Friday Night Tykes Episode # 3: Now They’re Playing Scared
After watching Friday Night Tykes Episode # 3- Now They’re Playing Scared it is apparent that the Jr Broncos coach has lost his team. Instead of trying to get his team out of a 0-2 hole via encouragement, he still elected to go back to the same (losing) mannerisms. When his team manager, MOManager, discussed these issues with him he decided to shun and just walk away from her when she asked the tough questions.
Remember this, a person’s true character will reveal itself through tough situations. His team is 0-2, his team is demoralized and what does he do? Blames his coaches. He stated that his defense is not the problem, it is the offense. He basically threw his coaches under the bus. This person is the head coach of the offense, defense, special teams and effort level is all his responsibility. Instead of talking about how he wants the kids to take shots at other players and “take their heads off”, he should be getting back to basic fundamentals. Stubbornness does not work. Coaches must be willing to change practices and philosophies that are not working. Super selfish (too competitive) people will dodge responsibility and will throw other people under the bus. I don’t think these 8 year old kids are responding very well to him.
He is not happy with how his team is practicing and the effort they are giving. Here is what I have to say about that, attitude, reflects leadership. These kids are already demoralized and beating them up and yelling at them is not going to change anything. Good coaches get the most out of their kids. Good coaches will have their players playing at a high effort and competition level game in and game out. The kids have to believe in their coaches, and the coaches need to make sure the kids believe in themselves. I feel like part of the issue with the Jr. Broncos is the kids are not playing loose. They are worried about their coach screaming at them every time they make a mistake. They feel the coaches do not support them.
When the players are not motivated and are not responding maybe something needs to change. Even if your team is 0-2 they should always be playing with effort. Effort also reflects leadership! The one thing I pride myself on is putting a team on the field that plays with effort. None of my kids quit, regardless of the situation. We will be prepared and organized, and the kids will play their hearts out for us. We preach safety, technique, and effort over everything, even winning. My players know that I have their backs no matter what. This is my philosophy, aggressive mistakes are not a big deal, but lack of effort mistakes are. This means that if a player makes a mistake, but tried his best I do not get upset at him. I will never try to win at the expense of the kids.
Good coaches never lose the pulse of their team. It seems like he is losing his kids in a hurry. Their confidence is shot. Good thing for him is they have only played two games. There is a long way to go- though he needs to be adaptive with his coaching philosophies.
