially no issues at all.

If you're on one of the coach's younger teams, you could quite easily fall down the pecking order. As someone else mentioned, at the academy ages I wouldn't worry too much about games as training is the key.

I will say I'm not a fan of most parents/managers taking over a sideline. Not for a lack of experience or knowledge, but the most elusive quality of all in soccer parents - objectivity.

The linchpin is the assistant coach. If you have a solid assistant, then no worries. If you're paying full-blown fees though, and in the coach's absence a significantly less qualified person is pressed into action... that's a concern.

Thanks for all the input! I guess we have it pretty good considering practices are rarely canceled, assistant is good, and most of all DD is happy no matter who is coaching the games. I guess I would have never questioned it if the coach would have informed us from the get go.