If you are new to volleyball coaching, you may be mostly thinking about the sport and about working with kids. It may not be obvious to you that you will also have to work with parents, and that this work is as important as the other areas of your work as a coach. Parents need to bring their children to practices, arrange the schedules of the children, feed the children properly, buy their gear, and more. For these reasons, you need to do the following two things when it comes to the relationship between you as a coach and the parents:

Explain goals and expectations

Get in touch with parents before your first practice of the season. Explain to them what you expect from them and from their children. Go over your methods. Explain what you will be doing and how you will be doing it. Talk about positioning players during games and distributing playing time.

Provide a clear picture of what you have in mind for everyone. Do not expect people to remember what you say. Most likely, your meeting with parents will take place when they come back from work. They will be tired after a long hard day. Distribute notes, checklists, to-do lists, and calendars. Help the parents help you accomplish your goals.

Involve parents: if they help plan the fight, they will not fight the plan

Parents play a huge role in how your season goes. They bring kids to practices, spend money on the equipment and registration fees and even bring post-match treats and recovery sports drinks for all the players on your volleyball team. Your volleyball season will be much more successful if you talk to the parents about how they would like to participate and contribute during the season. Get parents involved not only during important volleyball games, but also during practices.