By James Housdan, Head Football Coach
Parkers Chapel High School (AR)
With the start of high school football practice about to begin, coaching staffs are putting the final preparations in place. For almost a year coaches and players have been preparing and gearing up for a new season. The off-season work has included weight lifting, plyometrics, agilities, and conditioning. Summer time has consisted most of the same routine but has included 7-on-7 competitions, team camps, individual camps, and occasionally lineman challenges. There is plenty of time and opportunity for the coaches and players to develop relationships. This is an important element to nurture due to the needs of both parties to collaborate and compete for the football program.
One relationship that needs to be developed along with the player is that of the parents. There are many reasons that this relationship needs to be established. This can be an overlooked and difficult challenge to meet. There are many reasons to establish this report. With the many safety and health concerns associated with football, we need to assure the parents that we are concerned with the well-being of their child other than just the ability to compete in the football program.
One way to develop relationships with the parents is to establish communication with them. This opportunity to keep them apprised of all activities and times of events is appreciated. We do this by getting their emails and cell numbers during the mandatory parent meeting.
The most fun and memorable way to develop relationships with the parents is to have team activities that they can be involved in. We host father and son retreats and father and son competitions. Figure 1 is a picture from our inaugural father and son retreat. The sons lead the fathers while coaches are stationed at certain stations to provide support and encourage communication between them. For the mothers and sons, we have “MOM’s 101.” In Figure 2 we have a player display the correct way to wear the football equipment (in background) while the moms compete to get their uniform on correctly.
These events provide a great opportunity to bond not only for the parent and son but it also allows the coaches to bond with the parents in a relaxed environment.
