Leadership / Planning / Thinking

Leadership Moment — 7 Aug 23

Planning. Is it hard? Yeah. Is it worth it? Yeah.

Not my coach, not my school. Just a pic by football wife from Pexels

High school football is officially underway as of July 31st. We had a parent meeting on July 30th and the coach seemed so organized. He laid out the schedule until school starts: practice 5:30 a.m. M-W-F; 6 p.m. M-T-W-T-F along with two exceptions.

New coach, new way of doing business! As parents, we already had more information than the previous two years combined. Awesome!

For 16 hours. Then the first change came. Boys needed to be there an hour earlier on this day. Oh, then they need to be there 2½ hours earlier the next day. Oh, about 90 minutes earlier today? Sure, he gave us nine hours’ notice . . . I’m REALLY trying not to count but that’s at least five significant changes in eight days. Seriously?

For my wife and me, it’s annoying. We’re also incredibly fortunate. She doesn’t work outside the home and I have a flexible schedule, at least for now. However, that isn’t the same for everyone. This afternoon it erupted on the “team chat.” One parent asked for things to be posted on a calendar for planning purposes. The request was direct but not particularly hostile. Another parent jumped in to kiss up to the coach: high school sports have lots of moving…