Amittedly not proud of this ...

[tower912]

I would not let a kid catch if he wasn't wearing a cup.   

[CTWarrior]

Example: on my son's baseball team last year (5-7 year olds...

For the little guys and baseball, the very first things you cover are safety related.  Never swing the bat unless the coach says its OK.  Never throw the ball to someone unless you are sure they are looking.  Squatting behind the plate is one of those safety things. 

I've had parents tell me about a drill now and then that another coach used that I've incorporated.  So it is good to keep an open mind.  But mostly you get stuff like why are you playing him here or her there... or my kid should play SS... or why does that kid play so much...   That stuff goes in one ear and out the other.

[MerrittsMustache]

As much as I agree with giving the coaches wide latitude, it truly is painful to see a coach who hasn't a clue as to what is (or should be) going on when it comes to basic common sense... painful for the kids, that is.

Example: on my son's baseball team last year (5-7 year olds), the coach allows the kids to kneel when playing catcher.  When it was my kid's turn to play catcher I always yelled at him if he tried to kneel, and I'm sure the other parents thought I was some nutcase.  Until halfway into the season, one of the other kids who was kneeling behind the plate took a foul tip square in the quads and went down for a good five minutes.

Ironically, after that, I was the only parent who didn't have yell at my kid for kneeling for the remainder of the season.

Moral of the Story: Be a better coach, and everyone has more fun... even if it means watching other coaches/teams or listening to (some) parents once in a while.

Why didn't you simply go to the coach and tell him the dangers of the catcher kneeling?

[Benny B]

Why didn't you simply go to the coach and tell him the dangers of the catcher kneeling?

I'm the only parent with a kid who wears a helmet with a facemask... so there's a good chance that anything I said related to "safety" would have been written off as the crazy, OCD-wrap-the-kids-in-bubble-tape helicopter parent.

Nevertheless, if every kid was doing it on every pitch, I probably would have.  Most of the kids started out the innings squatting and then went to their knees after a few batters... so perhaps the coach did teach it but wasn't enforcing it.  In any event, I played catcher myself, so to me, it was probably more about teaching him to play the position correctly than it was safety.

[RushmoreAcademy]

What's the difference between a coach who spends an hour watching another teams' game and a coach who watches a Coaching Basketball for Dummies DVD for an hour.

Personally, I'd think that I could learn a heck of lot more watching how other teams are coached in real time, but maybe that's just me.  I'm a hands-on learner... so I guess that's why it's probably a good idea that I don't coach girls basketball, or any kids sports for that matter.

Well the coaches scouting are usually the ones who have been coaching for 15 years.  It's different everywhere, based on level of play, level of experience of the players, etc. I understand that. In my case, I always just found it funny, laughing thinking about him writing: "#14 - dribbles ball off foot, missed rim with 4 consecutive shots."

[MU82]

UPDATE:

We won both games to improve to 4-0.

The team that lost the game I scouted was even worse the day we played them -- although I will say that my players probably were the most energetic and focused in the 2+ years I've coached them, so I like to think we made them look worse than they were. As I mentioned, this was our rival and a team we had lost to 5 straight times, including last year's championship game, and my kids were VERY psyched to finally beat them. This time, we won by 30+ and would have won by 60 if I kept the press on past the first 5 minutes.

The team that won the game I scouted was about what I expected. Quick and small, not very good shooters but tough and active. We didn't press them the entire first half because we had bad foul trouble but then I put it on during a time-out that had been called the opposing coach and we scored 10 points in 90 seconds to break open a close game. We ended up winning by 13 even though 4 of my starters and my top sub were in foul trouble most of the game and 3 of them ended up fouling out. (We are very aggressive by nature, and this probably was the most tightly-called game in my 2+ years.)

In retrospect, am I glad I scouted that game? Absolutely yes.

First, we only get to practice once a week and having a little knowledge made that one practice infinitely more efficient.

Second, we got to practice skills that I felt would make us a better team, not just in these two games but for the long run. We worked specifically at using ball fakes and/or bounce passes to feed the high post and also worked on having the high post feed the low post. In today's game, we scored three straight baskets on beautiful passes from our 4 to our 5 that we would not have been able to make a week ago. It's so cool to see the light bulb come on for young athletes!

Third, I think the way we prepared for these games even more firmly established me as a knowledgeable coach in the mind of the players. Not that I think they doubted me -- I'm quite sure they and their parents very much believe in me -- but I think I looked like even more of an authority. Kind of "See, I TOLD you that top-of-the-key 3 would be there because they'd sag on our high post."

So the mildly embarrassing "did I really just scout middle-school basketball?" factor faded pretty quickly as I got the satisfaction of seeing my kids respond to adversity (the foul trouble) and execute good, fundamental basketball plays and formations. The experience helped us improve as a team and helped individual players improve, too. And I think it helped me improve as a coach, as well.

I appreciate all the earlier responses, many of which made me laugh out loud and several of which gave me valuable perspective. Good luck to all of my fellow coaches in Scoopland!

[Dr. Blackheart]

All about the coaching...no matter how creepy

[MU82]

Won our conference championship tonight, the first title in school history, to wrap up our 19-2 season!

[Benny B]

Won our conference championship tonight, the first title in school history, to wrap up our 19-2 season!

And missed the MU / GTown game?  For shame.

[MU82]

And missed the MU / GTown game?  For shame.

That's why Al Gore invented the DVR, my friend!

I saw every second of our enjoyable win.

[keefe]

That's why Al Gore invented the DVR, my friend!

I saw every second of our enjoyable win.

I DVR'd tonight's game as I had a dinner tonight. Game went long and I missed the last 4 minutes.

[MU82]

I DVR'd tonight's game as I had a dinner tonight. Game went long and I missed the last 4 minutes.

C'mon, Crash, you're too old to make the rookie mistake of not adding at least an hour to any sports recording! Never know when they'll go to OT or extra innings or just long.