Being the new coach and a very young coach, parents in the Brookings district were skeptical of my hiring. To help address the situation, I was tasked with planning parent day. Parent day is a day of fun activities that get both the parents and players involved.  I planned multiple different activities, such as a relay race, skills challenge, and 1 on 1's. Both the parents and players loved the opportunity to compete against one another. The final activity was giving the mothers a chance to tackle their own child. When the players went to go change is when I talked to the parents.

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The speech's goal was to eliminate the doubt many parents had about another young coach. The speech itself shows how I can use communication to build trust and personal relations through one of my strengths. The day itself did not go perfect but was very much a success. Everyone left with less doubt, some great experiences with their kids, and a smile on their face. This was an important day for my ability to succeed as a coach and my use of communication made it a successful day.

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From this day, I learned that as someone who is trying to build public relations/make a positive impression, the most important thing is to be personable and relatable. People will be more inclined to listen if they feel like they can relate to you and can see you have nothing but the best intentions. If I would have come into the day stricter and heavy-hearted, the speech would not have been as effective because the parent's first impression would have been distasteful.