THE THORNY ISSUE OF PLAYING TIME

Continuing our conversation this AM about bad coaches, and what we can do as sports parents to prepare our kids who end up playing on their teams.

Perhaps the one aspect that drives sports parents truly nuts is when they don’t feel their kid is getting enough playing time in the games.

Now, this issue has changed for the better a little bit for the better in recent years – I’ll explain in a moment – but it is still a huge issue. And playing time all starts with the head coach.

In my opinion, from the head coach’s perspective, they are often torn between their own competitive impulse and desire to want to win the game — and as such, they are often very, very reluctant to sub their starters with their second or third line players. Even worse, if the game continues to be close in terms of the score, many coaches – especially the inexperienced ones – tend to focus much more on the game’s final outcome and often overlook or even forget about getting all the kids into the contest.

Now, this is always very, very tricky….but I will tell you this:  that the very best coaches always make it part of their game preparation strategy to somehow get their second stringers into the game – even if only for a few minutes.

Why? Because it’s important to make every kid on the team feel that they are contributing in some way. Nobody wants to sit on the bench for the entire game. And good coaches know this.

Bad coaches, on the other hand, don’t seem to get this concept, or want to follow it. What happens? The kids who rarely get into the games become discouraged and angry  - as do their parents. This is not a good formula to follow if you, as the coach, want to keep your team happy and motivated.

So what are the best times to play your second stringers? No, not just when the score is out of reach and it’s a lopside game. Rather, get them into the first half of the game for a couple of minutes, and pay attention to how they perform.. If they show real promise, keep them in.

Remember, if the youngster was good enough to make your team, then he or she should be good enough to at least get into a game to break a sweat and feel as though they are part of the total team effort. That’s good for them, and it’s good for the team.

I mentioned how playing time has changed in recent years. In youth hockey, for example, in many leagues, each shift is timed as two minutes, so that the coach knows – and the kids and their parents know – that they are going to change lines every two minutes. This kind of routine not only reinforces to the coach to make sure not to burn out his first line players, but it also reinforces that it’s a total team sport – every kid gets onto the ice.

In hoops, there are now rotations so that all the kids know that the coach is going to put into the second line of players throughout the game as well. Again, it reinforces that this is a team game—and that everybody should be ready to play in the game.

What have you seen with your kids? Take a listen to the various calls from today’s podcast.