Once you get past puberty and by
that I mean the varsity level of high school sports it should always be play by
performance. In hockey we have the saying: “you are only as good as your last
shift.” No player should think that he or she is entitled to playing time just
because they have talent or are the coach’s kid.
That actually hurts the development
of the player and the team’s chances of winning. Let me explain. Players need
to know they will be rewarded for their efforts. We are a goal orientated society
and we get rewards in real life (a paycheck) after our week of work. So to
should children see the benefits of their efforts? “You always run faster when
you are being chased.” Is one of my favorite expressions.
Let us say you are having a bad
game. Why not take a breather and let someone else take a crack at it. If that
player should do well we should embrace that as a positive as that will make
the team and ultimately all players better.
Now let’s look at the flip side. What happens
when the better player is left in a game when they are not playing well? They
start to develop bad habits. They are not accountable for their performance.
Other players see this as favoritism from the coach and subs consciously start
to resent either the player or coach, OR BOTH.
Slowly but surely the team chemistry
starts to erode and the team dynamics associated with that chemistry start to
implode. You want to see an underachieving making it very difficult for the
team to get better and play with consistency unhappy team, go watch a team
where the coaches’ kid plays all the time and certain kids sit way more than is
even remotely necessary.
You see, most human bodies, that’s
right MOST not the 1% of the 1% who are genetic freaks, take time to develop.
They do not fully develop until they are into their early 20’s so no one should
be sitting on the bench a whole game if they are on a team in youth and high
school sports. All that is happening in that scenario is that certain kids are
getting a head start and will of course play better than the kids who don’t
play…for a while. These kids actually are being hindered and not helped in
their desire and effort to win. Then, when they don’t win, well, that’s when
the you know what hits the fan.
Then, the dreaded “it’s not my
fault” starts creeping into the picture and finger pointing and sulking start
to appear. The coach gets upset and says "the heck with it, I can’t please
everybody,” so he stays with his starters. His thinking, maybe winning will
satisfy them, or me! The coach has any sub that plays on a short leash and
benches that player when they don’t do well all the while letting the more
talented player stay in the game even
though mistakes are being made.
VJ’s new
book Stop the Tsunami in Youth Sports is now available through his website in
paperback. You can follow him on twitter @VJJStanley, on face book at
Frozenshorts, email him at vj@frozenshorts.com or call him at 585-743-1020
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