This school year, my son started at a new school and joined the 5th-grade basketball team. He’s fairly new to the sport—he played travel ball last year and really enjoyed it—so he was excited to try out for the school team.
The coach, who I’ll call “T,” is also one of the school’s deans and behavior managers. He oversees student conduct and helps with dismissal at the end of the day.
Here’s where things get interesting: during the first few weeks of school, I’d often arrive a bit early and wait outside the gate that opens at 3:30. I started noticing T looking at me from a distance. At first, I thought nothing of it—maybe he was just getting familiar with new parents. But as time went on, I realized he was looking more often, and when I made eye contact, he’d smile and/or quickly look away.
He’s polite but not overly talkative—sometimes he’ll ask how I’m doing, but that’s about it. Still, I’ve noticed that he gives my son extra attention during practice. He’s very encouraging and supportive toward him, even though my son is still learning the game. It’s not inappropriate or unprofessional—it just stands out compared to how he interacts with the other players. He's not mean to the other kids but he does yell at them. Not in a bad way but in a coaching type of way. But when it comes to my son he's way more soft spoken and gentle. Even when giving corrections he's more hands on and will show him what he wants him to do vs yelling like he would the other kids.
A few weeks ago, I came to school dressed up a bit more than usual, and I caught him doing a double take and watching me for a moment. I brushed it off. But the next day during dismissal he gave my son a high five a pat on the back and told him he did a great job at practice the other day which never happened until then.
Recently I noticed it his behavior towards me shifted. He was taking a few free throughs while the team warmed up. This is normal and he usually makes them. However this time he'd hit the rim sending the ball over to my direction. It could’ve easily been stopped. It wasn't like it was flying towards me at max speed. He couldve easily walked over a got it , but each time he let it roll over to me and I'd pick it up and pass it to him, he'd walk over, smile, and say, “My bad.” I'd toss it back and say "You're fine" he'd smile a little harder cock his head back and turn away. This happened about 4 or 5 times before practice officially started
Then just the other day, he saw me in the hallway and waited by the gym door to hold it open for me, even though I was still a good distance away. It was thoughtful, but it also felt a little deliberate since he really didnt have to hold it since I was a little far away.
I can’t tell if I’m overthinking all this or if there’s genuinely some mutual interest. I don’t want to misread friendly gestures, especially since he’s my son’s coach. Am I reading too much into his behavior?