"It's not the brand or condition of the shoes that matters, but what you are filling them with that counts!"
For the vast majority of my coaching career I created and distributed a booklet I called the Parent/Player Guide. I enjoyed spending some time during the so called "off season" updating the newest version. Once it was completed, I made numerous copies. I gave a copy to the administrators, counselors, and some staff members. I also gave a copy to each of the school board members. This will give, even the disinterested, a glimpse
into your program.
We traditionally had an open practice before our first game at which we gave all parents in attendance and our players a copy of the guide. If there were parents who did not attend, we asked the players of those parents
to take one home for each of them. At the open practice, I would select a few of the most important aspects of the guide that I wanted to emphasize with the parents.
I strongly believe that if you have not developed your own guide you do so. I will include the categories of items I included in ours. The beauty, of course is, you make your own guide fit your needs.
The most common entries in our guides were;
1) An introduction ... Which often included a few brief comments on the
previous season and a look at the season ahead.
2) List of the coaches on staff and the levels they were responsible for.
3) Program Philosophy .... Included fundamental statements we build our
program on.
4) Preview of the teams in our section and who those teams were
5) Playing Time .... A statement concerning our program philosophy
concerning playing time at all levels.
6) Letter Policy
7) Conference Standings from previous season.
8) All Conference Team from previous season.
9) Basketball Schedules .... Varsity, JV, C, and Junior High schedules
10) Player Expectations .... A list of standards we expected our players to live
up to.
11) Program Award Winners from previous season. ... At our year end
banquet we gave awards for: Leading Rebounder, Best Defensive Player,
Highest % Shooter, Team Attitude Award, Rookie of the Year Award (C
team award), Bomber of the Year Award (JV Award), Leader in Assists
Award,
12) Practice Schedule
13) Bus Schedule ... Departure times for away games
14) Inspiration pages .... Variety of topics covered that aim to communicate
what we want our team culture to be.
We wanted these guides to be special because we believed our program was special. I also believe it was an effective way of clearly communicating to parents, and other interesting adults what our standards were.
Don't labor under the misconception that this guide is a cure all. You will have parents who won't read the guide. You may very well have parents who believe the information in the guide concerning playing time, etc.
does not include their child. More than once, I was told by our Activities Director that parental questions were quickly solved by the A.D. simply by referring to the Parent/Player Guide they kept on file in their office.
I believe the guides, if they are well done, demonstrate to administrators, board members, and parents that you are well organized and are striving to run a first class program. A little positive "pr" work never hurts!
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