Whether it is through instant messaging, email, or some sort of team management app, coaches today are more accessible for parents than ever.

While such close links can often be useful, sometimes it can quickly become overwhelming for the coach.

Here are five things I would recommend to any coach using digital communications with their players’ parents…

01 - TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS

Initially, I felt that I should always be available for parents. The simple fact is that’s not true, nor is it sustainable.

I ran myself ragged by always trying to get back to parents immediately, and even when I did respond, I’d often worry I hadn’t done enough to deal with their query or message.

The answer was to put some boundaries in place. I turn off all notifications for the WhatsApp groups of parents that I run, and carve out specific times to look at them.

Of course, this can vary – in the run-up to a matchday, I might engage with it a bit more - but having a dedicated time to deal with those messages takes the pressure off.

02 -  MAKE ALL YOUR MESSAGES CONCISE

Most parents don’t respond well to a drip-feeding of information. They want all the facts in one place that they can refer back to.

With matchday info, rather than messaging to say you have a match, then messaging later on about the opposition, wait until you have all of the information.

Parents now expect match information from me in a standard format: opposition, location, date, arrival time, start time, finish time, which kit

Doing it this way also gives me a message to refer back to in case queries come up.