parent coach timeout meeting, parents coaches timeout meeting, PCT meeting, youth sports problems, kid sports, youth sports, coaching youth, parent coach

Parents can get a periodic, recurring hearing of concerns and issues most important to them. This provides Parents with a simple way to be heard periodically during the long athletic season.

An Opportunity to Function as a Member of the "Parent Group"

Parents need to self-organize to be effective within the strict time limits of the PCT meeting. This means Parents become a team, a real team with a task. The task of the Parents as a group is to communicate important observations and concerns about the team to the Coaching staff within the allotted time. This need to self-organize provides an opportunity for Parents to engage not just with the Coach, but also with each other.

More Understanding of Other Parents and Coaches

The PCT meeting is conducted in a strict question-and-answer format. Parents as a group answer in any way that suits them. Parents also prepare for the meeting as a group in any way that suits them.

Parents usually choose to identify and discuss team issues in detail before attending the PCT meeting. The meeting is short and focused-- and over quickly. Focused, Parent-to-Parent discussion and planning around this serious meeting is required. Parent dialogue about meeting planning helps Parents more fully understand the team-- and each other. Ad-hoc Parent-to-Parent dialogue during the meeting (if any) is observed by Coaches, leading to more overall understanding there as well.

As the meetings occur periodically, Head Coach is providing brief written Followup within an agreed-upon deadline following each PCT meeting. This written Followup helps Parents to confirm assumptions and develop understanding about Head Coach and his coaching team. The entire cycle of feedback radiates understanding to all the participants. More understanding leads to better communication and results that are better aligned with stated team objectives.

A Way to Serve the Team of Players and Coaches

No one person can perceive everything that is going on in any one situation. By bringing a unique perspective to each PCT meeting, a Parent can help advance the interests of the team. Parents have an opportunity to serve by providing timely feedback to other Parents, and to Coaches.

A Way to get individual Feedback to the Coach ...at the group level

Group-level concerns are often 'rolled up' or summarized individual concerns. The PCT meeting between Parent group and Coaching staff is where group-level issues are discussed. The PCT provides a way for Parents get feedback to the Coach without the need for a private meeting or rushed conversation between games

A Productive Focal Point for Discussions with Other Parents

Parents often discuss the team and Coach between themselves in the stands, at the snack bar, and when waiting for Kids before and after games. Parents now have a focal point for taking specific action when they have a comment or concern. That focal point is the next scheduled PCT meeting. Parents now have a Task. That Task is to provide important feedback by answering the 3 questions during the next PCT meeting. This means Parents are now productively paying attention to the 3 important questions:

"What is going well with our team since the last meeting ?"

"What is NOT going well with our team since the last meeting ?"

"What obstacles are in the way of our team, between now and the next meeting ?"

Parents are a big part of the overall team. The PCT process makes it simple for Parents to help Head Coach. Parents help by focusing on these questions during ad-hoc conversations with other Parents, and developing answers that make sense for the Parent group. The Parent group provides their well-formed, agreed-upon answers to these questions at the next meeting.

More Parent-Coach Alignment of Goals and Objectives; More Fun & Learning for Kids

This is the BIG one. Coaches usually hold a meeting at the start of the season, and from there anything can happen during the season. What did Head Coach say again? What did he say his goals for the team were? How did he say he was going to work to achieve them?

By establishing a recurring meeting, the PCT process provides "loops of feedback" that Parents and Coaches can examine-- and learn from. What are the goals and objectives of the team? How does the Head Coach want to achieve them? These answers just naturally get answered as the meetings occur. The primary way these answers are obtained is by reading the written, post-meeting Followup the Head Coach provides.

Parents also express what they think the team is-- or might become. Parents express ways to achieve stated goals and objectives for the team during the PCT meeting. All of this structured and periodic communication between Coaching staff and Parent-group builds shared understanding. When Parents and Coaches develop a shared understanding, Kids can shed the difficult Child role and step 100% into the Player role.

When this happens, the entire team wins because the Players can JUST PLAY.

Glossary of PCT Terms- The list of terms used to describe and discuss the PCT process.

Frequently Asked Questions- The list of questions commonly asked by Coach and parents.