Everyone knows that it's no fun to be on the wrong end of a high score, and for the purposes of this tip, we'll call a blow out a win by more than 5 goals. We'll also consider both sides of the blow out. In AYSO the division commissioners spend many hours in July and August trying to create evenly matched teams, with the handicap of geography and practice field location. Having been a division commissioner and head coach, I know how hard the commissioners try. But I also know that no matter how hard they try, and how balanced the teams look on paper, there will be problems.
The biggest problem has to do with player ratings. We balance teams based on your opinion as a coach of a player. Sometimes, players change radically from one year to the next, and there's nothing we can do about that. But sometimes coaches think that they are doing a player a favour by rating them higher than their skills merit. Many coaches have a hard time rating a player as an E, and we often think we have 4 A's on the team -- even though the team didn't win a game. When you get your player rating forms (which will be in early November), PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
The first time you have a young team that scores 4 goals in the first five minutes, your reaction as coach is probably "All Right...". But when the players on the other team quit trying, and one of your players scores the 8th goal, the enjoyment quickly fades. I know there are some parents who would like to see the kids keep on trying to score, but you as coach have to look at the situation differently. The first time it happens, it's going to be tough for you to change what happens on the field, but you can change your substitution plan. Have your goal scorers sit out the next quarter, and maybe play goalie the next.
You should explain to the stronger players that it's OK when the team is winning by a lot of goals to let other people try to score. You can probably give them very explicit instructions: "Pass to Julie so that she can try to score". Of course you may wind up with Julie scoring a hat-trick.
If you get a quick lead again, and by this time you may suspect you have a strong team, you will need to do more planning. For example, if you have two strong players who are responsible for the team scoring, you should split them so that when one is in goal the other is on the field, and when one is out for a quarter the other is on the field. This will (hopefully) force the players to use their weaker team-mates. This is good, because you will be helping the weaker players improve (since they will get more touches of the ball), and you are encouraging the strong players to play a team game. Many of the division 5 and 6 "super-star" players appear to be good because they have matured a little ahead of the pack, and are making use of a physical advantage that will not last. As a result they may not work on the skills that will serve them well later on, and when they get to be teenagers they fade back into the pack. By forcing them to use other skills, you are doing these players a great service.
If you are coaching a weak team then you really have to work hard as coach. My first year coaching was with a division 5 team that didn't win a game, and only scored one goal. And it was a lot of work. But by the end of the season we played some close games, and many of the kids kept on playing all the way through high school.
But you have to focus on specific things when you are getting beaten every week. The first thing for you to realise is that your job as a coach is not to have a winning record. Your job is to improve the childrens soccer skills over the course of a season while having a fun time. So, you may have to focus on very basic skills. If your team is losing, it's quite likely that the skills of the players need work, so you should focus on the basics of passing, dribbling, shooting, trapping, and defending. Let the players know that you aren't tracking the score in the game, but that you will be counting how many times they pass the ball successfuly. You can reward them if they achieve a milestone. i.e. "I'll take you guys to McDonalds after the next game if we can make 5 consecutive passes". (Vary this by the skill of the players and how much you can afford to lose). If you set them a realistic target, then they will focus on lunch at McDonalds and not the score of the game.
You can also look at each quarter of a game as a separate event. This is most useful when the team falls behind by three goals in the first quarter. The more mature players (and parents) will figure that the game is lost, so why bother trying any more. Set the kids the goal of winning or tieing the next quarter. This is often an attainable goal, and you may have some success telling the kids that they won a quarter of a game this week.
While this is not a National Regulation, it is strongly encouraged in all age groups in Palo Alto. This is particularly important in Under-8 for the following reasons:
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