Parental Involvement in Grassroots Football

This is always a controversial subject. For me, I've experienced both highs and lows in every aspect, from a spectator of a game, coaching a game and actually playing football. Parental involvement is absolute key in the grassroots game, no matter how much anyone likes or dislikes it. Here, I try to analyse the good and the bad.

As a player, I have played for 5 clubs and 1 Centre Of Excellence. During this time - I have only been managed by 2 parents. If I had to describe those experiences at that club, it wouldn't be a good description. Now let me explain...

As a parent taking your child to a grassroots team, you normally either think one of two things:

1) I want to get my child playing football as their showing a keen interest (though they may not be a fantastic player)

OR

2) My child has a real talent at this sport and I want them to pursue this as far and as long as they can.

When I was managed by someone who had a daughter in the team I was playing in, unfortunately she happened to play the same position as myself and I found myself sacrificed to come off the pitch. It could have been due to them wanting to get their daughter the same amount of playing time as everyone else (1) or wanting their child to excel in their favourite position (2). Either way, I was the only other central midfielder - it was going to be who was to be sacrificed.

So as a parent...the manager had an option..

To be disliked by his own child for playing her out of position?

OR

To be disliked by another for being substituted? 

I think their decision was only natural.

You also get the other situation - my dad managed one of my teams a couple of times due to the team entering two leagues which would sometimes require the squad being split and some going to play in the Liverpool league and some playing in the Lancashire league. Unfortunately, this was my second club and the parent situation described as above happened at my 1st club - so my dad was very conscious of the way in which he managed the situation. SO MUCH SO IN FACT THAT I SPENT ALL OF 15 MINUTES ON THE PITCH!!!

Dealing with parents can sometimes be somewhat of an art. During my time at my current club (coaching), I believe I now have a set of parents that will back me 100% in any decision I make. They advise me about fundraising, we arrange things as one and they understand that with any decision I make, I try to do it with the girls as first priority.

However, it is not always the case. As I said - dealing with parents is an art. I have been coaching for 5 years and in that time I have had very few issues. What I have had is parents lying, being dishonest, putting their daughter first. By "putting their daughter first" - imagine this...

Your team is playing on a match day and all you can hear is someone shouting the name of their child. They aren't interested in the team or encouraging anyone else but simply their child doing well. Maybe I'm being picky...but I don't like it.

I've witnessed children by the age of 11 having played at 4 or 5 different teams and yet the parents claim that its the coaches causing the issue? What? At all 5 teams?

I have been hurled with abuse down the phone, been sworn at and been told that "I'm going down". I have been described as a b***** and when I responded to the rants that I am "only a volunteer" - I got...

"I am sick of hearing that you're a volunteer".

Well the truth is...volunteers do it for free and I actually pay money out to coach some of my teams - so in truth - I am not a volunteer.

I have had parents laughing with me on trips out and stab me in the back as soon as they get the opportunity. Some have been so evil and cunning to actually twist things into something they are not.

BUT

I can't imagine my dad was the easiest of people to deal with when I was playing and he was a parent. He's still loud now - and I'm the manager!! He's louder than me and to put it short - he gets on my nerves BUT my dad helps. He is part of that group of parents that will do anything to help you as manager or coach without expecting to receive control over something in return.

I have parents that help with the following:

• write match reports
• record minutes of goals/goalscorers/assists/goal ratio
• half time snacks brought to training
• match facilities arranged
• sponsorship's brought in
• goals being put up before matches

But more importantly, they support me, they support the team and they support their daughter to do what they enjoy.

So here's a big thank you to the parents at Academy Juniors - for it has been a tough few months for me, but thank you for backing every decision I have made. I look forward to helping your daughters be the best they can be.

2014; Time To Reflect

So Christmas has been and gone. It's New Years Day. I'm preparing to start the next half of fixtures - though we are just over half way through them. My U12's sit top of the table and though my aim is to develop the girls, I still feel a sense of pride. After the countless courses I have been on - I feel as though I should not feel this way, but lets reflect on the year and see if I can justify a reason for being proud of my team for sitting top of the table.

Our first game back last year should be a target to try and maintain this year. We played Blackpool in the quarter finals of the cup on a 4G surface in what could only be described as baltic conditions. The game went to extra time - the girls went 3-1 up, but Blackpool managed to bring one back which got everyone's blood pumping around their bodies!! It was a great game to bring in 2014. Blackpool are a great side and regardless of whether things are going their way, they try to play football. I enjoy playing them more than anyone else.

The following week we played Blackpool in the league. I felt I had been unfair with the way I had rotated my squad the week previously, so I gave those that didn't have much game time, much more game time. Wrong of me as a coach? Quite possibly. However, I feel if you come to training twice a week - you deserve to have more time on the pitch and in the more important games. It's my morals; not my philosophy. As a result - you could tell these players were not coming to training twice a week and we lost the game 3-0. Not because we didn't put the effort in, but because we were simply outclassed by the same committed group of girls that we beat the week previous.

As for the remainder of the season - we obviously made the cup final after narrowly beating Wigan after extra time. We had a game the day previously against Crosby Stuart and the girls put in an absolutely fantastic performance. It was excellent. Some of the football they played was magnificent and a sign of what was to come in the 2014/2015 season. They won 1-0, but we could have lost - we was excellent.

I have spoke briefly about the loss to Manchester City in the final of the cup. My girls were winners that day in my eyes. We stuffed our face with Rocky Road, applauded Man City and left Burscough FC knowing that just by getting to the finals we had achieved. The effort they put in was outsanding. We showed why we were physically the best side in the league - we did not stop running or working; something which is also giving us an advantage this year. Lets not beat around the bush - whatever age you are, to be good at football, you have to be athletic.

At the end of the season, I wrote the reports and I looked at the players we had gained. I thought back to the Crosby Stuart game. We had played on a huge pitch that day. The girls had more time and more space to play within and as a result, passed the ball a lot more. The signs were there - I could build on this.

Throughout summer, we entered 3 tournaments. All of which we won. I do not enter tournaments to win them - I absolutely love the team bonding that comes with the day of tournaments. To spend a whole day with your team mates should be the most fun day on offer in summer. We played some good football in the tournaments at times, but we still did not look fantastic and their was clear work that needed to be done. Our goalkeeper saved us in one tournament at a penalty shootout - every single one of the girls contributed to the victory's.

The girls had a fitness programme to work on after the tournaments had finished, and before it began - I arranged their first 9 aside game against a team aged U13. The girls learnt quickly why they had a fitness programme. Needless to say, they had not trained in a few weeks, but they understood that 9aside involved a lot more running and more important, they had to let the ball do the work. We lost our first game 2-1, not through lack of effort, but a lack of understanding. Not my fault, not their fault - but it was an opportunity to find out what it was all about.

We played a few more friendlies as the summer progressed - and we was looking better/sharper. Our passing was improving, we won 2 and drew 1. The best performances was the one of which we drew. The passing was slick and the girls were a joy to watch. Our 2nd win was two weeks before the start of the season. We returned to play the U13's side we lost too and beat them 4-1, despite missing our normal goalkeeper. Our progress was beginning to show.

The season started and we looked good. We was playing football and we was playing it well. As mentioned previously, I set the girls targets. I want to see them practicing what we have been doing in training - whether it be 1 v 1's, pressuring, short passing - I want to see it. We didn't achieve our targets every game and I told them. We won one game 7-0 and the girls came off the pitch chuffed. The manager came over from the opposition and congratulated them. He said:

"Girls, I hate losing. But I do not mind losing to a team that play football. If it's played the right way, I don't mind. You are a fantastic side. You are improving constantly and you are a credit to this young lady, your parents, your club and yourselves. I hope you win the league, you are the best side we have played. Good luck, Academy Juniors".

After he left, my words to the girls (and I have been quoted on it since) were:

"You won that game because you're good players, not because you played well".

And it was true. The parents agreed with me and I think the girls agreed with me to a certain extent. We have been victorious in every game bar a draw at Blackpool, but not every performance was at the quality they are capable of. Not every target was hit in the matches.

The Blackpool game was a nightmare for me. We arrived on an executive coach arranged by one of the parents. It was a fantastic experience for the girls, but on the way down they was stuffing their sides with sweets. On arrival, I could not grind them down. They weren't focused on their performance, though it could be argued, they was focused on their targets. Despite a poor performance, our recovery runs which we had been working on in training was outstanding. Our passing game failed though. We did not play well - and the girls knew that. However, to draw with a team I admire so greatly when not playing well is an achievement within itself - but I'm looking beyond results. I'm looking at performance levels and targets met. The targets were met, the performance level wasn't.

And I think having read through this again - I'm proud of where we are in the league but everyone has recognized how far we have come in the space of a year, let alone 3 years. The girls have recently been invited to a national tournament sanctioned by The FA. I know what they are capable of and I will do all I can to make sure they play like they are capable of, but will they be officially crowned "The Champions Of England"?

2015; The Year That Will Tell