Los Angeles Sports
Foundation
Los Angeles Sports
Foundation is a 501c3
organization focused on
implementing a developmental
model of coaching in youth
sports.
?i>On
My Team, Everyone Counted
the Same?/i>
Team sports provide powerful
opportunities for developing
positive values in our youth
including teamwork,
sportsmanship, positive
communication, respect, and
fair play.
A youth coach who is
committed to developing each
of his players should also
be committed to giving all
his players equal access to
the experiences that
facilitate such
development—including
playing time. That’s right.
Every player plays the
same amount of
time. For some coaches,
particularly those bent on
winning the illustrious
8-9-year-old division
championship trophy, the
idea of not playing their
most skilled players the
majority of the game
probably seems crazy.
However, in this article, I
hope to persuade you and
them to consider several
good reasons to provide
equal playing time for all
youth athletes.
First, I cannot
overemphasize the value of
playing experience in a game
situation. No amount of play
during practice sessions
replaces it. Game-playing
experience is essential to
player development. To deny
players access to the
circumstances that lead to
their development sets up a
self-fulfilling prophecy:
Little Johnny gets benched
because he can’t dribble
with his left hand. What
typically happens next?
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Johnny loses confidence in
his abilities because he is
relegated to second-class
status on his team;
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Johnny experiences increased
anxiety when he does
play because he is trying to
impress the coach and earn
more playing time;
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Johnny feels increasing
pressure while
simultaneously becoming less
familiar with playing in an
organized game; and
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Johnny begins to lose
interest, practice less, and
get worse compared to his
peers who are playing more
in games, practicing more
and getting better.
So defines the path of
lesser-skilled players
playing less and being
singled out as the
“have-nots?who will soon
join the thousands that quit
playing organized sports
every year. Over 50% of
young athletes drop out of
team sports by the time they
are 13 years old. As a
result, many families are
turning to individual sports
such as tennis and golf to
find an enjoyable youth
sports experience. If we
believe that team sports are
a more powerful vehicle for
imparting life lessons and
positive values then this is
a big problem!
Youth basketball playing
experience consists of two
basic components—practice
time and game time. During
practice, players should be
exposed to a variety of
skills and drills that
emphasize fundamentals, and
be introduced to a
structured practice format.
This time should be
instruction and repetition
oriented. During a game,
players are exposed to the
pressure of competition, the
referee’s whistle, and rules
that may be new to them. It
can be the only time they
will play on a full-sized
court. These two separate
experiences carry equal
importance in the
development of a
well-rounded player.
I advocate a developmental
program that ensures kids
the opportunity to do just
that—develop. As a coach,
speaker, and camp director,
I am often asked, “What is
the biggest factor that goes
into winning games??My
answer is simple: The teams
with the best players will
usually win. In fact,
this is true at all levels
up through the college
ranks. There are two ways to
achieve this. Start out
with a team of the best
players or work to develop
the players you have. The
first way is nice, but the
latter should be the mantra
of every youth coach--teach
your players how to improve!
Practice time must be
focused on improvement.
Unfortunately, this is
rarely the case. Many
coaches opt for practice
plans that consist of little
more than rolling the ball
out and scrimmaging. (For
more on planning an
effective practice, see
“Practice Planning?@
www.CoachV.org.)
“Ok, that sounds good,?you
might say, “but how can I do
that in a single one-hour
practice a week??The answer
is simple—you must plant the
seed! When working with
players, explain to them
that working with a coach is
only a small part of the
picture and, to really
improve, they must do their
homework. Instead of telling
them what they need to work
on, ask them what was
covered in the lesson that
day that they can and need
to work on themselves during
the week. By taking a
participatory role in their
own assessment and choice of
solution, they can begin to
take some ownership of their
own development. This makes
them more likely to do the
work they need to do
unsupervised.
This is how it can play out.
Coach A practices his team
one hour a week and his
players think this is all
the practice time they need
to improve. In contrast,
Coach B has the same
practice time, but follows
every practice by giving the
players homework to be done
thirty minutes a day. That
adds up to another three
hours of practice for that
team in the next six days!
After six weeks of the
league have gone by, Coach
A’s team will have practiced
for 6 hours total, while
Coach B’s team will have
logged in 24 hours! It is
only a matter of time before
the increased practice time
will spill over into game
play. So “plant the seed?of
self-directed improvement.
Teach your players how to
set specific goals. I
guarantee you will be
surprised at how much they
improve!
I want to be clear about
implementing a standard of
equal playing time in
developmental leagues. This
is not to suggest that all
youth leagues are
developmental. The world of
competitive basketball
contains a myriad of
traveling teams and leagues
that offer large trophies
for their playoff winners.
But there should also be a
place where kids can go to
gain experience and build a
foundation of fundamentals
and confidence while
developing positive values
of respect and fair play.
For this to happen, it must
start with the coaches. I
encourage everyone who
chooses to coach in a
developmental league, or
even those who believe that
kids deserve an equal
opportunity to be
successful, to adopt a
policy of equal allotment of
playing time for all their
players. They will thank you
for it.
Many coaches say that
withholding playing time is
the only way they feel they
can punish players for
missing or being late to
practice. They often
describe the games as “the
fun part?and practices as
the tedious drudgery that
must be endured to get to
the good stuff. Indeed, the
countless practices that I
have observed over the years
have shown me that this is
the case. But it shouldn’t
be! Who is really
responsible when 9-year-old
Devon is late or misses
practice? Youth leagues are
comprised solely of players
who rely on parents or
others for transportation!
To penalize a child because
of issues beyond their
control is not only
pointless and ineffective
but unfair. It is better to
hold players responsible for
those things within their
control, such as showing
respect for their peers and
for themselves!
To introduce equal playing
time to your team or league,
make sure you believe in it
yourself. Think of ways you
can express the value and
ultimate goals of fairly
distributing the time. I
suggest using the
substitution chart at the
end of this article. Show
them the chart and explain
why you think it is
important that all players
play an equal amount, and
how the numbers balance out
to provide everyone with
equal playing time over the
course of the season. Point
out how each player will get
the opportunity to both
start and finish games.
(With some number
combinations, it may happen
that the same group will
always start, such as the
eight-player section of the
chart. In this case, choose
different starters each
game.) Explain how this
method relies on everyone
to make a strong
contribution throughout the
season. You may even want to
make a copy of the
substitution chart for each
player. These steps involve
the players in the process
by sharing your thoughts and
feelings about how the game
should be played with them.
It won’t be long before kids
who didn’t know if they
would play again start to
feel part of the team. They
will begin encouraging their
teammates and yelling out
who is in when it is time to
substitute. This is a
powerful step towards
building a team approach
that emphasizes the
collective rather than the
individual. Last, but not
least, it also eliminates
the problems created by
parents and kids who keep
track of minutes—and
seconds—and compare their
times with others.
Equal playing time has been
a highly successful strategy
for me in coaching
5-13-year-olds. I have also
used it with high school and
college players. Equal
playing time conveys in a
tangible manner the ideals I
wish to promote with young
players.
It has also proven to be a
powerful catalyst for
conversations with players,
parents, and coaches alike
about coaching a team with
the goal of soliciting
contributions
from each player. It
can be the first time that
the often clichéd talk of
team becomes an
authentic demand for group
effort.
One of my most gratifying
moments in coaching happened
one summer at a camp I
directed as we discussed
what players had learned
that week. A boy, who was
one of the top players in
his age group, raised his
hand and said, “I never
understood before how I
could be a team player when
I wasn’t in the game
playing, but I learned that
I could help my team by
supporting them because I
wasn’t always going to be in
the game at the end, and
because on my team, everyone
counted the same.? |