I coach a 7-8 year old flag football team. We're a good team having won all of our games so far this season and only lost one last season. Overall we're not that old of a team, 3 8-year olds, 5 7-year olds and we even have 3 6-year olds. But most of my kids are pretty atheletic and I'd like to think we coaches do a good job with practicing and playcalling.
Anyway, the last few games our offense struggled and we had some close wins. So I completely redesigned our plays and really focused our kids in practice. Last Friday we faced a team that was not very good. We were able to score on every possession with ease and they only had maybe 3-4 plays that gained positive yardage.
I'm wondering if I should have held back? Our defense is normally relentless but they were especially so against this team. We saftied them twice. In the second half I ran a brand new formation that I wanted to try and it worked very well but it probably looked like we were trying to run it up on them.
2007-02-19 06:06:24 · 8 answers · asked by Dean 3 in Sports ➔ Football (American)
I normally have 11 kids on the squad but only 8 were present at the game and we play 6-on-6. I divided my roster in half, 4 on offense, 4 on defense and then switch at halftime (talent-wise they were evenly divided). I take turns filling the other two slots with the kids not currently on the field (everyone playing the same amount of time).
Towards the end of the second half I was trying to get the ball to the kids who aren't as good.
As for running trick plays, my whole offense is based on misdirections, end arounds and fakes. I only threw one pass longer than 5 yards and yes I did that one in the second half. But we did throw it to one of my "little" kids, he just happened to catch it.
2007-02-19 06:22:29 · update #1
You have a responsibility as a coach to have your team play at it's highest level at all times. As such, there is nothing to feel bad about. As you said, you switched out your players. You weren't just keeping the same group in. As for trying new things, I must revert back to my earlier comment: You are the coach of your team. Yes, is the most basic goal to allow these kids to have fun? Yes, correct. However, it isn't your fault that you actually care about your team to the point that, when teh coast is clear and the game decided, it looked like you were running up the score. It was the right time to try something new. The only way this can be bad is if your kids didn't show proper sportsmanship after the game.
By the way, I am Mister Loser. I didn't win a single baseball game until I was eleven and won my first football contest at ten. So I know how it feels to lose alot and to be crushed. When my friends would get angry and say that our foes ran up the score, I'd fire back that we ALLOWED them to run up the score. Their job isn't to just win by three, it's to play as well as they can the entire game. If we couldn't stop them from scoring because they decided to keep playing, then it was our fault.
2007-02-19 08:14:37 · answer #1 · answered by Shane H 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you are asking the question you are already a step above those that do.
However, I would not have tried the new stuff in the second half and just run any extremely basic plays, even maybe the same play over and over and over.
Yeah, you should not apologize for having a good team, but these are 8 year olds. You have a responsibility to teach basic defense to the opponent by schooling them in basic plays. (Before anyone complains, we are not talking high school, college, or NFL, we are talking 8 year olds.)
2007-02-19 06:58:48 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I played on a no win flag football team when I was 7 and to be destroyed in a game was so demoralizing it crushed my football dream. I was an average player and the whole season all I wanted was a single win, instead we went 0-9. I am serious it really hurt. If your writing this question you obviously feel guilty.
2007-02-19 07:33:11 · answer #3 · answered by mrsam3111 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You said they were not a very good team. So maybe you didn't really run it up. One loss in two years. Why would you even worry about it ? Should you be sorry your team is good ? Would you teach them not to play their best ? I wouldn't think you would do any of this. As long as you didn't cheat or try to hurt someone...just enjoy your season. Some people will probably say "poor little kids feelings". Call me old fashioned ... but kids need to learn everything in this world doesn't take their feelings into account.
2007-02-19 06:22:35 · answer #4 · answered by Michael C 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Depends. Did you have your best players in when you could have had some less talented subs in? Were you trying trick plays or just very basic up the middle stuff? Was your defense continuing to blitz or just sit back and wait? If you are just trying to run the ball up the middle and sitting and waiting on defense and you have your reserves in and they still can't stop you then you have nothing to feel bad about. But if you still had the starters in and were running quadruple fake reverse half back pass then you should feel like a jerk.
2007-02-19 06:16:13 · answer #5 · answered by rainier 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, you probably should have only played your less skilled players in the second half. Its good that you think about this though, because that means your not one of those @sshole coaches that only cares about winning. Running the new trick plays was a bit much though... I remember, (not about football but similar), in middle school, my basketball team would play the same teams twice, and mostly lose both times. I remeber how sh!tty we felt when the other teams used to beat up on us and run up the score. But we always took out our anger on another team we played that was terrible and beat up on them... My point is, everybody does it at somepoint, man. Don't beat yourself up over it, just don't do it again.
2007-02-19 11:03:36 · answer #6 · answered by roethlisberger3192 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you played all of your available players on both sides of the ball then I would say no. If they let up, you could be risking injury and /or complacency is never good to teach young people because that can lead to mediocrity and we have enough of that in our society. I would test different players in different positions because of their age late in the game. It would not hurt if anyone learns a second position . I hope you did play everybody. It would give your reserves a little morale booster, confidence and experience in case of emergency or injury.
2007-02-19 06:59:52 · answer #7 · answered by Dave aka Spider Monkey 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You probably went over theline trying new stuff. I mean, who cares if it works against inferior competition ? They have reason to be upset with you if they are.
Especially in youth football, when far ahead, keep it simple, basic and if necessary run the same play a few times in a row .
2007-02-19 06:10:35 · answer #8 · answered by ANTI-SOCIAL 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋