Ok, what do you guys think?
 

I'm Asst. Coaching on my 8 year old kids 3 on 3 b-ball team. We've got six kids total and play four, 4 minute quarters. Rules say we sub entire groups.

We haven't done very well up to this point (1-3) but today we got the game into OT tied 20-20 at the end of regulation.

My kid is the fourth best player on the team normally but today he led all scores with 8 points and 6 rebounds. In OT I suggested to coach we put in the three players who had played the best games. He decided to play the regular rotation which bugs me a little bit truth be told

So we go through OT and we're tied again. We had several chances to win.

Now we shoot free throws. One shooter each team. Whoever misses first loses.

We do put our best player out there but he showed up late and didn't get any warm ups prior to the game and had an off game up to that point while the 2nd best kid on the team was popping J's all over the place in warm ups and had his regular solid game.

So we miss, their kid makes it and now we're 1-4.

The kids held up pretty well but I feel like we blew the game on bad coaching decisions.

They're only kids but losing sucks.

That is all.

Well talk to the coach and reward people being on time and how you feel the players are looking in warm up.

I think you should kick his ass and take his job.

Unfortunately, he's the coach and he's the one who faces the media and the donors and the fans after a loss. As long as you're the assistant, you're going to have to support his decisions.

I was offered to be the HC but I turned it down because of time conflicts. I wish I would of taken the job now. It's a developmental league but I really hate losing.

Yeah, maybe that's the answer. He had a system in place and stuck to it, so presumably that's his philosophy. Your best approach is to talk to him about adjusting his system so that next time he can stick with his system and still make the changes you want.

When we're talking about kids who are this young, wins and losses are completely irrelevant.

The absolute last thing I'd worry about would be in-game decisions. As long as the kids are learning something and, most importantly, having fun, who gives a ****.

They're 8 year olds. I think you should stick with the rotation. I'd have played the hot hand for the free throws though.

He's a rookie coach like me. He's one of those ultra nice guys, smart too but he's not as interested in winning as he is in everyone getting their playing time.

I don't completely agree with that.

Truth be told I do. I feel like I watched KC lose right now.

What they should be learning is that winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.

You're not going to be "that guy" are you?

Don't let yourself become this.

Yeah. There's a balance of making sure everyone has fun and a chance to play, and also showing kids that there's a reward for good performance.

Why does a team of 6 eight year old kids need an "assistant" coach?

I know what you mean. I'm not showing it outwardly because I want to set a good example for the kid but it's bugging me, that's why I came to the board to vent.

Who else is going to do the film breakdowns?

When you start a thread to question coaching decisions made during a basketball game played by 8 year olds, it is probably a sign you are taking it too seriously.

Many of us have done the same.

I used to coach my kids team from grade 2-6. We practiced twice per week 1 1/2 hours per practice. We'de spend 30 minutes every practice doing nothing but fundamentals. You can make passing drills fun at that age my making a game out of it such as "Monkey in the Middle". Don't hesitate to jump in the middle yourself and let the kids beat the coach. It's all about fun and if they have a smile on their face, you've succeeded in coching your kids team.

Someone has to babysit.

Mostly for practice. It's hard to herd six kids in a gym with six basketballs. You need at least two so you can put in plays.

We keep the practice fun.

I know. I'm learning that about myself.

Well, I'm gonna take the kid outside and make him shoot the ball 1000 times before he can eat. Talk to you guys later. :)

:clap:

Just remember that these kids have a long way to go. Not too many 8-year-olds are drafted at that age. Same as when he gets to be 13, 16, 18, etc.

Seconded

And really, I'm suprised they keep score and have standings at that young of an age.

It's all good. I feel better talking about it here. Thanks for the therapy.

Really? I don't see why they wouldn't. Kids want to know how they're doing. I think keeping score is a good idea.

Eh, just speaking from experience. My daughter started playing volleyball pretty young, and they never kept score the first couple of years (even though she did in her head).

I think it's good to keep score. I think one of the goals of the league ought to be to distribute the talent in a way that makes it likely that everyone will taste victory. As a corollary, I think the league ought to frown on or prohibit coaches from keeping their best players on the floor just to win at that age (unless it's clearly a competitive program instead of a recreational or developmental league).

One of my kids played for a coach that I thought did a good job of balancing playing time with pursuing victories. During the regular season, he made sure that every girl got roughly equal playing time regardless of the outcome of the game. This gave all the girls a chance to learn from game experience and have some fun. Then when the end-of-season tournament came around (everyone made the tournament) he increased the playing time of the better girls and cut back on the playing time of the others but he still made sure everyone got into the game for a while. This was understood from the beginning of the year so no one felt cheated when they got less playing time in the tournament.

We did that for Football season. You guys wouldn't believe the intensity of 7 and 8 year old football down here. It's off the hook.


Three practices a weeks. Mon. and Wed. 2.5 hours. Friday 1 hour walk through and Game on Sat. for two hours or so.

Camp started end of July and the season ended right before Thanksgiving. It was a bit of a grind at times.

That's good. As long as you're aware you'll probably keep yourself in check. Some guys can't see it in themselves. Those are the coaches and parents who make asses of themselves on a regular basis.

But anyone who gets involved in kid's sports will be guilty of it to some degree.

What age group was this?

I can't remember but I think it was 9-10. May have been 11-12.

Um.

Yeah. That's probably.....




What the ****?....:spock:

It's a fine line between being a good coach and a complete A-hole.

It sounds dumb. I know, but when you're there and you're competitive a different mind set takes over.

I remember my one year of little league pretty traumatically. All of us little kids and scrubs got one inning in right field that season. I could field pretty pretty good, actually (I was all-field, no-hit), but the pressure of that one inning was enormous, because I knew that the odds were that I'd maybe get one ball hit to me, and that one ball was going to be my entire season. It was like being the kicker in the Super Bowl, and one kick was going to define your reputation as Adam Vinatieri or Nate Kaeding. I think that made it a lot tougher for us than it was for the eight kids who got the other 1,600 collective innings of action.

No ball was hit my way, fortunately, so I never had the white-hot heat of the northwest Arkansas little league spotlight shine upon my 80-lbs. of Ozzie Smithness.

I'd say you won.

Your kid's parent/s showed up and cared.

The end...

I was that kid in Baseball too. Standing out in RF praying the ball wouldn't come my way. Dodging the ant mound.

But then reality has to snap you back...

I worked my way through college by umpiring a shit ton of baseball games (ages 12-14) in the summer months. Great part-time pay.

So I'd always bullshit the coaches (read: parents who generally didn't know shit) and ask how many games their teams were playing, etc. Very common to hear comments about 50-75. Why? Because lil' Johnny wants to play college ball. My reaction: :spock::spock::spock::spock::spock: and then LMAO LMAO LMAO.

I've played ball at a level far beyond the average bear. So that's what makes all this talk even more preposterous to me.

Let the kids have fun. Try to help them learn something (about the sport and about themselves). And chill. Have fun.

Yeah. In retrospect, it's odd that they wouldn't let us play the field, because I think we were required to bat. Maybe not, but I think I got one at-bat per game, so if they were required to let me bat I'm not sure why they weren't required to let me field.

Or maybe I only batted every few games or something. I don't remember. It was seldom enough that it freaked me out every time they told me to go to the on-deck circle.

I remember not minding the practices, but hating the games. But even at practice I would've rather been back home playing football with the neighborhood kids.

I bet the crowd went wild when you did a back flip on your way out to your date with destiny.

It's 1971 and I'm 8 years old and it's late in the game and the coach has told me to get into the on-deck circle. I've been sitting on the bench the entire game and suddenly I'm up, just like that, without warning. So I take my bat and I stand there and I watch the kid of ahead of me take some chops at the ball, and then he's on base and I step into the batter's box and I'm scared to death. There's some 12 year-old on the mound who's twice as big as me and the catcher starts talking to me and telling me that I'm going to strike out and I look back at him and suddenly whap! The ball is in his mitt and it's strike one and I never even saw the pitch. And so I turn around, and the pitcher is getting into his windup and the catcher is talking again and I try to ignore him and the ball is coming faster than I've ever seen it in practice and by the time I even think to swing the ball is already in the catcher's mitt again, and the umpire is calling a second strike, and I'm 0-2 and I still haven't even figured out what's going on. I know my dad is up in the stands hoping that I won't embarrass him any more and I know that he's probably not saying to anyone else, "That's my kid out there", so now I dig in and decide that I'm not going to go down looking and I swing and miss the next pitch and I'm done for the game. And I go back to the bench and none of the starters say anything because they all expected me to strike out anyway and I sit on the bench with the other little kids who have just done the same thing and we sit for another half-hour and then the game ends and I go out and find my dad and we drive home in silence because there's not really anything to say that will make anybody feel good, and when we get home he goes and watches TV and I set up my hot wheels track and race the cars and I let the slower cars win for a change.

Well, they did like that part.

There are several important lessons to be learned from that story, Rain Man. A copy should be issued to all youth sports coaches and parents.

Yeah, but did your team win?

I'm pretty sure we made the playoffs!

ROFLROFLROFLROFLROFL:clap::clap:

I know exactly where you're coming from - I'm the head coach of a 2nd/3rd grade football team. At this level, you have to take your lumps, and it SUCKS.

Alot of the BB leagues require balanced playing time, which means you're always going to have a kid or two on the floor that is a little wanting in the athletic ability area. Remember, these kids are generally more interested in the aftergame snack than the final score of the game.

Now, football is a different story. There are no rules about playing time in my league. I try to get every kid in the game on both O and D, but if you aren't one of the top four teams in the league, you don't get into the post season tournament - and that means the parents are paying for the OTHER teams post-season and I get to sit on my butt and have a beer. Next year, I'll be playing to win.

Who got to kick him in the nuts first?