[CaptainCrunch]

Just ti throw in my two cents.


I've been coaching amateur football now for about 15 years.


I spent 4 years coaching at high school. 3 years coaching woman's tackle football, and 7 years coaching Bantam and spring ball. I've been a LB coach, a D line coach, an Oline coach, a defensive Coordinator, a QB coach and an Offensive Coordinator coach. Most of my time has honestly been at a coordinator level.



I take a lot of yearly courses and certifications at my own cost.



There's a few things that do drive me crazy.


I mean honestly I can split up parents into almost three camps. There are some great parents who look at organized sports as an outlet for their kids. They want them to be part of a team or the social aspect. Help their kids find things they're passionate about, or even get some benefits of fitness and fairplay and work ethic.


There are parents who live vicariously through their kids experience. The Dad that never felt that he got a fair shake in sports, but thinks his son is 10x better then he ever was and he becomes his kids biggest supporter and complainer. My son isn't getting enough field time. Or you should design plays specifically to get the ball into his hands. Or I saw him open and the QB didn't throw him the ball, you should change that. Sometimes two things happen. The player is embarressed by his dad. Or his Dad gives him his own coaching outside of the program and tells him that he's a thousand times better then any other player. The Kid then becomes entitled, and impossible to deal with. (BTW as soon as a kid tells me that his dad taught him to do him this way, I have to remind the kid and the dad that things here happen my way by my design.)


There are parents that have unrealistic expectations for their kids and drive their kids relentlessly, they drag him to camps. Set a college track for the kid, I've had parents that tell me that their kid has been scouted by US college teams since the kid was 12.


So far in my 12 year career I've had about 10 kids that have gone on to College Ball. What the parent sometimes doesn't realize is that the invitation to play for a College team is no guarantee of anything. I've had absolutely stellar running backs for example that went on to be absolutely elite in high school and they walk into that first camp at number 7 on the depth chart. and might not see the field for 2 years or ever.



Football is very much following the hockey path. There are football camps and schools springing up all over the place. I've tried to connect with as many of these coaches as possible just to chat about what they're trying to teach. Some are great, some are not so great. Parents really need to get feedback or read reviews or talk to players and coaches that have gone through these program before spending massive amounts of money on them.


On the other hand, and I will say this. There are some pretty bad coaches out there, even with certification requirements, they're not really vetting coaches that hard. I mean anyone can go and pass a course on ethical coaching, or heads up to prevent concussion etc. But theres no followup, Football Alberta really needs to have inspectors on the ground visiting practices and games.