the main reason for closing the doors at our club, in the past was noise control. we had 60 parents, younger syblings etc. in the room. 60+ people + idle chit chat = a noise level that coaches cannot compete with. children are easily distracted, i have done this for a lot of years and believe that the less distraction the better. i do believe that a father who is willing to come in and learn is ok, but they will help and will not be aloud to coach their own child. show that you have interest in the building of a club, ok. interest in making darn sure that your kid gets more 1-on-1 attention than other children sorry i won't go for it.

i agree that some coaches can't handle large groups of youngsters, and some coaches may be bad people, but that certainly doesn't mean that ALL PARENTS ARE GOOD. being from law enforcement HOSSUS you should know that better than anyone.

the coaches at our club can handle large groups. i personally think that things could be done a little differently, but it seems to be working. it's good to hear different points of view.

i also know that in the past few years parents in our club have asked for change. now they have it. it's very early in the season, let's wait until the end of the season to measure the success. good luck.