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thanking volunteers of junior coaching

  • 08-04-2019 10:21am
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭


    My kid has been going to GAA training for the last few months.

    As the coaches are volunteers, does anyone know if the club looks after them with free croke park tickets or free dinners. im wondering if i need to thank them with some chocalate/wine. or are they looked after?

    I'm not familiar with how GAA clubs are run, so apologies if this is a stupid question.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,741 ✭✭✭✭Fr Tod Umptious


    I'm a underage volunteer/coach.

    It's a nice gesture to get a box of biscuits or something at the end of the season but it's never ever expected.

    As for tickets, they are usually just treated as any other club members when it comes to draws etc.


  • Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators, Regional West Moderators Posts: 16,724 Mod ✭✭✭✭yop


    sdraobs wrote: »
    My kid has been going to GAA training for the last few months.

    As the coaches are volunteers, does anyone know if the club looks after them with free croke park tickets or free dinners. im wondering if i need to thank them with some chocalate/wine. or are they looked after?

    I'm not familiar with how GAA clubs are run, so apologies if this is a stupid question.

    Not in my club no. Volunteer is what it is.
    Probably 4-5 hours a week from March to October.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭sdraobs


    Thanks for letting me know. And fair play to you for giving up your free time.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,672 ✭✭✭elefant


    sdraobs wrote: »
    My kid has been going to GAA training for the last few months.

    As the coaches are volunteers, does anyone know if the club looks after them with free croke park tickets or free dinners. im wondering if i need to thank them with some chocalate/wine. or are they looked after?

    I'm not familiar with how GAA clubs are run, so apologies if this is a stupid question.

    Fair play to you. A lot of parents who are very familiar with how GAA clubs are run take things like this completely for granted.

    I'm sure the coach would really appreciate such a gesture. I reckon even one expression of gratitude like that would make up for a lot of the negative nonsense coaches have to deal with.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,203 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    Careful now....it's an 'amateur' organisation.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,101 ✭✭✭tuisginideach


    We give a bottle of wine (or similar - whiskey or similar for certain coaches who have been with them for years ) for each of our sports coaches (all of whom are voluntary) at Christmas/end of year for past 10 years!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭sdraobs


    [QUOTE=
    I'm sure the coach would really appreciate such a gesture. I reckon even one expression of gratitude like that would make up for a lot of the negative nonsense coaches have to deal with.[/QUOTE]

    yeah, thinking of the effort they do and negativity they put up with, reinforces the need for something. tks.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭sdraobs


    We give a bottle of wine (or similar - whiskey or similar for certain coaches who have been with them for years ) for each of our sports coaches (all of whom are voluntary) at Christmas/end of year for past 10 years!

    nice one, good idea.


  • Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators, Regional West Moderators Posts: 16,724 Mod ✭✭✭✭yop


    We give a bottle of wine (or similar - whiskey or similar for certain coaches who have been with them for years ) for each of our sports coaches (all of whom are voluntary) at Christmas/end of year for past 10 years!

    You ever thought of moving to Mayo... we are lovely coaches :D:D

    Well done on that. I'd be shocked/embarrassed if any of the parents did that to be, I genuinely do it because I get a great kick of the lad young players improving and just to get them away from devices and out into the fresh air, but hats off to you.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,794 ✭✭✭theoneeyedman


    yop wrote: »
    You ever thought of moving to Mayo... we are lovely coaches :D:D

    Well done on that. I'd be shocked/embarrassed if any of the parents did that to be, I genuinely do it because I get a great kick of the lad young players improving and just to get them away from devices and out into the fresh air, but hats off to you.


    I'd be in agreement with this. No big gesture required generally, but a quiet word to a coach to thank them for thw work or that you see an improvement in your kids play, or indeed that your kid is enjoying the coaching, is often appreciated, especially if it's genuine


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,101 ✭✭✭tuisginideach


    Gosh - I wouldn't want to embarrass anyone but I have never felt that any of the coaches was offended/embarrassed - I always presumed they appreciated the acknowledgement just as much as the gift! None of them has ever fallen out with us over a gift, I can assure you! But we'd have volunteered ourselves in lots of different capacities and we appreciate the time and dedication and committment involved.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,953 ✭✭✭granturismo


    sdraobs wrote: »
    ..with free croke park tickets or free dinners. im wondering if i need to thank them with some chocalate/wine. or are they looked after..

    In our club, 2 all ireland tickets are raffled for each of the codes. One hurling tickets is raffled between hurling mentors and the other between all members, same for football. The winners pay the face value of the winning ticket.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,981 ✭✭✭Paulzx


    I've been given the odd bottle of wine at the end of the season but to be honest I get more of a kick out of a kid or parent coming up to me after a match or training session and saying "thanks"



    It's the simple things that make you feel appreciated


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,352 ✭✭✭threeball


    Paulzx wrote: »
    I've been given the odd bottle of wine at the end of the season but to be honest I get more of a kick out of a kid or parent coming up to me after a match or training session and saying "thanks"



    It's the simple things that make you feel appreciated

    This. I don't even know what half the parents of the kids I train look like. The kids magically appear before training with no sign of a parent and vanish afterwards. They'd give David Copperfield a run for his money.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,722 ✭✭✭nice_guy80


    a gift voucher for a restaurant or other local business would be nice gesture


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 950 ✭✭✭Stationmaster


    nice_guy80 wrote: »
    a gift voucher for a restaurant or other local business would be nice gesture

    In an ideal world it would.

    But for most clubs it just wouldn't be feasible.

    Take a club that plays one code only. You have an average of 3/4 mentors at u6, u8, u10, u12, u14, u16, Minor, Junior and Senior. That's probably 30 individuals at least. Give them all a voucher for only even €25 each and it's €750 at least.

    Then you have the volunteers in charge of the field, lotto, fundraising, underage and adult committees etc and it just wouldn't work - unfortunately - for most clubs.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭sdraobs


    On an official level i agree that its alot if everyone who contributes to the club got 25 euro voucher.

    I think Niceguy was suggesting that if there was a particular coach, a restaurant voucher might be a good idea.

    My kid has about 4 or 5 coaches at different sessions, depending on who shows up. so i think ill get them a bottle of 7euro wine each. wont break the bank and show the appreciation. means i feel less guilty for having to mind younger kids and thus i am not coaching myself.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 814 ✭✭✭Raytown Rocks


    Been an under age coach for my sons team since he was 4, now 12
    Most mentors get involved to help with their own kids team, and many other's do it for the love of the game

    Its nice to get the odd thank you present, but as other's have said its never expected and sometimes does embarrass us mentors when it happens

    None of us is it for the glamour and prizes believe me :)

    A simple thank you from the lads after training and a game can do more than any gift if I am being honest, and if the parents throw in the odd Thank you too then even better.

    And no, in my club we do not get any tickets,and have to pay full membership just like everyone else

    The club do have an end of season night with a few beers and some light food I must add.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭sdraobs


    Thanks, just in case there is any misunderstanding, in my OP, i wasnt suggesting that coaches have any ulterior motive in coaching; dinners/tickets or free membership. i was actually hoping they did, so i knew they were getting looked after already.

    I know im preaching to the converted, but i love the GAA, great facilities, coaches and subsidised membership.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 950 ✭✭✭Stationmaster


    sdraobs wrote: »
    On an official level i agree that its alot if everyone who contributes to the club got 25 euro voucher.

    I think Niceguy was suggesting that if there was a particular coach, a restaurant voucher might be a good idea.

    My kid has about 4 or 5 coaches at different sessions, depending on who shows up. so i think ill get them a bottle of 7euro wine each. wont break the bank and show the appreciation. means i feel less guilty for having to mind younger kids and thus i am not coaching myself.

    Oh god yea, don't get me wrong - I think it's a great idea. It rarely happens (not that it's expected to be honest) but I'd say it would be very much appreciated by the coach.

    I've been coaching about 22 years and only once did I get something (was never expected or even thought of). You'd get plenty of players every year thanking you which is more than enough as it's not why we do it.

    That one time though a 16 year old on our minor team came to the house around Christmas time with a box of chocolates. He was not long after being diagnosed with leukaemia (he passed away the following summer). He was a good hurler who should have made that years minor team but never got going right at training (it was obvious after why) and, to be honest, we'd been a bit harsh on him over his loss of form. He appreciated our efforts though and to have him make that gesture to me considering what he was going through himself still gets to me and reminds me why we do it.

    So, yea, making any sort of gesture to a coach could make more of a difference than you think!!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,644 ✭✭✭D9Male


    Similar to some of the above, I am coaching U12 and U10 teams - I have been at it for over six years.

    I have never been bought a present personally. Personally, I would much rather a parent or child individually approached me to thank me than get a 7 quid bottle of wine.

    But I will tell you what was cool that our U10 parents group found out that we were having our end of season pints session, did a whip around at training without our knowledge and then put an envelope with a few quid behind the bar. We literally lapped it up.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,722 ✭✭✭nice_guy80


    I know one club locally which treats all underage coaches to a meal at the end of the year. A very informal buffet with a short thank you piece from the club chairman. Simple but effective


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 4,145 Mod ✭✭✭✭bruschi


    I've been coaching for about 20 years now is some form or other. And to be honest, it is very rare to be thanked. More often than not, I got crap thrown at me. I had one parent tell me their son (at minor grade) was considering suicide because he lost his place on a team. At times, you'd wonder why you would bother.

    But recently I've been working at much lower grades, and the year just gone the parents, for whatever reason, got me a lot of gifts. Had a few bottles of drinks and vouchers for restaurants and a few cards from others too. The cards were as good to be honest. but it really made you appreciate that you are doing good work and that the considerable amount of time and effort spent is appreciated. A small thank you card from the parents or child is as good as anything and gives you a good burst to make it feel worthwhile. If clubs could afford a night out, it is a good way to show appreciation, but as said, this could run to considerable expense for a small token gesture.


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