Barack Obama quit training his daughter’s basketball team after parents of rival team complained

‘it was just an excuse for me to spend extra time with Sasha,' says former president

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Barack Obama has said that he stopped coaching his daughter’s basketball team after parents from a rival team complained.

Writing in his new memoir, A Promised Land, the former US president explains how he helped train his daughter, Sasha, and her recreational basketball team alongside his aide, Reggie Love, who used to work as a university basketball coach.

In the passage, Obama recalls watching Sasha’s team, the Vipers, with his wife, Michelle.

"After observing an adorable but chaotic first couple of games, Reggie and I took it upon ourselves to drop some plays, and volunteered to conduct a few informal Sunday afternoon practice sessions with the team," he explained. 

"We worked on the basics: dribbling, passing, making sure your shoelaces were tied before you ran on to the court.

"Although Reggie could get a little too intense, the girls seemed to have as much fun as we did."

Sasha’s team went on to win the league championship, Obama said, explaining how he and Love “celebrated” afterwards at how their work had paid off.

But the following year, parents from a rival basketball team complained that Obama was helping his daughter’s team.

“We explained that there was nothing special about our practices. That it was just an excuse for me to spend extra time with Sasha,” he wrote. 

“And I offered to help other parents organise practices on their own.” 

Obama recalled how Love teased him about the complaint, telling him that the disgruntled parents "must think being coached by you is something they can put on a Harvard application".

The former president continues: "But when it became clear that complaints had nothing to do with basketball... I decided that it would be simpler for all concerned, if I went back to just being a fan."

Obama did not specify how old Sasha was at the time. She and her sister, Malia, moved into the White House in 2008 when they were aged seven and 10, respectively.

"Given all the time I'd missed with the girls over the years of campaigning and legislative sessions, I cherished the normal dad stuff that much more," Obama wrote of parenting them during his time as president. "But of course, nothing about our lives was completely normal anymore."