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And it’s time for 5 coaching annoyances It is 5 p.m., which means that, during daylight-saving time, you are in the middle of another practice, or at the beginning of a weekday game or match. The rest of the year, you are hurriedly getting through the last drills before the sun sets. Sunsets are a coach’s annoyance, but how and why the world turns can’t count against this list. Nature gets off easy. Coaches do not. Managing Editor Sandy Bennett approached me with this story assignment as a very long Little League season was winding down. That same day, I contemplated whether or not to coach an AYSO U-10 boys team this fall. Annoyance 1: Time. Two categories define coaches: Those who work with flexible hours, never miss a beat, look freshly showered….and all the rest of us. Most youth coaches are fully employed, and most of them have to slink out the back door two to three times a week to leave the worksite for the practice facility. Nothing rings truer in the annoyance factor than time. Ah, to be older and retired. Annoyance 2: Fellow coaches. Despite the myth that parents drive coaches crazy, it is fellow coaches for whom the bell tolls. Unless you luck out as I did with a flock of wonderful Little League coaches earlier this year, you get caught up in the hyper-competition fueled by your opponents. It is hard to avoid. When they are driving the youngsters like drill sergeants and finding time to practice five times a week, you fall behind by being a nice guy and keeping practices to a minimum. After all, life beckons. Annoyance 3: Fitting the pieces to a puzzle. The rule of thumb – rarely followed – is that winning shouldn’t play a large factor in playing time and team structure until a youth hits 12 or 13. Then, talent ought to be the main barometer. Before that, the lessons of fair play and skill-sets ought to rule. Everyone likes to win, but when coaches bury 2-3 players on a team of 11 – these are the kids who always hit last, play right field and have to sit out 2 innings a game – it is hard to explain how everyone wins in that scenario. In fact, 2-3 kids do not. The great coaches find a way to involve everyone, so that by playoff or tournament time, they can more actively involve their best athletes because by then, victory can be embraced by all. By tournament time, if done well, everyone has had a chance to succeed, and fail, on their own. They have become a band of brothers. Annoyance 4: Practices. Whether it is finding a field in which to hit a ground ball, or waiting for players who show up 10 minutes late, practices wear like an anchor. They also can be counter-productive (coaches who are unprepared and run a poor practice); too long (no more than 90 minutes, for any youth team); and too many of them (the rule of thumb should be three touches a week, which is the addition of practices plus games). Annoyance 5: Wins and losses. I’m a big proponent of not keeping score until the 11- or 12-year-old level, except in postseason tournament play when you have to advance those teams that play better. Non-scoring contests focus almost solely on the skill-sets of players; they take the pressure off coaches who often make bad decisions in order to win; and non-scores keep those parents at bay who equate landing a $1 million account at work with their Johnny batting cleanup and playing shortstop. There are several other sub-categories that could easily be slipped in: Daddy Ball is a concern, where the coach plays his son or daughter to the detriment of the team as a whole. Parents, while in my experience are nearly perfect ladies and gentlemen, need specific behavior guidelines to follow. And there is the annoyance regarding length of season. Just about every youth sport that I’ve participated in or followed lasts about one-third too long. A four-month Little League season is too long; a nearly year-round club team program is ridiculous. As I wrote earlier, life beckons. |
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