Skip to main content

Reply to "Coach holding a grudge against a player for for retaliation against parent."

Venting someplace reasonably safe can help.  Done.  

Now, get to work and continue to be the parent he needs to see.   

"I've instructed my son to keep working hard and communicate and ask what to do and if he's doing it right."

That is the right type of advice.  There will always be hurdles to overcome.  Things will never be completely fair.  People are human.  Your son should strive to be the best he can be and work toward being so good as a player and a teammate that he leaves no doubt... that his skill set, work ethic AND attitude toward the coaches leave no doubt that he is needed on the field when the whistle blows.  That should be the sole focus.  It sounds like he is already aware of the situation with you and the coach's sons.  You and mom must make it a point to erase that from any and all discussion and any of the thought process.  Set the example.  Be the good parents.  Have him focus positively on leaving not doubt.   The rest will work itself out.  

Whether your initial incident with his sons had any merit or not, you and your wife are the last ones who should be vocalizing any claims of unfairness or retaliation.  If your son ultimately "leaves no doubt", it will be addressed by others.  As Wareagle said, your son may or may not be the exceptional player that other players and parents are saying... probably somewhere in between.  It is human nature that they are going to say the polite thing.  It can be difficult, particularly as parents, to decipher how much is factual and how much is common courtesy that comes with normal dialog at sporting events or about our children athletes.  

If, at some point, it becomes blatantly obvious that the coach is, in fact, going to continue to act on a grudge, then your son can find his soccer fix through rec or club, particularly since it is his second sport.  It can be hard to see in the heat of the moment, but making the right parent choices here and setting the right example is the bigger picture and much more important than the knee-jerk reaction of protecting the kid against perceived preferential wrongdoing by stirring things up. 

No excuses.  Get better, son.  Leave no doubt that you should be on that field.  Have you done everything you can to be that player?  ..that teammate?  Good.  Keep it up.  It will pay off.

×
×
×
×