My son, 10, just finished the regular season for youth football in our area. The team went 6-2, and will be the #2 or #3 seed for the playoffs, depending on the outcome of a game today. At the end of the playoffs we are having the end of season party. We have 1 head coach and 3 assistant coaches. I would like to give the head coach $100 and $50 each to the 3 assistants.

I suggested to my wife we give them cash in thank you cards. Crisp $100 and $50 bills respectively. My wife said cash is "tacky" and we should go the gift card route. I hate buying Visa gift cards as I think they are around $5 each, plus the gift amount. Of course restaurant/Cabelas gift cards don't have a surcharge, but I am not sure which ones to get.

Cash is King, IMO.

Question:
Cash or gift card?

Choices:
Cash is King, crisp bills.
Visa Gift Card
Store Gift Card
Other (Explain)

 

That’s really cool of you.

I coached youth sports for many years now, and I’ll say it’s rare to get any gift from a person.

Whatever you give will be appreciated, and likely unexpected. Most every coach I know gets a lot of enjoyment from coaching so we don’t expect anything more.

The few times I’ve got anything other than some keepsake or whatever, usually it is gift cards to a local sporting goods store which I definitely appreciated. While the programs I’ve coached for do provide most of the equipment we need, there are always small things coaches end up paying for out of pocket. I used to carry stuff like extra mouth guards, eye black and those disposable hand warmers in the cooler months, all of which I paid for. It wasn’t a huge cost on my part or anything but it was nice to use a gift card instead of my own money.

Obviously cash is great too.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sporting goods store gift card. Cash makes coaches uncomfortable.

I have been involved in youth sports, both as a coach and a parent, for the last 10 years. Let me give you a different take….don’t give them anything.

Now hear me out. They volunteered for their own reasons. They are not there for pay or for tips. When you start introducing direct cash and gifts you taint the coach/parent and coach/player relationship. Do you want someone next season to whisper that your kid got picked or got playing time because you greased the coach’s palm? Will it happen, maybe or maybe not. Will your generosity influence the coaches behavior toward your kid in the future, maybe or maybe not. I have no doubt your motives are pure but parents are petty, particularly when things don’t go their way and their kid’s way. Don’t give them ammo, particularly when the coaches are not expecting compensation as a volunteer.

As your kid gets older, the best thing you can do is maintain distance from the coaches. Let your kid have the relationship and show his own appreciation with a thank you and a handshake at the end of the season. The best thing you can do as a parent is to learn to get out of the middle of that relationship as early as possible.

The exception is all parents chip in a nominal amount, $10-$15 per kid, for some small group showing of appreciation such as a small gift basket for each coach from the whole team.

^^^^^^^ He’s not wrong. (Txjim)

Interesting points there Jim. I suppose it depends on the league and the setting. When I coached middle school sports I was never offered any gifts but would have refused them if I had.

Little league though? If anyone thought I was giving special favor to one kid over the other based on anything other than ability, talent and effort, then they were told that they could leave anytime they wanted. Yes I was accused of it (not because of a gift or anything) and yes on a couple occasions I never saw the kid again.

But I also knew that I had the backing on the president and the league. And accepting such gifts wasn’t against any rules.

Still though, it’s an interesting viewpoint and one for the OP to consider. As I also said in my post it isn’t expected so none of the coaches will likely think it rude if you don’t offer.

You know what is low key but always appreciated?

Beer.

For youth hockey, we have always done a team collection for the coaches. We ask everyone except for the coaches family for contributions, usually $20. The gift is always from the team, regardless of contribution.

We have done Custom team hats, a team photo from a winning the league championship, Drink Cozi’s with gift cards. The team photo’s of the season high points have always been the most appreciated.

I've been head coach/assistant coach for a number of years in LL, HS, and u10 football. Even had one parent offer to pay me to put his kid in the game, which I refused. But the gifts that I remember the most are the signed baseballs, footballs, basketballs, thank you cards and letters, and the team plaques with engraved captions on the plaque.
So you might consider the cards, and signed football or plaque.

Both my kids played softball /baseball for several years between kinder and 5th grade. We’d always have a team party at local pizza place or somebody’s house if available. One of the team moms would organise via group text or email the fact we are getting the coach a gift. Was always a man head coach so we’d usually get them a healthy gift card to the local BBQ restaurant downtown or similar along with a plaque with team photo and a thank you tag engraved with team name and kids names. Same for assistant coaches but slighty. There’s was a female assistant coach for softball one year and they got her a massage at one of the local upper end massage places.