Dealing with parents, especially at the middle school level, is something that every coach must face. Often times dealing with the parents is more challenging than coaching your players. There are so many personalities clashing together and all of them want the same thing, their child to play.

It can become a very frustrating and stressful part of the job. Some coaches tell the parents not to interfere and try to minimize the amount of time they have contact with the parents. Nowadays that philosophy is more detrimental than helpful.

Instead, be proactive with your parents and educate them on how you do things, what your expectations are of the players and the parents, and appropriate methods of communicating with you.

First things first…

One of the first things a coach should do is have a parent meeting at the start of the year. It can be very helpful, especially to new coaches. It will help minimize potential problems in the future by answering questions on the front-end instead of having to answer the same question later.

It may seem like a lot of extra time, but it will lessen the discussions you have to have with individual parents. The topics of the meetings should be planned out and followed. When planning the meeting, be sure to set aside ample time for a question and answer session for the parents.

Making the meeting productive

The key to having a quality Q&A session is to be honest with the parents and promote an environment of fairness. It’s important that parents understand that the parent meetings are not a time to discuss playing time, game plans, or other players. It also needs to be understood that questions should be asked in a proper manner in regard to language and conduct.

Finally, every parent should exhibit emotional control and be willing to listen to the questions of other parents and the responses from coaches. The first meeting of the year should lay out your team rules, your coaching philosophy, and inform the parents of their expectations and responsibilities in regard to themselves and their child. The following are the responsibilities that you need to make each parent aware of and explain in your first parent meeting.

Parents’ Responsibilities and Expectations

1. Be a fan of everyone (other players, cheerleaders, etc.)

2. Respect the officials and everyone on the other team

3. Talk to your child if they have questions

4. Don’t create conflicts with your child and their coaches and teammates by your conversations

5. Address your complaints to coaches at an appropriate time

6. Understand the goal is to make each player better and not to win every game

7. Be supportive of your child

Everyone’s reputation is on the line

It’s vital that the parents realize that they are not only representing themselves and their child, but also the community and the school. Therefore, you need to be proactive when addressing parent and fan behavior during games. It is a lot easier to create a bad reputation among other schools and officials than it is to build a good reputation.

Fans and players are often a reflection of their coach and his behavior. If you complain to referees and blame them for loses then don’t be surprised when your players start blaming other people and your fans begin to disrespect the officials and eventually you.

Summing it all up

If you choose to conduct parent meetings during the year, be prepared for a lot of parent questions, especially if you are struggling in your season at the time. Remind the parents that you will not answer questions about playing time, game strategy, or other players and every question needs to be asked in an appropriate manner.

You will inevitably have a parent that questions everything you do, challenge you, and try to create problems with you and other parents. It’s best to deal with them in a one-on-one discussion rather than at a parent meeting. It will allow them to voice their opinion to you and will allow you to answer their specific questions.

Parents are going to disagree with you and talk about you to other people, but if you offer an atmosphere where they can voice those concerns then at least you know what they are saying and can defend yourself. Being questioned in an honest manner can be a growing process for coaches. Coaches that try to avoid potential disagreements from parents are missing out on an opportunity to learn and become a better coach.

Coaching youth basketball can be one of the most rewarding experiences life has to offer. Don’t let difficult parents keep you away from the enjoyment of helping kids accomplish their goals. Instead confront the issue head-on and demand that parents respect your boundaries, for the betterment of all the kids on your team.

Last night my wife and I went and watched the movie “42” while in Phoenix and was disappointed that there were only a handful of viewers. There are great lessons in the movie for everyone but especially for athletes. In fact, I really think that every coach and athlete, regardless of age or gender or sport should go watch “42.”

Of course the movie only tells part of the real Jackie Robinson story. For example, Jackie competed in four sports – including basketball - in high school, junior college, and then at UCLA.

Football was probably his best sport although he did win an NCAA Championship in the long jump. Surprisingly, baseball was his weakest sport and he turned out to be a much better pro player than he was in college.

After World War II ended Jackie spent a year as the men’s basketball coach at Sam Houston College in Texas before joining the Kansas City Monarchs, which is where the movie “42″ starts telling his story.

I know it sounds silly but knowing that he had a basketball background both as a player and a coach has made me feel even more connected to him and the things that he experienced.

I realize that Jackie Robinson went through more adversity that first year in major league baseball than anyone should ever have to experience, but after leaving the theater I couldn’t help but think that we all owe Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, some gratitude as well.

There were several African American athletes who were capable and willing to be the first baseball player to break the color barrier but there was only one owner willing to give someone that opportunity.

I don’t know what Branch Rickey’s ulterior motives were and truthfully I don’t care. All I know is that every sport, including the one that I love the most, has benefitted from his decision.

Thank you Jackie Robinson. Thank you Branch Rickey.

The NCSA is a recruiting service that matches enrolled high school athletes with interested college coaches.

Not too long ago the NCSA surveyed their database of student-athletes in order to find out why athletes commit to a particular school.

Here are the top 5 responses:

1. Coaching staff
2. Awarded a scholarship
3. Culture (campus, social scene, reputation, etc.)
4. Location of the school
5. Cost of the school

What’s interesting to note is that academics, majors offered, or career preparation aren’t listed amongst the top reasons why athletes choose to attend a school.

Athletes seem to either forget or ignore the facts that coaches leave all the time and that scholarships can be rescinded and that it is much easier for those things to take place than it is for athletes to transfer.

With the Spring signing period just right around the corner, Senior basketball players everywhere (and their parents and coaches) should not make their decision based solely on emotions. (I know a player near my home town who made her college decision based on the fact that it might put her in a position to be reunited with an ex-boyfriend.)

Instead, the decision should be thoroughly thought out and all pros and cons carefully considered. The decisions made in the next month or so will undoubtedly have an effect on the rest of a student-athlete’s life.

Robert Schuller was one of the best ministers, authors, speakers, and motivators of his generation.

His words that follow should be read by players and coaches alike once a week and should be practiced constantly:

1. People are unreasonable, illogical, and self centered – love them anyway.

2. If you do good people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives – do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies – succeed anyway.

4. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable – be honest and frank anyway.

5. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow – do good anyway.

6. The people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds – think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but always follow top dogs – fight for some underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight – build anyway.

9. Give the world the best you’ve got and you’ll get kicked in the teeth – give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

About five years ago, Louisville coach Rick Pitino wrote a book called “The Rebound Rules” which offers a great deal of advice on how to make a comeback after facing life’s difficulties and how to pick yourself up after being knocked down.

As you read the following excerpt from the chapter entitled Gaining Perspective, think of Louisville player Kevin Ware and how he is handling the tragic injury he suffered last week.

1. Tragedy will test you like nothing else. Keep your faith and rely on it to help you through – even if you’re questioning it at the time.
2. Let your emotions out and work through them. Catharsis is necessary to avoid bitterness.
3. Turn your grief into good. Let your hard earned new perspective be the catalyst to a more humble, charitable you.
4. Don’t demand answers tot he inexplicable. Sometimes there are none.
5. Don’t miss the lessons you can learn in these trying moments. A child’s act of grace can teach you so much.
6. Don’t marinate in bitterness or preoccupy yourself with revenge. Both are unproductive.

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Despite all the excitement and enthusiasm that teams like Florida Gulf Coast and LaSalle have generated over the past several days, all news coming from the NCAA Tournament has not been good.

In the past two days UCLA’s Ben Howland and Minnesota’s Tubby Smith have been fired from their jobs for supposedly underachieving. Howland, who had previously taken the Bruins to three Final Fours, guided UCLA to this year’s regular season Pac 12 Championship.

Smith, who won an NCAA Championship while at Kentucky, took over an abysmal Minnesota program and brought it back to respectability if not national prominence. The Gophers were ranked as high as #8 earlier in the season and beat teams such as Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Indiana.

Both UCLA and Minnesota made it to the NCAA Tournament as “at-large” picks, something that even Kentucky could not do this year. Both UCLA and Minnesota chose to pay out millions of dollars in buy out clauses than keep their coaches, which has to make me wonder if there is something going on behind the scenes that no else knows about.

Anyway, here’s some sound advice that Tubby Smith once shared with author Pat Williams:

1. Be very involved with your players. Be able to adapt to your personnel.
2. Have a plan and work it. From top to bottom, everyone has to know what the goals are for your team.
3. Be highly organized and prioritize your schedule. Good time management is essential.
4. Do what it takes to be successful. You’ve got to have an outstanding work ethic to stay ahead of the competition.
5. You’ve got to have a sound philosophy and a certain image you want to project tot he public.

I enjoyed watching ESPN’s “Survive and Advance” so much the other night that I’ve already watched it a second time.

The thing that impressed me the second time was how much fun those former NC State teammates were having just being in each other’s company.

I don’t have any idea how long it’s been since those guys had seen each other but they laughed, and joked, and ragged on each other like it was only yesterday.

There was no mention of scoring averages, or All Conference, or future playing and coaching careers.

Everything was about the team, even though no one has been on the team for 30 years.

Watching those teammates interact reminded me of something that Coach Rick Pitino once wrote back when he was with the Celtics;

It’s the one lesson that all great teams have to tell us. If you read about great teams, and the people who played for them, the two things that connect all of them is 1) the team eventually became bigger than all the individuals who played for it, and 2) the players ultimately realized that playing for a great team was the best experience of their professional lives.

Love your coaches and your teammates and make the most of every single second you get to spend together.

If you’re lucky, really, really, lucky – you’ll get to sit around a table with your teammates 30 years from now and relive the journey.

Frank Burilson, one of the most respected basketball writers in the country was recently asked to vote on the top NCAA Tournament players of all time.

Even though he could vote for anyone he wanted, Frank chose to vote only for players that he had personally seen play.

As a result, tournament superstars such as Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Bill Russell were left off of his list.

Here is Frank Burlison’s “Top 15.” (If you want to read his rationale for choosing these players go to coachgeorgeraveling.com) The list is in alphabetical order.

1. Kareem Abdul Jabbar (UCLA)
2. Larry Bird (Indiana State)
3. Anthony Davis (Kentucky)
4. Patrick Ewing (Georgetown)
5. Darrell Griffith (Louisville)
6. Magic Johnson (Michigan State)
7. Michael Jordan (North Carolina)
8. Christian Laettner (Duke)
9. Danny Manning (Kansas)
10. Joakim Noah (Florida)
11. Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston)
12. Isiah Thomas (Indiana)
13. David Thompson (NC State)
14. Bill Walton (UCLA)
15. Sydney Wicks (UCLA)

What do you think – did Frank get it right? We would love to hear your opinion!

The third tip in Daniel Coyle’s “The Little Book of Talent” is “Steal Without Apology.

” What does that mean? It means that in your quest to become a better, more talented basketball player there is absolutely no need to reinvent the wheel.

All the skills, talents, and information that you need can be found almost immediately if you are willing to look.

Of course, just looking isn’t enough – once you find what you need you must “steal” it and make it your own if you really want to improve your game.

Want Kobe’s competitiveness, Ray Allen’s jump shot or Chris Paul’s handles? Then steal them!

Break them down into tiny pieces and then relentlessly practice those pieces until the entire skill becomes yours. They won’t mind; truth be told they probably stole them from someone else years ago.

However, a couple words of warning are appropriate here. Steal only things that are valuable. (Stealing the Globetrotter’s half court hook shoot might win you a few bets but isn’t going to help you become a better player.)

Be as specific as possible. (Don’t necessarily worry about stealing Ray Allen’s entire jump shot but instead steal his follow through, his body balance, and his quick release.)

The HoopSkills website is full of articles, blog posts, videos, and training aids designed and made available to put you on the path to improvement. If you can’t find exactly what you’re looking then just ask and one of us will happily point you in the right direction!

Unfortunately, ACL injuries have been plaguing women athletes for decades. Watch any women’s college or WNBA game and I can almost guarantee that you will see at least one athlete wearing a knee brace from a previous injury.

Because of this, up until now ACL injuries have been primarily considered to be a “girl’s injury” and most male athletes haven’t been too concerned. This may soon be changing.

Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics), Nerlens Noel, (University of Kentucky), and Robert Griffin III (Washington Redskins) are all extremely prominent male athletes who have recently suffered season ending ACL injuries.

Athletes of both genders have to be telling themselves, “If it can happen to those guys, it can happen to anybody!”

Here are a few ACL facts to consider:

1. There are an estimated 200,000 ACL injuries every year in the United States.
2. Female athletes are 5-8 times more likely to suffer an ACL injury than males, but those numbers seem to be shrinking.
3. 70% of ACL injuries are non-contact, they are a result from improper landing, cutting, & pivoting.
4. The ACL provides approximately 90% of the knee joint’s stability.
5. The highest incidence of ACL injuries is in females 15-25 years old who participate in sports which require jumping, quick change of direction & pivoting.
6. The ACL is located inside the knee joint and stabilizes the joint by preventing the shinbone (tibia) from sliding forward beneath the thighbone (femur).
7. The cause of most ACL tears is a sudden, abrupt change in force to the knee. This can occur during planting & cutting or when landing from a jump.
8. Since all injuries can’t be completely prevented, there is no such thing as an ACL Prevention Workout, but a proper workout can drastically reduce your risk. Check back here in a few days and we’ll have some workout suggestions that will help keep you off the bench and on the court.