I messed up. Please help.
Hi. This is my first year as a coach, and I coach at a pretty prestigious club for U9 girls. Today I was told by my opponent that if I lost this game, I would be moving down a division, (my club was aware, I was not). I was pretty flustered by this bc we won two games and lost two by a few goals, game was balanced just one or two bad mistakes that lead to a goal.
I always play fair playing, however this game we were down 4-1 and I made the decision to play to win. At one point, I told one of my players that we were moving down a division. (This was my mistake) and at the post game, I was pretty upset at the lost, but not necessarily my girls. I told the girls we were going to be moving down divisions and I'm sorry for not playing fairly. I think the girls took this as I was upset at them bc I probably didn't think about my words. I own up to this dearly. Parents messaged me saying their daughters were crying after the game, and I profusely apologized. Now parents are asking for a team meeting so they can talk to me about how to speak to their girls.
How do I even come back from this. I feel like I lost my parents trust. I normally have a great relationship with my girls, and am very positive. Multiple parents send me emails about how well I treat the girls and how much they love the game bc of my training/coaching. I used to be very confident I was a good coach, but now I'm second guessing myself. I love coaching, but I don't want to do more harm than good.