Club Directors Share Ways to Overcome Parent Challenges

As volleyball becomes more and more popular, the scholarships and stakes increase — and parents struggle to cope with the pressures.

In 2008, several parents approached four-time Gold Glove catcher Mike Matheny and asked him to coach a Little League team that included his 10-year-old son. Matheny outlined some “rules,” which eventually became the “Matheny Manifesto,” a candid, seven-page peek into his perspective on parents’ role in youth sports.

“I always said that the only team that I would coach would be a team of orphans, and now here we are,” Matheny, now the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, writes at the beginning. “The reason for me saying this is that I have found the biggest problem with youth sports has been the parents.”

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