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Parent Coach Playbook

Tools

Pages parents come back to.

Four reference sections that work as a system. Pick the moment you're in. The right tool tells you what's typical, what's not, and what to do about it.

How they fit

The four work as one system.

Pick a calendar to see what your kid's year looks like. Open the matching pathway to see what good looks like at this age. Run the cost calculator on the same sport and level to see what it actually costs.

Read the body topics that match the sport. Concussion if it's contact. Arm care if it's pitching. Heat if it's August practice. Each detail page links to the matching pieces in the other three sections so you don't have to hunt.

Start with these

Pathway · Baseball

Baseball pathway: tee-ball through varsity

What good looks like at every age in youth baseball. Skill milestones, practice shape, social markers, and the calls that come up at each level.

Pathway · Basketball

Basketball pathway: rec through varsity

What good looks like at every age in youth basketball. The AAU calendar, the height question, and when private trainers actually help.

Pathway · Football — Tackle

Football pathway: flag through varsity tackle

What good looks like at every age in youth football. Flag through 8U, the tackle question at 9-10, middle school programs, the high school recruiting reality.

The body · injury-prevention

The ACL prevention warm-up

Eleven minutes before practice. A structured warm-up that's associated with lower ACL injury rates in adolescent female athletes. Risk reduction, not a guarantee.

The body · mental-skills

Burnout signs and what to do about them

The pattern that comes before a kid quits a sport they used to love. What to watch for, what to ask, and how to back the volume down before it's too late.

The body · concussion

Concussion: protocol, return to play, your state law

What a concussion actually is, what the trainer or coach should be doing in the first ten minutes, and how return-to-play works under your state law.

Calendar · Basketball

AAU basketball 12U — year-round travel

AAU 12U travel basketball. Practice runs October through August. Tournament season is March through July. There is no real off-season unless you make one.

Calendar · Football — Tackle

HS football, fall season — Pacific Northwest

Washington and Oregon high school football. Aug practice opens, Week 1 is the Friday after Labor Day, playoffs run November. The off-season is where the next year is built.