A Guide for Parents of Sacred Heart Volleyball Players

Games

• Inform us of conflicts/transport issues well in advance. We run with small teams to maximize playing time and it is important for us to know when someone is not planning on attending (of course, this should happen rarely). If conflicts do come up at the last minute, please make every attempt to notify the head coach for your daughter's team. Our contact information can be found on the home page. If your daughter misses a match without giving prior notice, we reserve the right to sit her for all or part of the next match that she does attend.
• Show up for concession/door duty or arrange for a replacement! The coaches have enough to do on game day without worrying if parents are there to do their jobs! The concession and door are important as they provide the revenue to pay the refs. And, by rule, the home team must provide an official scorer and clock manager.
• Make sure your daughter arrives on time (by the "Arrive by" time on the schedule).
• Make sure your daughter leaves the house properly dressed (gym clothes, no jewelry). See the dress code.
• BE SUPPORTIVE! Your job is to be encouraging. Mark coached with Pittsburgh Dynamo and is a big believer in the philosophy that only positive, general statements should come from the stands. Examples: "Go Sacred Heart!", "Nice up!", "Good job!", "Great hustle!". This way the only person talking to a player directly is a coach (see next item).
• DO NOT INSTRUCT! That's the coach's job. We don't want the girls, during the middle of a game, responding to instructions from the stands. If you believe something is wrong with the way play is proceeding, tell the coach after the game. Do not correct your daughter during a game! Talk to us later.
• If you want to help, we need adults to work the clock, be a line judge, and keep score in the scorebook. If you would like to learn how to do any of these things, we can teach you during the scrimmages so you can feel more confident about doing games. All you have to do is show up ~15 minutes before the end of practices and you can work the scrimmages. Doing so would really help the coaches (and your daughter's team) out!
• If you're helping officiate, either as a line judge or at the scorer's table, you forfeit any cheerleading privileges. This is precisely because you're acting in an official capacity (i.e., you really are helping to officiate). There should be absolutely no communication from a line judge or the scorer's table to the floor unless it involves a rotation or other game error. It's in the rules!

Practices

• Again, inform us of conflicts in advance.
• Make sure your daughter leaves the house properly dressed (gym clothes, no jewelry). See the dress code.
• Parents are encouraged to drop by at practice to see what we're doing. You may end up seeing things you want to go over with your daughter at home! But please wait until you get home to do so — during the practice, please let the coaches run the practice and instruct your daughter! That's why they're there.