College coaches, how often do you interact with "snowplow sports parents"?

If I thought the coach was incompetent, I'd definitely talk to my kid about it, and if I thought they should transfer I'd tell them so. But I'm still not sure what the benefit would be of me directly contacting the coach. What potential improvement would come about from sticking myself in the middle of it? I still think it's better to support and advise the kid directly than to get involved with the coach.

He loves running, but not his kids. Go figure, he's divorced, to boot.

Academically, I have no argument with criticisms of today's kids. But athletically, thanks to earlier skill development and coaches and programs, the kids are better today in terms of performance lists, so they may be less independent, due to parents, teachers and coaches--technology--but you can't criticism them for their athletic results.

rojo wrote:

I just read an interesting article form Sports Illustrated.

A LOT has changed as we there is a now a generation of kids raised with cell phones and social media.

rojo, we encourage you to turn off your TV and read as much as possible. To quote you, "as we there is a now a generation" of mental midgets with teensy eensie tiny mini-brains, of whom you are the poster child.

Kids, get out a book and read. Exercise your minds. Don't spend your life in intellectual purgatory the way rojo has.

donald j drumpf wrote:

rojo wrote:

I just read an interesting article form Sports Illustrated.

A LOT has changed as we there is a now a generation of kids raised with cell phones and social media.

rojo, we encourage you to turn off your TV and read as much as possible. To quote you, "as we there is a now a generation" of mental midgets with teensy eensie tiny mini-brains, of whom you are the poster child.

Kids, get out a book and read. Exercise your minds. Don't spend your life in intellectual purgatory the way rojo has.

Hah, rojo got schooled. Too bad he was never paying attention while IN SCHOOL.

I briefly skimmed the article and it's sights the case of an OSU QB? I doubt this is a common occurrence in the running community. There's really no money or fame to be gained by being even the best runner so I don't see the correlation. Also; I would be considered a millennial and this is all news to me so maybe I live under a rock.

HOOWIE wrote:

I briefly skimmed the article and it's sights the case of an OSU QB? I doubt this is a common occurrence in the running community. There's really no money or fame to be gained by being even the best runner so I don't see the correlation. Also; I would be considered a millennial and this is all news to me so maybe I live under a rock.

*Cites

Maybe this generations lifestyles doesn't suite yours, but generations are definitely getting smarter and have increase brain capacity as time goes on. Advancements in technology, earlier exposure to technology, and increased expertise in educational tactics, in our current state is always going to overcome any negative effects of negative effects from increased laziness, drugs, social media, or pop culture.

ncrecuvuer wrote:

what comes first wrote:

I think the biggest issue is that kids are helpless. Cell phones, TV/youtube, and social media have created truly dumb children. Add in participation trophies, lack of parenting (parents who never discipline their children or build character), and schools that essentially give everyone passing grades for crappy work. The end result is high school and college aged kids who have the mental capacity of 6 year olds from previous generations.

Maybe this generations lifestyles doesn't suite yours, but generations are definitely getting smarter and have increase brain capacity as time goes on. Advancements in technology, earlier exposure to technology, and increased expertise in educational tactics, in our current state is always going to overcome any negative effects of negative effects from increased laziness, drugs, social media, or pop culture.

He says hopefully...

How do you define smartness? At don't make me laugh about better educational methods, people will always soak stuff up, assuming that they are healthy and willing to pay attention!

How do coaches actually manipulate the system and be political?

It feels like high school.

Angry Willy wrote:

Thinking back to my time in college and just prior ... I talked to coaches, made my choice, enrolled myself, went to school. The only "snow plowing" was my mom saying to bring my laundry when I came home and my dad paid kicked in for a good chunk of my first 2 years.

My buddy's son is a freshman at college - he and his wife went to move him into the dorms and went to visit practically every weekend the first semester - he is only 90 min away. Dad helped him get a summer job, etc. etc. I just dont get it.

I'm 28 and started college in 2009. But my parents helped me move in, I thought that was standard procedure. However, the "moving in" was simply them bringing boxes I couldn't fit in my Jetta (mini fridge, microwave, etc) and dropping them off at the room. I unpacked and organized everything myself.

I have two kids myself and I'll help them move when the time comes. Take them to dinner and leave them a bit of cash. But no way am I going to visit them often. Maybe once a quarter, if that. I love them, but GTFO already

Not a coach, but a parent with kids who are into a lot of different sports. I am not surprised that this is happening. When I was a kid in the 70s, kids got good at sports by practicing a lot and usually having a dad or coach who would put in extra time with them. Now, there are so many different private coaches, conditioning coaches, private all star programs/leagues and various shadowy "coaches" who help with the college scouting/recruiting process. My son's friend at school is really good at baseball. His parents shelled out over $5,000.00 for coaching, league fees, equipment and "all star" team fees. The kid is 8 years old. By high school, parents have sunk six figures into their kid's sports. By that point, the parents are literally invested in their kid's sports career and want to at least see a full ride if not a post-collegiate career. So, until there is a deescalation of the youth sports wars, this is only going to get much worse.

third party wrote:

Parents should be involved with their kids' lives, but the parent's relationship is with the kid, not with the team. I have a relationship with my son. My son has a relationship with his team. I do not have a relationship with his team. It's not a threesome, it's two distinct relationships.

If he wants to tell me about something that is going on with his running and ask for my advice, I'm more than happy to give it. But I just can't imagine ever getting directly involved with his coach beyond saying hi when I bump into him. I'm a third party to that relationship.

This is definitely how it should be. I want my kids to know they can talk to me about anything, but they aren't required to share everything. If I show up to practice a bit early because I got off work early or light traffic, I'd watch the rest of practice. But I can't imagine watching every practice or going to their practice regularly. I do admit that I will occasionally ask how they are liking it. My kids are like me and pretty tight lipped so I'd want to check they didn't generally hate it.

When a parent pays $50 grand a year, you should be on speed dial.

Its bidness

sillyman wrote:

When a parent pays $50 grand a year, you should be on speed dial.

Its bidness

Payment of tuition in exchange for education is a contract between the student and the school. If the parent chooses to pay the tuition, that is an agreement between the parent and the student. The school doesn't owe anything to the parent.

Angry Willy wrote:

Thinking back to my time in college and just prior ... I talked to coaches, made my choice, enrolled myself, went to school. The only "snow plowing" was my mom saying to bring my laundry when I came home and my dad paid kicked in for a good chunk of my first 2 years.

You realize to a lot of people this is more than most got. I mean heck after I turned 14, my mom never touched my laundry.

What I think of when I hear "snowplow parents".

https://noirwhale.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/film-noir-scarface-anti-hero.jpg

Y'all could benefit from learning the difference between data and anecdotes.

rojo wrote:

I just read an interesting article form Sports Illustrated.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/the-rise-of-the-snowplow-sports-parents/ar-AAD7qKE?ocid=spartandhp

I've been out of coaching for 7 years now and my former colleagues tell me A LOT has changed as we there is a now a generation of kids raised with cell phones and social media.

As it also changed with the parents? When I was coaching, I used to tell the other coaches at Cornell I was thankful I was a track coach as I didn't have any problems whatsoever with parents. I mean what is a track parent going to complain about? The times speak for themselves so they can't complain about playing time.

But have things changed? Do you have parents moving to your location to be near Johnny or Susie?

I have noticed with this generation that they really want things explained to them constantly or else you risk losing credibility with them. Since they have all kinds of information at their fingertips they are both very skeptical and more arrogant about what they think they know. Personally, I don’t mind it because I like explaining things. However a lot of other coaches I interact with constantly harp on how much things have changed. I haven’t been in the game as long as some of them so I haven’t been present for that shift through the years.

I have only came across one snow plow parent in my event group. He was from a very wealthy area (multi-million dollar homes) and his parents were very involved but didn’t really interact with me. The kid acted as essentially the messenger. It was weird. Good kid just very sheltered. When anything went bad (school, bad dorm roomate, performance, etc) he became very closed off and didn’t confront things himself.

I have seen a lot of snowplow parents in the sprints and jumps event groups. I don’t know why that is but the sprint and jumps coaches absolutely hate it. Perhaps it is because sprinters often come from a football/maybe basketball background where there is a lot of parental involvement in youth leagues? Parents can be crazy when they are in the club system. You think distance running would experience that because of its cross-over with soccer...but let’s be honest, most kids who sucked at soccer are the ones who gave it up for XC. Plenty of great football/basketball stars still kill it on the track.