Parents & Fans
All Fans
Please give plenty of praise and keep any negative comments to yourself, whether you’re talking about your own athlete or not. Coaches and athletes love hearing when parents shout encouragement and praise when an athlete makes an intelligent decision on their own.
There MUST not be any negative interaction with the referees or other parents coming from sidelines. If anyone has a hard time controlling themselves in this regard, it’s better to stay home. If this occurs and continues to happen, we WILL ask you to stay home. We need you to understand what a traumatic experience it is (for our athletes) when a parent misbehaves on the sideline.
Parents
Coaching from sidelines (adapted from a club soccer parent letter)
When parents tell athletes what to do from the stands, they don’t make their own decisions and often act the opposite of what they learn in training, thus hindering their development. Some examples of bad / distracting coaching from the stands (and how it actually may be interpreted):
- Go get the ball — dive in (wrong).
- Shoot — don’t look up to see what your options are (wrong).
- Dribble — keep your head down and run into pressure (wrong).
- Boot it — don’t be calm under pressure and play kickball (wrong).
- Pressure — go toward the opponent regardless of what you’re leaving behind (wrong).
Our coaches teach athletes to make their own decisions, according to the situation and their abilities at that moment. The best way to help your athlete is to provide some information, but not make decisions for them. Examples of good instructions from the stands:
- Time — player is getting the ball and has no defenders around
- Man on — player has a defender right behind him/her
- Look up — player is dribbling without pressure but keeps the head down.
How you can help at home
Be a role-model for your athlete (in the stands and online). At LM we expect good sportsmanship. As a staff we try to model this, and want your help in doing the same.
Embrace your athlete's role on the team (even if it's not the same as your experience, at their age) and encourage your athlete to talk with the coaches if they have questions about it. Having a mature conversation with an adult is important to their growth; this is a crucial time for them to learn how to fight their own battles.
Let the coaches coach. Of course you want the best for your athlete, and so do we! The fact is that we evaluate talent everyday and try to put what we feel is the best group on the field, that will result in a successful outcome.
Encourage your athlete to be active. Studies show that being a multi-sport athlete has just as many advantages (if not more) than specializing in one sport. If they don’t want to be in another sport, encourage them to participate in our off-season/pre-season activities and workouts.
If you want to be involved in the program as more than a spectator, please ask how you can help. There are often situations off the field where we could use an extra hand. Please do not assume that if you are active and willing to help that your athlete will get any preferential treatment, or benefit from your willingness to help.
The LM Booster Club asks and expects each team/organization to help with concessions over the course of the year during non-soccer events. Please use this opportunity to help out. Look for emails from our Booster Club Parent Reps.
Topics that we will not discuss with parents
Other athletes
Playing time
In-game coaching decisions
Open topics of discussion
Treatment of the athlete
Ways the athlete can improve
The athlete's behavior (in class, on the field)
Playing at the collegiate level, recruiting
