James Landers of Saint Petersburg - Handling the role of father and coach

By James Landers

James Landers (Saint Petersburg, Florida) is a youth football coach in Tampa, Saint Petersburg, Florida responsible for multi conference championships and a leader in off the field youth development programs. Mr. Landers is passionate about building programs that provide opportunity to all children, regardless of economic limitations. His economic outreach program in Saint Petersburg, Florida is responsible for supporting numerous players throughout the city.


Most of the coaches in youth football have players on the team. This presents a difficult challenge for the head coach. Often times, the head coach must deal with the “dad glasses”. Dad glasses are the lenses that make their son the most talented kid ever to walk on the field. The “dad glasses” slant the view of the coach in favor of this own son. Not only is this not fair to the coaches son, but left unchallenged, presents a huge distraction for the team.


Role of father and coach

I suggest this policy. Let the other coaches coach your son. Kids need fathers much more than another coach. If there are 20 player on the team, coach the 19 and be a father to the one. The other coaches can do the same with their child. Coaches are subconsciously more stringent with their own child, which is unfair to the child.

Be the father your child needs and leave the coaching of your child to the other coaches. And don’t forget, do the same courtesy for the other coaches.