Football season has arrived. If parents had a negative impact on your team last year, it's a new season with new players and parents, and you can prevent that from happening again.

Many football coaches only want to coach the kids, not deal with unruly or unreasonable parents, but kids bring parents with them. Here’s how to make them work with you instead of against you:

1. When your team forms, call players to tell them you're excited they're on it. Then ask to speak to their mom or dad. Tell the parent you look forward to working with them to help their child have a terrific experience this season, and that you'll soon send a letter or email with your coaching philosophy. 

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2. Use a parent meeting to review the principles of that philosophy. Use the Double-Goal Coaching model as a platform (ELM Tree of Mastery, Filling Emotional Tanks and Honoring the Game). Tell them you know the team will get bad calls, but ask them to honor the game no matter what. Ask them to fill E-Tanks and reinforce the ELM Tree with their child throughout the season. 

3. Hand out a parent pledge of your own or use Positive Coaching Alliance's. After you've reviewed the document, ask if they have any questions, then ask them to sign it. 

4. Recruit “Culture Keepers” for the team, who'll keep other parents positive in the stands during games.

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5. Fill parents’ E-Tanks with truthful and specific praise when they do something positive. Thank them for building a positive team culture. Tell them something positive about their child every time you see them, again, truthful and specific. If you do, they'll think you're a genius as a coach.

6. When in doubt, communicate. Coaches run into problems when they assume parents understand why they coach the way they do. Don’t assume. If you have rules about playing time or missing practice, for example, tell them. Ask them to contact you with concerns rather than share them with their child. Give them your contact information and let them know when to talk with you (e.g., not right before practice). Over-communication will save you time over the course of the season, and enhance your players’ experience. 

Also, if you're an athletic director, watch this video to see how you can have a positive influence with sports parents:

 

This article comes from a book excerpt of Positive Coaching Alliance’s "The Power of Double-Goal Coaching." Positive Coaching Alliance is a national non-profit with the mission to build better athletes, better people. You can read more about PCA and strategies around coaching and sport parenting at pca.devzone.org.