Made by a Mom....So be nice.

[ATC]

makes me wonder (and green with envy):

How do you guys get team spirit going like that? When we go to tournaments we are pretty much on our own, the instructors are pretty much all pressed into duty judging and the parents are somewhat solitary, unless they already know each other socially.

Laurentkd pretty much summed it up, but how to get there?

1. We have a competition team. So all the kids train together months at a time and build a bond with one another from that. The parents also build bonds from this as they have to be around one another because of the training for the kids.

2. The competition team parents do what LTKD stated, they fund raise together. Because of this they have to communicate via phone, email or face to face about events and plans about the fund raising.

3. Some inside secrets coming now. We make all parents attend classes with their child. Classes are not your typical classes. They are classes like focus paddle holding, or how to warm your child up before a match. As coaches we go to matches to do just that, coach. When you have 15 or more competitors and maybe 3 coaches, you as a coach do not always have time to warm up the fighters. So we make sure the parents understand how to hold targets and shields. We also make sure they understand what kicks and movements are needed to warm up. So we make it the parent’s responsibility to warm up the kids. During these classes for the parents they have tons of fun and the kids like it too as they get to be better and help teach and bond with each other besides just being a parent and child. The parents gain a new respect for what their kids do and the kids learn a lot from it too.

4. We have parent meetings once a month and discuss many things. The fund raising being the top priority but there are tons of other things such as maybe during a local event they plan who is bringing what such as drinks and food. What time to meet up and where, car pooling and so on.

5. There is also monthly night outs were we plan on all meeting for lunch or dinner then we pull the money and treat all the kids. (The kids are always invited and all outing are planned around the kids.) When we meet the kids all sit together and the parent all sit together. This way no one is ever left out of either group.

I could go on and on but I think you get the point. Also the Sabunim must drive a lot of this and reinforce what is being done. If any gossip or rumor mill type talking starts it must be stop quickly by the Sabunim. Everything must stay positive. If not then it won’t work. I have seen many students and parents kick out of the school for good because of attitude.

Many other tips but those are the main points. Support the kids is the main thing. This is always emphasized at every opportunity, belt ceremonies, testing, or at the end of almost every class during announcement.

OK I am done typing