Scheduling Games

When coaching a youth team it is very important that you have some say in scheduling the games your kids will play.  At the grade school level it is very important that you schedule games that challenge your kids but do not discourage them.  You don't want your kids to be involved in too many blow outs one way or the other.  What you want is competitive games against teams that are at the same level as your kids.

Many coaches and clubs are all about the wins.  Posting great records on the website and photos of kids from the club with medals around their necks is a great marketing tool but is it really something that benefits these kids.  Before I go on let me say that I have nothing against kids winning medals.  If one of my teams enter a shootout and win their games and yet all of them were competitive I would be ecstatic.  However entering a shootout and playing against teams that are nowhere near as good as your team is a waste of time and effort.  Your kids will not benefit from this and at the end of the day our goal should be to develop these kids.

From a scheduling standpoint it is very important to challenge your team but balance that with winning some games.  Most shootouts do a good job letting you know what the talent level will be like.  Participate in shootouts that are bigger in size and have a good pool of teams.  This will give you a better chance of being placed in a pool with teams that are at your level.

In addition to this, do not be afraid of scheduling some games with teams that are better than your team.  A good ass kicking a couple times a year is good to show your kids that regardless of how good they are there is usually someone better out there.  After my kids play a tough team and get blown out I like to tell them the following:
Do not hang your heads because of this result.  This was an opportunity for you to see how good some of these teams are.  We may not be at their level yet but with practice and perseverance you can get there as players and we can get there as a team.
It should be noted that if you are coaching an elite team that is running through the schedule at their age level then there is nothing wrong with going up in age to raise the competition level.  Do what you can to challenge your players.

In closing it does no good to have a team of 4th graders finish a season 30-0 and win all of their games by 20 points.  The record looks great but you as a coach did not do everything you could to push their limits and get them out of their comfort zone and at the end of the day that is what our main goal should be.

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