T1B

My boys will be playing Pop Warner this year. I know a little about the league. Seems to be pretty legit. Always a Dill in the woodpile though.

Any thoughts/experiences, good or bad are welcomed. Oh yea, Im stepping down this year and taking an assisant coaching position, although "Assistant Coaching," in PW, is 3 times the work I did in flag as a head coach.

Should I prepare myself for the asshole parents and coaches that I have watched during the last three years of competitive baseball leagues .... or should I prepare myself for worse? Im guessing the latter, but hoping for something better. Some one PLEASE tell me the refs are not poor kids looking to make a buck, but instead face two hours of humiliation and abuse from the parents.

I take it you're practicing/playing down there near Riverside?

Good luck. That's some seriously competitive shiet.

Oh, and just to pre-empt Jdork, at least you'll be near NKC hospital when something wicked this way comes.

dave, didn't know PW was north of the river. I wonder if it's same league city wide now?

Where do you play the games? Are they out next to the Indep Airport?

I coached my oldest son for 5 years in PW in Indep.
The first two years we made the Truman bowl and got to play at Arrowhead the Friday after Thanksgiving. That was huge for the kids (OK and the coaches). We made one more Truman Bowl When Jack was in 4th grade - By then the game was being held at Chrisman HS.

I was lucky and never had any jackass parents who wanted Johnny to play QB or came to the games liquored up. No problems with anything really except one team - Della C. Lamb Community Center. They were an inner city team and they had the parents that screamed and cussed at the refs, the other teams and even their own kids. One time a couple of the parents jumped a ref after a game. Real ugly shit.

As for dealing with parents or running the team in general, try getting the dads on the field to help out in practice from day one. Even if they don't know squat have them hold tackling dummies. Keeping them involved will minimize conflicts and give them a real look at how their kids do.

I'm coaching my middle son in BSAA. Last year's flag record for us was 5-1-2. We were very fortunate to have some great kids and parents.

War Wagon wrote:at least you'll be near NKC hospital when something wicked this way comes.

kcwife is going to be an assistant coach too?

^^^^^^^^^

OMG ..rack Bill..that's just "wicked'.

Scott, thanks for the heads up on Della Lamb. They are in our league along with BS, Indep, Lees Summit, and all of the others that are North of the river. I dont know exactly how things were when you coached, but we are in the Heart of America League. KC, KCK, OP, Belton, Shawnee and all the others are the in KC league. They play their games out South at Ketterman park, but we will be playing in Independence.

*Ramble*

Today was a very good day to be a coach. FINALLY, a win. 7-0 over a team we lost to 34-28, 3 weeks ago in a heartbreaker.

In all actuality we did win an earlier game, 42-24, but the refs totally fucked us out of it. I'll spare you most of the details, but when the ball was moved between first and secound and the third and fourth quarters, we lost 22 yards the first time, and 15 the next. Multiple times the ball was placed 1-3 yards in the other teams favor. ALWAYS, in their favor, never in ours. Most significant ..... "Holding," was called 3 times in the entire game. All 3 times, it was against our team, on TD runs, in the 3rd and 4th quarters, while we still had the lead. Needless to say we lost that lead, and eventually the scoreboard showed the other team having scored more points. Opposing coaches during the handshake even admitted they got away with one that they should not have, cool on their part, but the scoreboard remained the same. 24-21, loss. :cry:

We now stand at a lousy 1-5, and are pretty much doomed to finish 1-7 judging from the schedule. Id like to be optimistic, hope to win both, or at least split. But the truth is ...... we just are not a very good team. Really, the only good thing we have is our QB. Dude is a stud. Nice arm (although we rarely pass), excellent speed, and a good leader. If he continues to develop his skills and GROW, we may see him on Sundays. He is/has the ability to be that good.

Aside from that, we dont have much else. Of our 17 man roster, and 1 girl, 3 or 4 would make the rosters of good teams as role players. While we do have great speed, most cant catch or hold on to the ball, and we have NO BLOCKING at all to speak of. (Would help if we had a blocking sled with which to practice with.) Would also help, if we had more effort, and more heart. Its a pretty safe bet that 8 of our players would rather be doing something else, but their parents are making them play.

Cant blame all on the kids though. Coaching is no better, and may really be worse. Few hard heads that dont know shit, cant agree on shit, and always try to undermine the others. (Head coach, O-cord, and D-cord)
Assistant O, Assistant D, and SpTeams (me) are all first timers, and try to manage all the egos, the best we can. YEA, thats right, 18 players, 6 coaches. Bit much, IMHO. The whole coaching thing looks easy from the stands or the couch, but in reality its a chore. A whole lot harder than I thought it would be, and I have gained a whole new respect for all coaches.

With that ramble ...... its all good. All the sweat, time, energy, and everything else involved, one single W posted in the "WIN" column makes it all worth it.

*Cork pop*