Should I coach my kid?

[Walker]

Two choices and both are hard to do. Coach him or be a supportive spectator.

[Codie]

Conflicted in whether I should coach my own kid. My kid is 3 and wants to play soccer and T ball. I've never spent a second on a pitch but I never missed a season from the moment I could play baseball until college. Heck, I even managed to be on a team in college for 7 years (1 freshman red shirt, 1 medical red shirt in NAIA and another medical red shirt in NCAA. I was a 25 year old senior lol. Ask me how to get 199 hours and 1 bachelor degree.)

All that to say that I now have an opportunity to coach my kid. No, not much to do or say for a team of 3 and 4 year olds. They just need a warm body that can encourage them and tell them when to run.

Where I am conflicted is when I was coaching a 10u select team and doing lessons on the side, a dad told me once that he says all of the same things I was teaching his son, but his son never listened to him. Only would listen to a coach. I also see the beauty in stepping to the other side of the fence and watching him, not being involved.

Maybe I start coaching now and if he keeps playing, maybe I'll see when it's time for me to step back? How have other fathers handled similar situations?

Many thanks. TBH is the best for advice...truly, thank you.

I encourage you to coach. It was VERY obvious to me when it was time for me to step away from coaching his teams and allow others with more specialized knowledge to coach him on their team. Worked great for me and some of my favorite memories are from coaching his local travel tournament soccer team.

[ctom87]

Didn't think I would find my answer lazily scrolling through tiktok, but here it is...

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRGA4w8v/

[Hockley]

Tagged. Difference with me is I don’t know Jack about the game!

[GARY]

Conflicted in whether I should coach my own kid. My kid is 3 and wants to play soccer and T ball. I've never spent a second on a pitch but I never missed a season from the moment I could play baseball until college. Heck, I even managed to be on a team in college for 7 years (1 freshman red shirt, 1 medical red shirt in NAIA and another medical red shirt in NCAA. I was a 25 year old senior lol. Ask me how to get 199 hours and 1 bachelor degree.)

All that to say that I now have an opportunity to coach my kid. No, not much to do or say for a team of 3 and 4 year olds. They just need a warm body that can encourage them and tell them when to run.

Where I am conflicted is when I was coaching a 10u select team and doing lessons on the side, a dad told me once that he says all of the same things I was teaching his son, but his son never listened to him. Only would listen to a coach. I also see the beauty in stepping to the other side of the fence and watching him, not being involved.

Maybe I start coaching now and if he keeps playing, maybe I'll see when it's time for me to step back? How have other fathers handled similar situations?

Many thanks. TBH is the best for advice...truly, thank you.

It can be good, bad or great. You're asking dads, when it would be best if you were asking our sons and if the time we spent on the field with them bettered or worsened our relationship. I know, I thoroughly enjoyed the time up through them graduating from age 12 (little league and travel ball) to travel ball and high school where I just wanted and wrote checks. My pops was my coach and as ex player (semi pro) himself was good to me overall , but tougher on me than any other player for sure. He quit and let others coach me after grade 3...never really sure why.

[ClayW]

It can be good, bad or great. You're asking dads, when it would be best if you were asking our sons and if the time we spent on the field with them bettered or worsened our relationship. I know, I thoroughly enjoyed the time up through them graduating from age 12 (little league and travel ball) to travel ball and high school where I just wanted and wrote checks. My pops was my coach and as ex player (semi pro) himself was good to me overall , but tougher on me than any other player for sure. He quit and let others coach me after grade 3...never really sure why.

His kid is 3 years old....I think ya'll are over thinking this

[brokeno]

Sure. Just make sure you treat all the players the same.

[HTOWN]

Man, at 3yo just make sure the snacks are good for the kids after the games.
I'd coach, have fun. Show the kids how to have fun.
The MLB scouts won't be there. Just some crazy patents.

[GARY]

His kid is 3 years old....I think ya'll are over thinking this

Or you aren't as "seasoned" as some of us old fellers. I can read....I watched my sons 6 year old buddies father be awful to his son. I coached mine, yet decided to retire at 12 as my father did at 9.

I wouldn't have my kids playing any sport at 3.

Easy Karen..he asked we are sharing.

[ClayW]

Or you aren't as "seasoned" as some of us old fellers. I can read....I watched my sons 6 year old buddies father be awful to his son. I coached mine, yet decided to retire at 12 as my father did at 9.

I wouldn't have my kids playing any sport at 3.

Easy Karen..he asked we are sharing.

my 4yr old doesn't play either...but ya'll are acting like its a big decision to make either way

Solid choice with the name callin

[mattjproc]

IMO you're overthinking it. At 3 years old you're not a coach, you're a babysitter.

I've coached my son on and off in a couple of different sports throughout the years. As they get older you become less of a babysitter and more of a coach. Right now we're doing 10u select baseball and it's all business which is great. Being a coach means spending more time with my son doing something we both love. Even though I played baseball for a long time, including some college ball, I know at some point I'll have to hang it up and turn him over to paid coaches. I say enjoy it while you can. I can't image when you get older you'll ever regret the time you spent in the dugout or on the sidelines coaching your boy. Plus, you get to be a positive role model for your sons peers who may need it more than you know.

[Dale Moser]

Nobody is in charge of 3yo soccer anyway, it’s all about the snacks, and burning energy.

I loved coaching tee-ball and 8U, but I coached with some really good dudes. We tried to let the other guys coach our kids, I hardly spoke to mine at practice. It worked well, and we were not afraid to coach each other’s boys hard.

I didn’t really want to coach any longer than that, and it was obvious to me that there was better coaching readily available, and that’s what my son needed.


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[big_smith]

My boys are 9 years apart in age. I coached my oldest from T ball through HS. My youngest is a sophomore and I'm still coaching him. I will NEVER volunteer to coach T Ball again. There is really no reason for a kid 4 years old to be playing anything organized. It is a waste of time in my opinion and is more for the parents than the kids. They are generally just to young to learn much and it is frustrating. Once they get a bit older then it gets fun. I have made connections with kids that I never would have known were it not for coaching.

[Barney1971]

Nobody is in charge of 3yo soccer anyway, it’s all about the snacks, and burning energy.

I loved coaching tee-ball and 8U, but I coached with some really good dudes. We tried to let the other guys coach our kids, I hardly spoke to mine at practice. It worked well, and we were not afraid to coach each other’s boys hard.

I didn’t really want to coach any longer than that, and it was obvious to me that there was better coaching readily available, and that’s what my son needed.


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spot on

i coached many years of league and select softball..my daughter included. when they are little, it was a blast, but as they got older if my daughter needed some help i usually asked one of the other coaches to step in, she would listen much better. and yes, alot of that group by the time they got to 10-12 years old, they needed a coach that knew much more than me.