Now that DS season has started, I’m reminded once again how parents attempt to manipulate coaches for playing time, positions, etc. Just wondering if this happens in boarding school? I figure parents aren’t around for practices and fewer parents are at games so can’t have as much pull. What has your BS experience been with this?
It was much less an issue at boarding schools that public school or club teams, IMO. Favoritism still went on but parents weren’t the dynamic.
Totally not an issue. And we felt lucky that coaches took player development seriously - weren’t relying on club coaches for that.
Never heard grumbling from kids about it either. Really refreshing after the local alternative!
In my experience not an issue (or at least I’m blissfully unaware if it is).
My son is only a freshman but he played a varsity sport in the fall, and it was great. As the youngest on the team, he didn’t get a ton of playing time, but he got plenty, and the coach emphasized that he earned it through skill and especially hard work. They play to win. It’s been tremendously refreshing after years of youth/club sports and parent coaches.
What a relief. And of course, if I"m not around to see it, it won’t grate on me as much. My experience has been the coaches are usually not the issue. I just can’t deal with the parent angle.
@vwlizard, that is for sure – it’s the crazy sports parents on the sidelines that can range from annoying to downright intolerable. It’s a very different scene at BS. At least in DS’s fall sport, there still always seemed to be one parent on the sidelines (always from the opposing school) who insisted on coaching the entire game and arguing every call. The only time there was a whole posse of crazed parents was at a day school we played.
In my experience so far, it is more about the kids and there is little parent involvement except for cheering from the local parents and bringing snacks occasionally (away games - bus - which is honestly a great help for boarders who don’t have access to food outside of cafeteria).
I have found the coaches to be about the life lessons of sports just as much as “winning”. They really focus on the bigger picture, and it’s great to see that. I think having coaches that also see the kids in school is good and gives them the “whole child” picture (unlike our public that hires many outside coaches).
I agree, @sunnyschool, and my comment about playing to win was more meant that the teams are more merit based than about the coach’s kid getting the most playing time, regardless of talent. And yes, it is great having coaches who are also teachers and dorm parents and may work with the kids in one capacity for one season but then on a more casual basis other seasons. I think it’s one of the many benefits of the independence of boarding school that the kids have to figure out who they want to be as athletes without their parents always being there in the background (and running up and down the sidelines). And it’s a really fun atmosphere as a spectator.
There are no sidelines for my kid’s main sport but I guess I would liken it more to college athletics than youth and high school sports. Not the competitiveness as that can vary, but the parents and over involvement.