Managing a youth sports team can be a difficult job. Whether the sport is hockey baseball, lacrosse, soccer, football or anything else, they all have their own set of challenges. You aren’t just managing the players – you’re managing the parents too. And although kids and parents can be stressful to manage, there are tools and strategies that exist to help your team communicate and organize during the season. Here are 6 Tips to help manage a youth sports team.

Tip 1: Get To Know the Team

Your team is going to be spending a lot of time together over the course of the season, so plan an event and get the players and parents together as soon as the team roster is picked. This will be a great way for the kids and parents to get to know each other. Some ideas for this are to go for a team meal, go to the local pool or go support your favourite local sports team.

Tip 2: Set Up A Way to Organize and Communicate

There are many different ways to do this, but  the best way is through a sports team management app. There are paid options like TeamSnap – but a free sports management app that is a great alternative is TeamLinkt. Check out how they compare.

Tip 3: Establish Team Goals

At the beginning of the season your team should establish goals. The players will likely meet with their coach and set some performance goals individually and for the team. As parents, you should also establish goals for the year. Some  examples of team goals can be related to team fundraising and sponsorship.

Tip 4: Set Up Your Volunteers

Regardless of age group, level, or sport volunteers are a huge part of having a successful season. Texting and emailing parents can be a nightmare to keep track of, so utilizing your team management app to organize volunteers can be an easy solution to this problem. Within the TeamLinkt app (recommended in Tip 2), you can create tasks for parents about volunteer shifts and use the team chat to centralize team communication.

Tip 5: Post On Social Media

Creating a social media page for your team can be an awesome way to showcase highlights of the season, post game updates and keep uncles, aunts and grandparents up-to-date on how the team is doing. So snap a couple team pictures and post them to Instagram, Facebook or your other favourite social media platform.

Tip 6: Ask For Feedback

Even the best leaders can benefit from feedback, so be sure to ask often for input and include parents when you can. Lots of parents will snap at any chance they have to provide ideas and feedback!