Rough Rider Wrestling

Parent Expectations

2007-2008

            Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to coach your wrestler this season!  We are confident that this will be an exciting and positive experience for all of us.  That said, we do have some expectations of you as parents just the same as we have expectations of your son.  Number one, we expect that you will support and encourage your son through what will prove to be the toughest experience of his life to this point.  A fine line exists between support and encouragement and interference, however.  With this in mind, the purpose of this handout is to assist you in maintaining that line of support and encouragement.

Questions for parents to ask themselves:

Can you share your kids?

Can you accept your kids’ disappointments?

Can you show your kids self-control?

Can you give your kids time?

Can you let your kids make their own decisions?

Do you take credit for your kids’ successes?

Do you try to solve all of your kids’ problems?

Do you try to tell your kids about their sport when they know more about it than you do?

Do your kids try to avoid you after contests?

What are your goals for your kids?

Questions for parents to ask their athletes:

Why do you want to wrestle?

What is a successful season to you?

What are your goals?

If your goals as a parent don’t match with your athlete’s goals, then you must drop yours and accept his.  You must be willing to allow him to take risks in sports because you surely can’t afford to allow him to take risks in other areas of his life such as school, the types of friends he hangs out with, and drugs and alcohol.

With these things in mind, the Port Angeles Roughrider Wrestling program expects the following of parents:

1) Model appropriate behavior during contests by learning how to watch the sport.

2) Defer to one instructional voice (the coaching staff) during contests, as hearing several different, and sometimes contradictory, strategies can be confusing to your wrestler.

3) If you have any questions/concerns at any time, please schedule a meeting time with Coach Gonzalez.  Before, during, and after contests would not be an appropriate time to discuss issues of this nature. 

Remember, we all need to model poise and confidence because if we as adults behave like children, then children don’t learn to behave like adults.  We also need to keep in mind that there exist four roles in sports: fans, officials, coaches, and athletes.  We all must learn to choose our role and allow others to fulfill theirs.  If we all can do that, then there is no doubt that this will be a most successful season for everyone!

Sincerely,

Erik Gonzalez

Rough Rider Wrestling

erik_gonzalez@pasd.wednet.edu

565-1584 (s); 457-1182 (h)

website: paathletics.com

I AGREE TO THE TERMS OUTLINED IN THE ROUGHRIDER WRESTLING PARENT EXPECTATIONS HANDOUT.  I WILL DO MY VERY BEST TO SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE MY SON AS WELL AS THE TEAM AND WILL MODEL APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR DURING CONTESTS.  I ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT PRACTICES ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND I AM WELCOME TO ATTEND AT ANY TIME.  I WILL SCHEDULE A MEETING WITH COACH GONZALEZ IF I HAVE ANY ISSUES THAT WE NEED TO DISCUSS. 

Parent Name(s)

Signature(s)

______________________________ Date

Please also leave your e-mail address and/or phone number so I can contact you with updated information as necessary.  Don’t forget to check our link on the school website for updated information.

e-mail:

Phone Number(s):

Thank you!

Coach Gonzalez