Well, at least we now know he treats all his players the same and he is not unfairly treating the less talented players.
;)

So how many are on this team? Speaking from experience, from the perspective of the coach, a team with participation requirements with more than 8 players is a challenge. If this team has more than 10, it would be a nightmare.

Helicopter Parents ...
 

These are called "helicopter parents", they hover around their kids. The main reason why I gave up coaching a few years ago.

My son teaches college Sociology. He has had parents of his college students call him to complain, comment, ask questions, ask for deadline extensions, etc. And this is college.

As a ninth grader, I was the twelfth man on a twelve man ninth grade team. I only got to play when we had a comfortable lead, late in the game. As a teenager, I played recreation league baseball, an average, or slightly below average fielder, couldn't hit a fastball to save my life. I seldom played. If I ever complained to my father about playing time, and if I had asked him to approach the coach for me, he would have either told me to, "Shut up", or he would have told me to go and talk to the coach myself.

Yes sometimes kids are abused in these situations, and the parents need to be an advocate for their kids, but it has gotten way out of hand.

If I had a lick of coaching ability, I still wouldn't want to do it today. I've heard too many horror stories from coaches-turned-officials to want to deal with that crap. I'll say it again: Parents get mad at officials for 5-10 seconds, and it usually goes away. People hold grudges against coaches! No wonder the turnover rate is so heavy.

Kids have to learn that life can be competitive. The better you deal with that, the better you can deal with life.

Kind of like how our government handles money. SOrry. I'll leave now.:D

The CYO in Cleveland had struggled for years with this issue and came up with an annoying yet effective way to legislate and control this. The quarters are split in half, and substitutions are only allowed at the break. This situation is in place until all players have played two segments. After that, then its free substitutions. It has stopped the participation issues within the CYO organization.

At one time, (prior to the above mentioned change) I was on the darkside and a CYO coach. At our first practice, I had the players vote. Did they want to try and win the championship (had to be unanimous), or did they want to all get to play. I had teams that voted each way. But whichever way they voted (parents weren't around) a letter went home explaining playing time issues.

This is the way it is done in our kids league. (ages 9-12) Each player must play at least 3 segments, and each player must sit out at least one. With up to 8 players on a team this is manageable, any more than that, it is a problem.