Problem with a coach
 

Hi, I'm not sure if I should be posting here but I have a question regarding an 8th grade girls' basketball team. I've looked at league rules and they state that they have adapted NFHS rules. I need to know where to look for rules on how much play time, if any, each player should get.

My problem is that the coach is not playing every girl in every game. One player has only played about 3 minutes in 5 games. She has sat on the bench the last 2 games for no reason. Other girls are getting off the bench but for such little time (under 2 minutes in a game) that they don't have much of a chance to do much. There are 12 girls on the team and the coach tends to play about 5-6, including his daughter, for almost the whole game.

This coach has also said to one player that another girl on the team is hopeless. He seems to yell at the girls a ton & did that today in the middle of the game. People in the stands could hear every word. Extremely unprofessional! He doesn't teach the girls plays. They only have a couple of inbound plays & they try to press break. He has told the girls that by this age they should be able to create plays on their own. I do not understand that line of thinking.

Can anyone give me advice on how to handle this? Some of the parents would like to file a complaint. I would like to help them out & give them some rules or regulations to support their complaint. I'm not a coach or a ref. Just someone who loves the game & feels bad for these girls cuz they have great potential but no leader.

Thanks!

As far as NFHS rules, there are no rules that mandate or regulate playing time for anyone. The only thing NFHS mandates is that five players are there to start the game. Those kind of rules are going to be league adapted rules and thus you'll have to take it up with them.

I suggest if and other parents have issue with how the coach is handling the team, you either bring it up with the coach, or go to the head of the league with your complaint.

NFHS has no rules about playing time. Any such rule is one imposed at your local level. What kind of program are we talking about? Is this intramural, or is this a team representing the school against other schools?

Unfortunately for you, there's nothing in the NFHS rules that say a coach must have a player play a certain number of minutes. That kind of stuff is usually handled on a league basis.

You can file a complaint, but you have no NFHS rule to back you up.

IF the parents or school dont like it they can replace the coach. other than that its his team to run as he sees fit, or the powers that be deal with him.

sports, especially competitive ones, are not about equality, and parents that feel that they are are doing their kids a disservice.

This is an 8th grade girls "A team", private school. So, the team is representing the school as well as the coach, who, with his demeaning attitude toward his girls, did the school no favors. Parents of the opposing team were even appalled.

I did find rules & regulations where it says that the school's athletic association "shall create policies that provide for participation By all team members in all games".

So, I guess I will direct the parents to take it up with their the head of their athletic assoc. and have them reference that line in the regulations.

Thank you for letting me know that the NFHS has no set rule there.

Well, this isn't entirely accurate. Some leagues are explicitly set up with the understanding that kids are going to get playing time. That way, if your kid sucks, they still get to get out there and get some exercise. With obesity rates the way they are, that's not exactly a bad thing you know.

Once you get to the high school level, though, all bets on playing time are off. As it should be.

I am not saying that the girls should all have equal play time. Not at all. What I am saying is that I agree with the parents that all the girls should at least get some time to play. After all, I don't think parents pay $150-200 plus shoes & shooting shirts to see their child sit on the bench cuz the coach deems them hopeless. The only way they are going to learn how to play is if he works with those players in practice more & puts them in the games cuz that is where so much is learned. After all this is only 8th grade & it's a "no-cut" league so girls have the opportunity to learn the game.

This is pretty broad language. Loosely interpreted, practice, which helps prepare the team for each game, as well as the right to suit up for the game itself, could be considered participation. The fact is, at this level, I have never heard of any league which has mandatory participation guidelines.

If that is the case, then parents are basically paying a fee for nothing. I don't see how a Christian school can have a "no-cut" team and bench players w/o a good reason. There were no try-outs for this team. In previous years, all girls were played in all the games, but they didn't all have equal playing time. The same should happen here or they should have had try-outs and those not good enough should not have made the team. That way those parents would not have paid $150 to watch their child warm a bench. Just my thoughts...

That they're a Christian school means nothing.

No school should have that. If you think that a Christian school should be held to a higher standard, then I submit that all schools should be held to the same standard, since the issue has nothing to do with beliefs, but rather a stated policy.

A lot of these no cut schools just aren't about letting everyone on the team...its the dinero from participation fees and a markup on warmup jerseys.

Has someone approached the coach directly, school's AD (if there is one), the principal? Did the coach have a pre-season meeting with the parents?

The coach did have a very brief meeting with the parents after the second practice. It last all of 10 minutes at most.

After, the first game (the girls have now played 5 games) a parent did approach the coach with her concerns. She stated that one of the girls that he benched was a very good ball handler & although he has never coach that player before she could be a good asset to the team. He was even very demeaning to her & stated that he was the coach & she was not. (that game the girls lost. They had more fouls then points. The girls had no plays & looked awful. They only scoreed 16 points but had 18 fouls)

That same parent also talked to one of the heads of the athletic dept since her talk with the coach went so bad but still no changes been noticed. I am advising the parents to write up a coral complaint to the athletic assoc. and the principal.

If the league has a mandatory participation rule then the individual talents of the players should not be part of the discussions with the coach on this subject.