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When Sara Stewart stepped up to coach her eight-year-old daughter, Charlotte, in flag football, she knew what kind of coach she didn?t want to be. ?In university, I coached T-ball for a team of five- and six-year-olds,? says the Oakville, Ont., mom. ?At the end of one game, a boy on the other team had missed a catch, and it resulted in my team winning. As I was packing up, I heard a coach yelling at the boy. After he was done, the boy just looked up at the coach and said: ?But Daddy, I tried!? That crushed me, watching that.?
OK, so you know you shouldn?t publicly berate your players. But what don?t you know when you agree to pick up that clipboard and whistle as a parent coach" Here are seven coaching conundrums you may run into and some strategies for handling them. 1. What am I doing"!

Your son?s begging you to coach, but you?re no Beckham on the field. (Or maybe you?ve never even stepped onto a soccer pitch before.) You may want to take a local coaching course or contact a provincial or national coaching association?such as the Coaching Association of Canada, which offers online and in-person courses. Or there are alternatives. ?Sometimes getting started is as easy as signing up as an assistant coach or volunteering to help out at various practices,? says Manon Landry Ouellette, the Fredericton-based executive director of Coach New Brunswick. Assisting eases you into the coaching scene without the pressure of being in charge and is a ...