Holiday gift for the coach?

Do people give their child's coach a Christmas gift? Our team isn't doing a group gift, but I'm wondering if individual gifts are the norm (or at least aren't weird).
 
We've always done a team gift. Have you talked to other families on the team? It'd seem like if everyone else was giving the coach a personal gift, it'd get awkward and the same if no one else was planning on it.
 
Do people give their child's coach a Christmas gift? Our team isn't doing a group gift, but I'm wondering if individual gifts are the norm (or at least aren't weird).
Depends. Your coach attractive? Maybe some champagne and a certificate for a couples massage?
 
I'm not a fan of group gifts. When I give a gift to someone providing a service to me it's to show my appreciation for the work they do. When you contribute to a group gift the person who gets most of the credit for the gift is the person who goes out to get it. It's less personal and defeats the purpose in my opinion. I once contributed to a group gift and the person receiving the gift didn't even say thank you to the group. It made me wonder if the person organizing it presented the gift as their own. Also people sometimes feel pressured to contribute to a group gift when maybe they can't afford it or don't think the person deserves a gift. Group gifts just don't fit in with the true spirit of a gift.
 
I'll chime in as a coach and a parent.
When I was coaching rec, there would be an end of season party. It was customary for the team to chip in and buy something for the coach. It was usually a gift card to a sporting goods store. It was also customary for the coach to buy the team manager a gift. (Usually a gift card for a manicure). That season was done by mid-November and no further gifts for Christmas were exchanged.
Now that I have been coaching club for a bit and we play year round, there haven't really been coaches gifts at the end of the season or at Christmas. We usually do a team Christmas party where the players exchange gifts. This year, we decided to skip the gift exchange and the team all put in money and we bought presents for a military family out of Camp Pendleton. The team went on a shopping spree to buy for the (single) dad and his 2 young kids. Best thing I've ever done with our team. I think we spent close to $1,000.
I have a birthday in mid-January, and the team usually does something pretty cool. When we used to do Vegas cup, we'd have a birthday dinner.
I play in an indoor league on Sunday evenings. This year, the week before my birthday, the team surprised me by showing up to watch my game and cheer. They all made really funny signs and any time I touched the ball, the crowd went crazy. It was pretty awesome. And throughout that next week, a present would show up on my doorstep. (Gift cards for dinner, bottle of booze, shirt from the college I attended, Starbucks gift cards, massage gift card, etc).
For my younger daughter, I don't think we bought him anything for Christmas this year. There may have been a team gift that I'm not aware of. But we did do a birthday gift in September.
 
I once contributed to a group gift and the person receiving the gift didn't even say thank you to the group.

200.webp
 
Back
Top