Coaches & Team Managers
Participation by parents is not only encouraged, it is vital to the successful running of each team as well as the club as a whole. Montrose Vikings Basketball Club has a Child Protection Policy in place for the safety and wellbeing of all players in the Club.
Parents manage and transport teams, they coach, they score, they encourage, they share the joys of success and they console after defeat. Parents are as much a part of each team as the kids who play. Montrose Vikings wants parents to be involved, not just because there are jobs to be done, but because it is a great way to build strong relationships with your kids and everyone else involved. And it is just plain fun!
COVID Guidelines for Coaches/Team Managers
- Contact the Committee as soon as possible.
- Contact the rest of your team to see if anyone else affected and count how many to see if you can field a team for games.
- Advise the Committee if you are or not able to field a team for the next game and the length of isolation (e.g. 14 days).
- If you only have one or two players who are isolating and you have 5 or more players, you can still play. Ask a lower-age team manager if they have any players that can fill-in, e.g. if your team is U12, you can ask the U10 team manager for a fill-in. (Note: an A-grade player cannot play in a C-grade team, regardless of age).
There are three main roles where parents participate with teams:
Coach
Every team needs a coach. Coaches usually come from the parents of a team member. Having played basketball and having a intimate knowledge of the game, while helpful, is not essential to coaching and should not discourage you from getting involved. There are regular coaching clinics conducted by the Association to assist in the “nuts and bolts” of coaching. What is most important is that coaches remember that junior level basketball is all about development, encouragement and having fun, not all about winning. Coaches over the age of 18 are required to have completed a “Working with Children” application before they can take on a coaching role.
For Junior and Mini-ball teams, the club is encouraging senior players to take on coaching roles. This added responsibility helps to build leadership skills within the senior players as well as helping them to understand the game. The Junior players also respond well to coaching from the older boys and girls in the club.
- Beginning Coaching Booklet
- Coaches Handout – Sample drills and exercises
- Montrose Vikings Coaches Guide
- Fundamentals, drills and tips videos
By-laws Requirement:
Team Manager
The Team Manager is the team “glue” and makes sure everything happens on the day. This involves paying the court fees before the game, collecting game fees from each player and ensuring that there is a scorer (usually the Team Manager will issue a scoring roster to parents at the start of each season). At the start of each game the Team Manager will hand the MVP slip to the nominated scorer/parent to complete. The Team Manager will enter the votes via the website form https://montrosevikings.org.au/MVP/
Team Managers over the age of 18 are required to have completed a “Working with Children” application before they can take on a team managers role.
By-laws Requirement:
Scorer
Both teams are required to provide scorers for every match. One scorer operates the computer scoring system (or marks up the score sheet) and the other operates the scoreboard. Sometimes they swap at half time, sometimes not. Usually, the Team Manager will issue a scoring roster for a parent of each player to score during the season. Mostly, this works out at a couple of times a season. We all like to sit, watch and socialise at each game but it is important that you do your share in the scoring roster. Like many things scoring is easy, once someone shows you how! If you have not scored before, or are not confident, tell the Team Manager who will arrange for a more experienced scorer to sit with you. It is actually quite straight forward and usually you will have a grip on it within a couple of games.
- View the PlayHQ Scoring guide for Scorers (Computer)
- Download the How to Score instructions for the paper-based score sheet (may be used during Grading games)