As much as coaches want to help individual players, their overall responsibility is to the team. Youth coaches often seek compromises that try to reconcile player desires with team needs. However, when there are conflicts, most coaches have to put team needs above player desires. This can be as simple as rotating players to allow equal playing time over a player's desire to play the entire game. Sometimes these conflicts can be more complex. Areas that often trigger conflict are:
- Playing time
- Position assignments
- Recognitions and reprimands
- Teammate assignments
These issues always have two perspectives - from that of the player (or parent) and from that of the team. The older the players, the more likely it is the coach only focuses on team needs. Parents don't always like the decisions that coaches make but parents have to understand the different perspectives that motivate these decisions.