to be cross with this cricket coach?

Oh wow. He needs to lighten up. Why don't you just tell him this? Is a formal letter necessary?

Which club is it joshandjamie?

Pull them out and tell him why.

I had this when my son played football for our region, but they were told they were not allowed to tell their parents what was said in the changing rooms as it was none of our business... I was livid! I did speak to the coach concerned and it made it worse for my son, he seemed to be singled out to the point where other parents said they were sick of hearing my sons name whilst they were playing!

He ended up leaving (my child not the coach) and is now just playing at Sunday league level, it really dented his confidence.... So what I am trying to say is, be careful about speaking to the coach directly as he will (if he is not a people person) take it as a personal insult and not be able to deal with it in an adult way. I would maybe speak to a coach at a different age group and ask for their advice as they will know how the club will respond.

Sorry for waffling, hope this helps :-/

I would find another club and sod the money, my children happiness is most important.

That's good... They should be able to sort it, if not is there another club they could join, it would be a shame for them to give up completely.

Let me know how you get on :)

You need to speak to the welfare officer (every club has to have one and their name/contact have to be clearly displayed) and voice your concerns.

As a supporter, club official and fellow junior parent this is not what should be happening at any age/level

DS2 had a football coach like this. He just looked at me one Sunday morning and said "I don't have to get out of bed and be sworn at" and he stopped playing.

The team folded the following season.

I agree with contacting the clubs nominated welfare officer. People like this coach are demoralising and absolutely no good for a childs self esteem

One of the knock-on effects that you see in school sports is that those who attend clubs out of school with bullying, dominant and critical coaches become that sort of player.
Arrogant, critical and mocking others whom they feel are less skilled/
I always have a time out bench running for them to reconsider their attitude, but with many it just gets worse as they get older.
Teaching children how to be nasty in order to be dominant.

I would move club. My 2 boys moved from a club that was very competitive and the coach didn't even notice them, to a club where they don't win every week, but they are much more valued.

Well on the one hand it is a coaches job to correct.I am a gymnastics coach and you are supposed to give one thing to correct each time you watch them do a move , but on the other hand it is important to balance that with praise.Did he not praise as well as correct and your boys haven't relayed that

If he praised and corrected, then obviously it was only in letter, not in spirit! He might claim or delude himself that he praised, but obviously that bit of the message is so little emphasised that it's not felt as praise.

I bet it wasn't actually balanced.

YANBU
DS plays for under 9's and I would not expect that type of coaching attitude. At the end of a match they have a quick talk but it is out in the open and general in terms; 'you all tried hard but we need to get the number of wides down next time. there was some great batting and X is man of the match for his fab catch.' One time when they were completely trounced he told them 'The other team were just great tonight, it's only a game and there's another one next week. So cheer up and go home now.' Comments on individual performance/improvement come in training.

Everything you have said runs counter to what the coach will have been taught on every junior coaching course and the child protection courses that go alongside it. This makes me think he may not be a qualified coach. For example the "closed door" approach is an absolute no no.

Assuming you want to make a complaint, your first port of call is the club's welfare officer. If they don't have one (and this would be a major red flag) complain to the committe via the secretary and ask for a copy of the coach's qualifications.

The better clubs all have Club Mark accreditation which ensures that proper systems are in place and that nothing like this nonsense ever takes place. If this club has Club Mark, they are not meeting its requirements - make a complaint to the county development officer. If they do not have Club Mark, I'd move to a club that does

Josh That reply will be interesting to read

I'm a 'proper' cricket coach with UKCC qualifications, I focus on coaching up to U9's and I'm appalled at some of what you've said happened. Some of it could be down to context/being misinterpreted by the kids eg not deserving to win, he may have said that they were lucky to win - even so if the kids took the message away that they didn't deserve then he's clearly not handling it right. I do agree with what others have said that you do need to point out areas for improvement - could this be the 'something bad about every child'? Again though, if it's being taken as the kids that these are bad things then he's not talking in an appropriate way for small folk. Doing too much at 9pm is also crazy with kids that young, they will all have been shattered; he should have planned to do most of the learning points at the start of the next coaching lesson.

If he had a good rapport with the kids then some of the stuff eg the sighing might be ok but it does sound as if it came over as despairing and very negative rather than a jokey/lighthearted 'oh my goodness what was that!' which is the kind of thing I've said on occasion after a wild and crazy throw/shot but only to a child I know will take it in the lighthearted way.

Telling a child off for losing a wicket at aged 7 is not acceptable in my view - it sends utterly the wrong message about team sports and is a sure fire way to put kids off sports for a long time.

There is much more to being a good cricket coach than just having awards/qualifications. In particular the younger end of primary (8s and unders and sometimes U9s) can be a real challenge - you're coaching a huge mix of skills and maturity and fundamentally it's all about giving them a good time and helping them develop the skills to become decent cricketers/reach their potential as they move towards the top end of primary school/into secondary school.

Just having high level coaching certificates/awards doesn't automatically make you a great coach for that age group, especially as the qualifications focus more and more on technique the higher up you go. I would take a lower level coach/competent helper with great rapport and understanding of kids that age every time over a more highly qualified one who really doesn't get small kids and just ends up putting them off.

Is he possibly used to coaching older children? (not sure what age range junior cricket covers) because with teenagers, I have seen a few coaches go for this kind of 'tough talk' style thinking it brings better results. (Completely deluded thinking IMO, but that's by the by).
Anyhow maybe he has simply transferred his coaching style, and needs to have it pointed out that it is entirely age inappropriate to talk to under nines like this.

Do any other parents feel the same as you?, if enough people mentioned that there was a problem, then perhaps a quiet word could be had. (at the very least he needs to cut out the swearing - what an idiot!)