Well, it was a long week for me as a coach! My little ones played their games on Tuesday. I had four players. We were about 3 seconds away from having to forfeit when the fourth one showed up, too. Talk about putting pressure on a coach. But, we played short-handed and if anything is going to teach you something, it’s being in a position like that!
They played as well as I expected them too. I think that is the best way to put it. It could have gone A LOT worse or a little bit better. They pulled off one set in the first game and then took two in the second to go 1-1 on the week. Not bad at all for being short-handed and little and late.
My middles only had one game again this week and they did not play their best but they did pull out a win. I’m really struggling to get that team to play a whole game this season for some reason. I am not sure what it is. The first week or two, I just chalked it up as moving up and getting accustomed to what this division was going to be like. They also had all been finishing up school the first couple of weeks and getting used to playing Tuesday nights instead of Saturday afternoons. After a few weeks now, I thought they’d be ready to go but something is affecting them and I cannot quite put my finger on it.
I’m trying everything, too. I tried being myself, too easy on them and just simply explaining what I expect and what they should be doing. I tried to be hard on them and make them work every time maximum effort wasn’t given and I’ve tried everything in between but each week is exactly the same. They manage to pull off the win – usually a 2-1 win as well but I always leave thinking why didn’t they play better, why didn’t they play how I know they can. I can’t figure out exactly what it is, yet. Hopefully it comes to me soon – the season is coming to a close and they really need to step it up if they want to go deep into the playoffs.
I don’t even want to get started on my oldest team. I’ve never left the gym mad before but I did for the first time last night. I have a player that just exudes negativity and thinks she needs to vocalize it to the whole team. Before we even start warming up for a game, oh is that who we’re playing, yep we’re gonna lose. I don’t accept negativity either. I even had to sit down and talk to them at practice about it and had to let them know if they start a game with a negative attitude, they’re going to sit. She sat for that set and had to explain to her dad why she wasn’t playing. I’ve never sat anyone before in my life and I never thought I would but you can’t announce to your team that they’re going to lose before the game even starts.
I have another player that, when I try to get the team energized and ask them if they’re ready to go, she’ll say not really or yeah I guess or just not even care. It is killing me. I’ve never had a team that didn’t really care about playing or how they did or came in ready to lose. Never. My teams all have always expected to do their best and win. This team expects to play and doesn’t mind losing. I don’t mean that about all of them. There are a select few that do give 100% at all times and it hurts to see them drug so far down by the ones with attitudes. I have no more ideas of how to stop it. I sat down for about ten minutes before practice last week with the team and explained what I expected of them and what their attitudes needed to be and that if they wanted to be competitive they needed to give 100% ALL the time instead of just when it suited them.
I’m not, well, let’s just say, that kind of stuff is not me. At practice, we play and we play hard. That’s it – we learn, we do, we work. I’ve never needed to sit down and talk to a team about their attitude and effort and it is so uncool at this level to have to do that.
Ultimately, they lost. I only had 4 that gave 100% through all six sets. I think this week’s practice, I’m just going to focus on learning now instead of expecting to change them during the last week of the season. The hard part for me now is deciding if I can continue coaching at this level. I think some of these kids could do quite well and I think if I got rid of the attitudes and non-caring players, we could do quite well but if I can’t get rid of them, I don’t know if I can keep up with it.
That is so hard for me to say and maybe they need a coach that can be harder on them more consistently than I am capable of being. My thought process was at this age it is more their own choice to play and they are there to give it their best all the time but maybe this is the age where they need to be told all the time to give their best or suffer the consequences. I’m not sure yet. I will give it to at least the end of this season and see how the last week goes before I think too much about it. I hope next week goes at least half way decently.
They played as well as I expected them too. I think that is the best way to put it. It could have gone A LOT worse or a little bit better. They pulled off one set in the first game and then took two in the second to go 1-1 on the week. Not bad at all for being short-handed and little and late.
My middles only had one game again this week and they did not play their best but they did pull out a win. I’m really struggling to get that team to play a whole game this season for some reason. I am not sure what it is. The first week or two, I just chalked it up as moving up and getting accustomed to what this division was going to be like. They also had all been finishing up school the first couple of weeks and getting used to playing Tuesday nights instead of Saturday afternoons. After a few weeks now, I thought they’d be ready to go but something is affecting them and I cannot quite put my finger on it.
I’m trying everything, too. I tried being myself, too easy on them and just simply explaining what I expect and what they should be doing. I tried to be hard on them and make them work every time maximum effort wasn’t given and I’ve tried everything in between but each week is exactly the same. They manage to pull off the win – usually a 2-1 win as well but I always leave thinking why didn’t they play better, why didn’t they play how I know they can. I can’t figure out exactly what it is, yet. Hopefully it comes to me soon – the season is coming to a close and they really need to step it up if they want to go deep into the playoffs.
I don’t even want to get started on my oldest team. I’ve never left the gym mad before but I did for the first time last night. I have a player that just exudes negativity and thinks she needs to vocalize it to the whole team. Before we even start warming up for a game, oh is that who we’re playing, yep we’re gonna lose. I don’t accept negativity either. I even had to sit down and talk to them at practice about it and had to let them know if they start a game with a negative attitude, they’re going to sit. She sat for that set and had to explain to her dad why she wasn’t playing. I’ve never sat anyone before in my life and I never thought I would but you can’t announce to your team that they’re going to lose before the game even starts.
I have another player that, when I try to get the team energized and ask them if they’re ready to go, she’ll say not really or yeah I guess or just not even care. It is killing me. I’ve never had a team that didn’t really care about playing or how they did or came in ready to lose. Never. My teams all have always expected to do their best and win. This team expects to play and doesn’t mind losing. I don’t mean that about all of them. There are a select few that do give 100% at all times and it hurts to see them drug so far down by the ones with attitudes. I have no more ideas of how to stop it. I sat down for about ten minutes before practice last week with the team and explained what I expected of them and what their attitudes needed to be and that if they wanted to be competitive they needed to give 100% ALL the time instead of just when it suited them.
I’m not, well, let’s just say, that kind of stuff is not me. At practice, we play and we play hard. That’s it – we learn, we do, we work. I’ve never needed to sit down and talk to a team about their attitude and effort and it is so uncool at this level to have to do that.
Ultimately, they lost. I only had 4 that gave 100% through all six sets. I think this week’s practice, I’m just going to focus on learning now instead of expecting to change them during the last week of the season. The hard part for me now is deciding if I can continue coaching at this level. I think some of these kids could do quite well and I think if I got rid of the attitudes and non-caring players, we could do quite well but if I can’t get rid of them, I don’t know if I can keep up with it.
That is so hard for me to say and maybe they need a coach that can be harder on them more consistently than I am capable of being. My thought process was at this age it is more their own choice to play and they are there to give it their best all the time but maybe this is the age where they need to be told all the time to give their best or suffer the consequences. I’m not sure yet. I will give it to at least the end of this season and see how the last week goes before I think too much about it. I hope next week goes at least half way decently.