It is said by most wise coaches that I know that practice is where your kids get better and improved their skills and games are more for fun and for parents to enjoy watching and seeing their financial and time investment pay off. This is very true in my experience.
Kids don't always love practice but it is something that is needed obviously. i would say that if your kid hates practice, then he or she shouldn't be in the sport. it isn't as fun as games, but a coach can make it fun while getting the kids to be better.
Now one of the hurdles to becoming better or building a good program or even becoming a winning community is when parents get pissy about kids' practice time. I hear things now and then about objections to how long practices are or the frequency. If this is more than just a few people, you have the recipe for a losing situation.
Now, I am not talking about crazy stuff here. Obviously you can't have 5 hour practices on school nights and overdoing it is not what I am talking about. I am talking about something like what I heard happen a few years ago with the Caledonia football team where parents were bitching that their kids were practicing a little over the 2 or 3 hour time allotment during the part of the season before the first games when this is more commonplace. Oops! Sorry, you have nothing to say when your kids continue to fail on the field. If a coach has to deal with this kind of crap, then it is symptomatic of a larger issue.
You want to be good, let your kids practice. Sure there may be times when they need to be out at a certain time. If so, just tell the coach and the kid will be released. But if it is simply that you don't want to wait another 10 minutes because your schedule is more important, then piss off. This one small thing isn't the sum total, but like I said, it points to reasons for why a community continues to be mediocre or bad.
I understand the counter argument here so save it. Most coaches do try to get out on time. There are some times when something is being taught and/or the flow and practice itself calls for some extra time. Remember the coaches are there mainly because they like the sport and like teaching it to your kid. With exceptions, many of the coaches aren't being paid for what they do, so please keep this in mind. Lastly, I want to add that many parents are supportive and don't make a stink.
So to sum up, it seems a bit unimportant but if you want excellence, then be open to increased practice time.
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