Team Manager Guidelines/Roles
Have you ever been a team manager? Planning on being a team manager in the near or far future? We wanted to write a brief article to discuss a few examples of past team managers with numerous clubs and the potential issues/difficulties they’ve had to better prepare you for your journey through a season of paperwork/player cards and registrations.
One of the most common issues we have heard is that the new team manager is not fully informed of their responsibilities before committing to the role of ‘team mom/dad’. Communication seems to be the number one problem, from club to TM, then from Coach to TM.
Each club seems to hold different responsibilities for their TM’s, some prefer the TM will strictly check the team in online or Friday nights before tournaments and have no interaction via emails to the team. Some prefer the TM handle all communication from the coach to the team. Which do you, as a parent prefer? Hearing straight from your coach, or via the team manager?
A lot of parents tend to see the TM as an ear to complain to as you have the “Team Folder”. This is something that clubs need to do a better job of preventing if you’ve agreed to take on the role of TM, its usually in the event that many others would not, you should not have to deal with the added stress of dealing with the parent complaints on playing time etc etc.
Have you previously been a team manager? Tell us your thoughts on the following points below.
- Do you prefer an online check-in or Friday night check-in? Or any suggestions on an alternative?
- Can Tournaments make check-in easier?
- What can your club do to make the Team Managers experience a smoother one?
- How was your overall experience as a TM?
