<p>My son is the captain of his HS soccer team at a public school. A couple of the parents have suggested getting some sort of “thanks” for the coach and two assistants. The coach does received some $$$ compensation I believe, though it’s probably not a lot. </p>
<p>We can collect $$$ from players/parents, but ahead of time I am being realistic knowing that while some will be happy to donate, some of the kids come from poorer families and haven’t even had a parent attend a game. </p>
<p>Ideas for a “token” appreciation gift? Of course there is the usual gift card to a local restaurant type thing. Someone mentioned a plaque of some sort. </p>
<p>Our kids generally give a restaurant g.c (or a VISA g.c to assistants); a framed team picture signed by all kids and a DVD of game pictures, taken by parents during the season and put to music–generally the kids are fairly talented at doing this, much more so than some parents. Many copies of the DVD are made…and given to graduating Senior boys as a remembrance.</p>
<p>How about a mini-soccer ball signed by all the players and placed in a clear plastic case? (This is also a good token gift for baseball coaches.)</p>
<p>These are good ideas! I also thought that perhaps at the soccer banquet at the end of the year, we could have a couple of the boys say a few words about each coach - maybe it’s just me, but heartfelt words mean alot to hear and can be a wonderful thanks.</p>
<p>My husband and I have both coached at the recreational level, and those dinner certificates are much appreciated. Coaches have very little time to prepare dinner during the season, and after the season it’s nice to be able to treat the family who has put up with difficult hours, etc.</p>
<p>The video is also something that is appreciated, even more so after the kids grow. We know a pro ballplayer who was once in our rec league - wish we had video of him at 12!</p>
<p>The signed balls are a nice thought, but what does one do with them after multiple seasons? Photos and cards are much easier to store. The signed balls get donated.</p>
<p>We have done:
(1) gift certificate to restaurant
(2) gift certificate to sporting goods store (much appreciated by many coaches)
(3) gift certificate to Barnes & Noble (for the college students who assist in our town)
(4) sports-related T-shirt signed by kids with jersey numbers*
(5) card from each kid on the team–all were instructed they had to write at least two complete sentences thanking the coach</p>
<p>*Cute story–I passed around one shirt and asked each kid to sign his name and write his number. One kid wrote his phone number.</p>
<p>You know, as the economy has gotten worse, I’ve stuck with gift cards for reasonbly priced local restaurants (e.g. where the amount of the gift card is enough to pay for at least a meal for 2.) May not be creative or exciting, but I’m 98% sure they’ll be used.</p>
<p>Second the feelings on signed balls, plaques etc. My husband coached basketball and baseball for 10 years each. We have two boxes of such stuff. We put up a few of the plaques on our basement stair walls but we have many many more.
Restaurant or grocery store gift cards were the most appreciated.</p>
<p>So I’m thinking to go with gift certificates and some personal words of thanks from the players. Something they will definitely use (gift certificates) and something they can treasure (words of thanks).</p>
<p>Sound great. If you could give the team members a prompt or two of what to write in a card (e.g. your favorite or funniest memory), that would make it a bit more personal than a bunch of “thanks Coach”.</p>
<p>I’ve coached many teams and the gift that means the most to me is the signed ball in a case. It’s even better if the athletes all sign a page in a book with the most memorable moment or most helpful moment for that athlete on his/her page.</p>
<p>You may be right about the signed balls if somebody is a coach for a long time (those who said there could be too many). We’ve seen it work very well if the coach is a dad and his kid is on the team.</p>
<p>S2 played football. We donated for a gift every year. Gift certificates were always best. I’m pretty close w/ the head coach’s wife so got it straight from the horse’s mouth. </p>
<p>Since football teams are so large, we did two gift cards each. Whoever was presenting would always say one gift card (the restaurant card) was for the coaches’ long suffering wives and the other (Lowes’s/Home Depot) was for the coaches to buy themselves something they could really use…often followed by some ribbing fr. the players about the coaches’ woefully neglected yards during football season.
The coach’s wife said both were really appreciated.</p>
<p>Son’s old high school team just bought Six Flags season tickets for coach and his family with the idea of giving him family time back as a thank you for all the time he has spent with them. They are good for the rest of this year including special stuff at Halloween and are good all next year as well. The boys are donating some of the money set aside for the end of the year banquet (pizza instead of lasagna this year, and a sheet cake without ice cream) and each family is giving $5.</p>
<p>There are many good ideas here for “token” gifts. We pay dues to our booster organization, which handles gifts. The OP mentioned that this is a HS coach who gets some $$$. I know around here coaches’ salaries are public record - most of our head coaches make from $4000-$6000 and the assistants get between $2000-$4000. They do give a lot of time and we appreciate them, but it is not the same situation as the volunteer coaches for recreational leagues. I have had my children write personal notes to coaches after the season, and then my D wrote a college essay on dealing with a very difficult HS coach. I would not have been giving any extra money for a gift for her!</p>
<p>A couple of gifts H received were a ceramic envelope, personalized with the names of the boys on his team, which still sits on his desk today (holds letters or pens, pencils etc.) and a personalized clip board done in lucite, also with the names of the kids engraved.</p>
<p>We have done iPod nanos… really nice slippers (LL Bean country folks!!) and digital photo frames (they have come down significantly in price) which can include a CD of photos from the season…and they can then change the content up and include some of their own personal photos…one year they got adirondack chairs for the head coach for his summer camp…</p>
<p>restaurant gift cards are also very popular with coaches…</p>
<p>The autographed ball is a nice idea. Tickets to a local game maybe, if you have a college or pro team in your area. Also restaurant gift certificates are always in good taste. Or else a jersey of their favorite player and customized [iPod</a> cases](<a href=“http://www.i-fanatic.com/]iPod”>http://www.i-fanatic.com/) with favorite mascot or school logo or trademark printed on it.</p>