Parent Responsibilities

PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Parent Responsibilities

All Parents are needed to help work at the meets, especially those hosted by the San Antonio Divers. Help is always needed with meet set-up, table workers, hospitality, and pre and post meet clean up. Hosting meets can be a large undertaking. We need all athletes and their families to participate in organizing and running these events. The income from meets act as our only fund raising activity, providing all of the monies necessary for coach's travel and purchase of new training equipment.

Parent Coaching

You pay your money to SAND because the coaches are qualified to do the job. Allow the coaches to work effectively by granting them authority on the sport. Diving is a very technical sport, which should not be taught by those without specialized training. Your coaches have worked hard to become an expert in this field, and parent's should resist the temptation to throw their two cents in on technique. In addition, diving is unique in that all athletes must, with the help of their coaches, face and conquer considerable fear. The result is that our coaches will form a very close bond with and understanding of your child, and this understanding gives our staff great insight into the motivation and discipline of your child. Finally, bribing a child to do a new dive seems harmless, but can effectively diminish the motivation that we strive to teach in our athletes.

Parent Code of Conduct

At SAND we strive to conduct all communication between the club and our members in a manner of the highest respect. The Parents Code of Conduct below has been created to ensure that all relations between coaches, parents and athletes remain at this high level of mutual respect and to ensure that all parents know what is expected of them as members of the program.

	Never coach your athlete! Our coaches do not go to your work and try to tell you how to do your jobs. As professional coaches, we appreciate and expect the same level of professional respect.
	Give your athlete positive support as a person. Leave the diving techniques and club policies to the diving coaches.
	Do not communicate with your children during practice. Doing this creates split attention on the part of the athlete and the coaches. At worst, it can create a dangerous situation for the entire practice, at best it results in confusion and frustration on the part of the athlete and the coach.
	Do not approach a coach during practice. If you have a question and would like to address a coach in person, wait until the conclusion of all practices for the session.
	Do not call coaches on their cell phones. If a coach gives you his/her cell phone for a meet or for a specific purpose, the use of that number must be limited to that one time issue/meet. *Coaches will not return messages left on their cell phones.*
	If you have a question or concern, we invite you to write us a respectfully worded e-mail articulating your concerns. If you or the coaches have further issues, we will always be happy to set up a face to face meeting to decisively address these issues.
	Gossiping or spreading any kind of negative information about the SAND program, coaches, athletes, talking to other diving programs about internal issues, and etc. is unacceptable behavior. If you come to find information that you feel needs to be addressed, bring it to the coaches before communicating with other members of the team. With over 35 years of experience we have discovered that the vast majority of rumors are either distorted or simply untrue. In order to prevent the unnecessary dissemination of inaccurate information, bring any and all issues directly to SAND coaching staff *before* communicating with other members of the program.
	Aggressive behavior or language, either through the form of e-mails, phone calls, voice mails, carrier pigeon, text messages, instant message, or any other form towards any member of the SAND coaching staff will be grounds for immediate termination from the program for the parents and diver.

Outside Coaching

SAND's Pre-Team, Junior, JO, JO Pre-National, and National Team Divers are not permitted to dive simultaneously with more than one Junior Olympic Program. Competing for High School or Summer League Teams will be tolerated assuming that it does not affect your ability to meet your commitments to SAND.

Divers are expected to consult with the Head Coach before working with any other diving coach.

Training trips to other coaches must be approved with at least three weeks notice. This applies to all summer dive camps and individualized training trips. In all but the most unusual cases, (Poor timing in our training cycle before a major event) these trips will be approved. This approval period allows time for planning and coordination between the coaches.

In the case of extended training trips or summer diving camps, divers will still be responsible for their entire SAND Team Training Fees. We do not Pro- Rate SAND's monthly fees.

	Divers are expected to consult with the Head Coach before working with any other diving coach.
	Training trips to other coaches must be approved with at least three weeks notice. This applies to all summer dive camps and individualized training trips. In all but the most unusual cases, (Poor timing in our training cycle before a major event) these trips will be approved. This approval period allows time for planning and coordination between the coaches.
	In the case of extended training trips or summer diving camps, divers will still be responsible for their entire SAND Team Training Fees. We do not Pro- Rate SAND's monthly fees.