Coaches Gifts

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » April 23, 2008 5:40 pm

This year I'd like to get something special for Victoria's volleyball coach. She is really a shining example of a great coach. She has led Victoria's team to league/city victories three years in a row now, working with players with very little to no athletic skill (like my daughter) to girls who are ready to bump/set/spike before they are out of diapers, all on the same team.

After three years of working with this coach, Victoria has grown into a fine volleyball player, and wants to continue to play for our city after she leaves the school this year.

Victoria would not have much of the success she's had without this coach, so I'm wondering from other coach-types of things that are really special that you have received as a coach gift. As a team, we'll give her and the assistant coach cash, but we want to give a farewell present on our own as well.

Tonight I have to watch her team play their last regular season league game before the big city tournament in a week and a half. I'll probably be the biggest mess ever, so while you're thinking of great coach gifts for me, wish our Dragon Ladies good luck!

G O D R A G O N S !

Dally · Post by **Dally** » April 23, 2008 6:28 pm

Get the team and/or parents to sign a volleyball for her.......

I'm not too good with creative ideas.....but

GOOOOOO DRAGONS!!!!!!!!

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » April 23, 2008 6:47 pm

How about having Victoria writing her coach a letter stating just what you did, how the coach took her from a novice to a skilled player and what her dedication and teaching have meant to her, etc. And enclose a pic of the two of them. Victoria could even decorate one of those acrylic ones with a volleyball theme.

I'm sure coaches are a lot like teachers...they get a lot of "stuff" they don't know what to do with. A letter and a picture would mean more than anything, and I can pretty much guarantee it's something she'd hang onto forever. It validates her worth as a coach/mentor/teacher, and it's a gift from the heart.

mermaidindisguise · Post by **mermaidindisguise** » April 23, 2008 6:57 pm

I know several coaches and they all love and can't get enough gift cards to THe Sports Authority!

Dutch Harbor PH · Post by **Dutch Harbor PH** » April 23, 2008 6:59 pm

I agree...gift cards are great....we've been giving Starbucks....a nice gift that then goes away....and doesn't accumulate on the shelf....

krusin1 · Post by **krusin1** » April 23, 2008 10:27 pm

How about a framed, signed team photo with a special message from Victoria written in Sharpie on the back?

When you're a coach, you're doing it because you want to see kids succeed. Money and such doesn't measure up to a token that says you really made a difference.

Afternoon Golfer · Post by **Afternoon Golfer** » April 24, 2008 8:55 am

How about a Coach bag!

Carolinadreamin' · Post by **Carolinadreamin'** » April 24, 2008 9:08 am

How about a gift card for a dinner out at a nice resturant and that volleyball signed by all the girls. Or a nice framed picture of the girls with all of them signing the matting around the picture.

Our swim team has gone over the deep end......granted our coach does his job all year with a week break in April and 3 week break in August but.....we gave the head coach and his wife a weekend in Charleston, WV resort.......

Anne Bonny · Post by **Anne Bonny** » April 24, 2008 11:34 am

How about and engraved whistle. And a signed team photo.

Maybe if the girls are crafty. Get them to make a throw quilt for her.

SharkOnLand · Post by **SharkOnLand** » April 24, 2008 11:39 am

You can't go wrong with strippers.

Go to one of those geeky/comic book stores and get a pewter dragon figurine or something, and maybe have it engraved.

chippewa · Post by **chippewa** » April 24, 2008 11:57 am

Brown Eyed Girl wrote:How about having Victoria writing her coach a letter stating just what you did, how the coach took her from a novice to a skilled player and what her dedication and teaching have meant to her, etc. And enclose a pic of the two of them. Victoria could even decorate one of those acrylic ones with a volleyball theme.

I'm sure coaches are a lot like teachers...they get a lot of "stuff" they don't know what to do with. A letter and a picture would mean more than anything, and I can pretty much guarantee it's something she'd hang onto forever. It validates her worth as a coach/mentor/teacher, and it's a gift from the heart.

As the spouse of a teacher, I can tell you that those kind of letters go in the scrapbook and are read, long after the "world's best teacher" coffee mugs are gone.

And, also as the spouse of a teacher, a gift. cert. to a restaurant is also nice -- as long as it covers two dinners.

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » April 24, 2008 11:58 am

Afternoon Golfer wrote:How about a Coach bag!

Sheeeyah!!!! Not until I get one first!

Carolinadreamin' · Post by **Carolinadreamin'** » April 24, 2008 12:24 pm

Hey Mal.....not to hijack the thread but......

my oldest keet is trying gluten-free for the next 3 weeks to see if her tummy symptoms go away....she's 26 and her insurance su*ks.....

LIBuffettFan · Post by **LIBuffettFan** » April 24, 2008 12:32 pm

My brother is a very successful Lacrosse coach here on Long Island and the team as a thank you made a plaque with lacrosse sticks mounted on it and a thank you message engraved and stuck to it, I know kinda extreme but perhaps something soccer related with a soccer ball or something. I know he loved it and had it mounted on his wall at home.

dnw · Post by **dnw** » April 24, 2008 12:34 pm

My son's coaches always loved the restaurant gift certificates that he gave them. And so did their spouses.

Dezdmona · Post by **Dezdmona** » April 24, 2008 12:56 pm

Something I usually do for my Son's teachers in addition to whatever gift I get them every year is buy them a package of Forget-me-not seeds to attach to the card my son signs.

(The idea being that if they plant them, they will remember my son's gift whenever they look at them

)

parithedfred · Post by **parithedfred** » April 24, 2008 1:04 pm

How about a gift certificate to a day spa? Give her a day of relaxation. She took care of the kids all season now let someone else take care of her, even if it is just for a day I'm sure she would enjoy and remember it.

I'm an Altered Boy · Post by **I'm an Altered Boy** » April 24, 2008 1:17 pm

a case of beer is always a good gift

finz2oob · Post by **finz2oob** » April 24, 2008 1:31 pm

For the 25+ years I've coached athletes, the most
meaningful gifts I've received were cards saying what
I meant to them, photo collages of the team and even
a plate the team decorated with the college logo surrounded
by all the players names for that season. Those personalized
gifts cost very little but mean so much to those that
dedicate their lives to the sport and their athletes. Purchased
gifts, while appreciated, don't have the same impact as the
personalized things that can go into a scrapbook or on the wall
to remind us why we coach.

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » April 24, 2008 1:32 pm

Carolinadreamin' wrote:Hey Mal.....not to hijack the thread but......

my oldest keet is trying gluten-free for the next 3 weeks to see if her tummy symptoms go away....she's 26 and her insurance su*ks.....

Trying GF is a good thing.