Why is the attitude towards underage GAA coaches so negative?

I coach 2 kids sports teams and there are coaches like that around, some in it for the glory some because they think they are smarter than everyone or their kid is ahead of others but mostly it’s just parents doing their best.

I don't think it's specific to GAA. Most sports have fathers who volunteer but forget that the sport is for the kids.

The validation of being the "successful coach" is too much to resist for the majority of them. It's human nature.

"Ultimately the coach wants to win...."

Therein is the problem with coaches in kids sports. Fun with friends and participation is what matters in kids sports.

There should be a balance there. And it depends on what age group. My own opinion is that there shouldn't be anything competitive for up to, say the age of 9. But from there on there should be some level of competitiveness, even if it is only small. I completely agree that fun and participation are key, and they should be the ultimate goals of a mentor. But from there on, team want to be able to compete against opposition. I don't mean win at all costs. But surely, the best players should start (as long as they put in the training effort). If there are 4 or 5 subs at under 10s upwards, and they are not at a level at the starting team, they should still get a significant amount of game time. I mentor teams, and most of the under 11s, 12s etc. want to win matches. I would never shout at them or criticize them, but I will do what I can to make the team better.

The reality is that the better players will progress quicker because they have an interest in the sport, and tip away practicing on their own, or with mates, at school etc. Parents that are into the sports bring their kids out for a kick-around during the week. Some parents who aren't into it don't do that and their kids don't progress as quick. That's their prerogative of course. But there comes an age group where kids that put in more effort should get rewarded with more game time. This is obviously not an exact science. But I'm thinking of maybe under 12s upwards.

I also think it's important that kids get to realise that to lose a competitive game is ok. Whilst we all want to win everything, that doesn't happen. It's disappointing, but we just move on to the next training and the next match. Wrapping kids up in cotton wool does not do them any good, when they come to experience proper disappointments in life.

Yes, nothing more frustrating than the parent who won't help out with coaching but yet is ready to give their tuppence worth on how things should be done. You also have the parent who says they'll help out and are meant to be part of the coaching group but yet you don't see them from one end of the year to the other. I think you just have to bite your tongue at times. Lack of volunteerism is becoming a problem especially in rural clubs. It takes huge energy and drive to keep these clubs going with rural depopulation and it's often left to a few individuals. There is a certainly a feeling that the GAA coach is taken for granted. Small membership fees often lead to this whereas if a child is getting swimming lessons where the parent is paying per class they ensure to attend. The problem for the GAA is that urban areas don't have enough clubs and rural areas don't have enough players to keep going. Redefining parish boundaries is almost sacriligious with the history and tradition of clubs.

There is no easy answer but a child that is on a first team in a rural area is much more likely to feel wanted and included and stay playing rather than a child that is on an urban club's 4th team.

As a Parent I often find communication is missing and that is completely wrong from many sports clubs.

An example in GAA is the Go Games model which is a great initiative but not communicated by the clubs to the players or the parents or more importantly the Coaches. "Go Games are Camogie, Hurling and Gaelic Football for children up to and including 12 years of age, where every child gets to play (a Go) in every game, for the full game."

I went to an U8 blitz recently and all the best players played and the not so great got to play for the last 1-2 mins, because the club must beat the neighboring clubs, which is completely against the GO games model.

how can every kid play every game for the full game? That makes no sense

I’d agree there are definitely a lot of cases in all sports where the ‘best’ players are soaking up the bulk of the playing time though which at that age isn’t right

My young lad gave up GAA aged 12 because he was frustrated at not getting any game time despite never missing training. Although he was a fringe player, even when his team could be winning a match by 10 points with 5 mins left, the coach wouldn't give him a few mins on the pitch. The amount of times he stood on the sidelines togged out hoping he would get a chance when other subs were drafted in, while he was ignored by the coach left him very disillusioned and eventually he packed it in. Sadly, the "win at all costs" mentality is still very prevalent in underage GAA despite the organisations best efforts with Go Games….

So no competitions for them at all then? Such a stupid take.

Some of it should be fun/participation yes but if a kid is potentially good enough for a medal at a national level competition and he wants to do it then go for it.

Of course some kids won't be like that, most probably aren't. But a few are.

I believe this should apply from 8 and onwards.

I look after teams - soccer and GAA, and my other kids play underage GAA. I have never seen a situation at U9, U10 etc. etc. where a player is left on the sideline for the full game. In some situations, the coaches make a token substitution with 5 mins to go to give a player or 2 game time. But I've never seen a situation when a player that young is left off purposely for the win-at-all-costs outcome. I have no doubt that it happens. I'm just saying that I would say it is very seldom. I would not agree with that mentality at all.

However, on the streaming point - that you referred to as mixing teams randomly - I disagree with that. I have seen first hand how this works. When I heard about streaming first, I was against it, as on general principles it seems unfair. But in practice, it doesn't work out like that. If you have a game of say 7 aside, and if each team has 3 good players and 4 not so good players. Then the 6 good players on the pitch just dominate the games, especially in hurling. The lesser good players do not get involved. They don't get possession of the ball, and they don't develop at all. Whereas if you have games where the quality of the players is even enough, then everyone on the pitch gets a fair shot at it, and develop quicker as they are actually involved in the games. Of course, it's a pride thing for parents and the kids to a lesser extent. But over time, nobody will ever convince me that it doesn't work when it comes to youngsters GAA development.

You're consistently making my point for me. Your dismissive attitude and language sums up the problem with many coaches in children's sports.

"bogged down in some fun group" is very dismissive language to use when talking about children's sports.

You also seem to believe that children playing in matches isn't competitive. For you competition means winning. You are applying your adult attitude onto children's teams sports.

Your attitude, prevalent in many coaches, is the reason why many children abandon sports at a very young age. Just because these men & women coaches are volunteers, it doesn't mean they do what's best for children's sports.

I'm a soccer coach, and the FAI mandate a minimum number of minutes per player (age related, but there for every age group). I do this, regardless of how close games are, because everyone deserves to play. Is there no "minimum minutes" rule in underage GAA?