Spreading The Ball Around: Season Vs Post Season

[Flagdad 5]

I coach 5v5 1st and 2nd Graders and am torn about spreading the ball around in the post season.

On One shoulder...

One bowl game loss, I had my star player crying next to one of my grass pickers who I worked to get involved that game. I called a simple toss to him in the flat for a no brainer chance to catch the ball. He never turned around, and just kept running straight as the ball hit his back and fell in to the arms of their corner who ran it back for the game winning score for the final play of the game. Afterward I consoled our very competitive and hard working QB even as the other really good hearted kid, yet completely not athletic or competitive kid, asks "Did we win?". So to get the kid involved who didn't care that much, I set the hard worker up to feel like he lost us the game.

On the Other Shoulder...

In another season at the tournament we had a kid on our team who was two heads shorter than our next shortest kid. They kept leaving him uncovered all game, but all season in practice he rarely caught even a perfectly thrown ball. I call a pass to him and he catches it in the endzone to tie the game. The look on his face to this day is why I love coaching. In the huddle I call the same play but with a pump fake to our speedster. He catches it again for the extra point that wins it. We gave him the game ball and his mom told me he took it to bed with him for months. He now is still the smallest but a consistent scorer for his team.

I don't have a problem with this during the regular season, as every kid touches the ball at least once a game. Its the post season games where it gets tough for me. Hard work all season should be rewarded yet at this age they can seem to "wake up" and suddenly "get it" at any time. Why rob them of a chance?

What are your thoughts or philosophy on spreading the ball around in the regular vs post season?

[hollad6636 0]

That is a tough one. When I coached that age I caved during the playoffs and went for the win. I didn't change a lot but I did give my better kids more opportunities. Looking back I am not sure it was the correct philosophy as we won a couple of city championships but after the season is over those are quickly forgotten, but a kid who catches a touchdown in an important game or catches a game winner will always remember that moment.

[Flagdad 5]

When you gave your talented kids the ball for those games, did you ever have a really negative experience with the kids who got left out?

[Coach Rob 26]

Most rec leagues promote fun, convenience for parents, lower costs, and everyone plays type philosophies. Along with that, they throw in keeping score, standings, and playoffs. Mixing the league philosophies with standings and playoffs is a tricky deal. No coach likes to end up at the bottom of the standings or lose in the playoffs, even if it's a rec league.

In some rec basketball leagues, they have rules regarding playtime. It's up to each coach how they choose to arrange the players, but it's an attempt to even the playing field and keep coaches from playing their best players (even in the playoffs). I've yet to find that in flag leagues where they might require every player to get a legit carry.

I'd like to say I spread the touches evenly during the playoffs, but I probably didn't. I learned to play it safer with my more developing players, still getting them touches, but with simple handoffs. I still had someone track the touches during the playoffs, but the better players probably ended up getting more if we were in a tight situation. If we were winning by a lot, my more developing players received more touches that game than the other players, knowing I might have to cut that back in the next game. I also tried to beef it up in the practices during playoffs and made sure my more developing players got plenty of touches.

Anyway you play this one it can get dicey.

[hollad6636 0]

No negative experience per say. I thought I did the right thing by telling them up front that this was the playoffs and you had to earn your time etc. So no one parent or child ever complained about that but they should have I mean come on 2nd and 3rd graders what was I thinking.

But I did have another type of situation where we were playing soccer and we were in the city playoffs and I had a parent come across the field to tell me I better play his son at forward the next half or they would not be returning for the next game. The sad thing was that the kid was a great kid he didn't care where he played he would give 100% and he was a great defender with spead and no fear. I couldn't put him at forward as I would have had to put a weak player as a defender. So I kept on defense. We won the game and of course they came back the for the championship game.

My point is that there are all kinds of situations that you are going to run into and you are never going to keep everyone happy. So I think you just have to communicate your philosophy up front to the kids and the parents and then stick with it.

[Flagdad 5]

Our league requires that each coach submit a sheet to the ref and opposing coach that shows who is playing and when. I currently have 10 players in a 5v5 league. The sheet puts five kids in the first half for offense, then they rotate to being the second half defense. If I have 9 kids, the first four kids get to play one quarter each both ways. On top of that, no player can have more than 4 carriers (positive yard runs not including catches).

So I think you just have to communicate your philosophy up front to the kids and the parents and then stick with it.

I think in our situation this is solid advice. Until I know what my post season philosophy is, I can't expect them to understand it or be comfortable with it. If I let them know early in the season that the ball gets spread around during the season, but carries in the bowl game are rewards for hard work all season long it won't surprise anyone.