Running up the Score or Sit your Players

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Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby maddog1971 » Wed Dec 05, 2018 5:03 pm

Ok....Debate over this topic.

When I have coached at different levels of sports (basketball, football and baseball) I have been destroyed and I have destroyed teams. I have tried to take it easy on bad teams but my players get lazy and develop bad habits while playing to the level of the competition. IMO
I play my second or third team but then my name 5 or 6 do not get any work. Some games they only get 5 to 8 minutes and they are done. I have put them back in and told them to just work the ball around with no shots, I have called them off and said no blocking shots or stealing the ball.
BUT what is that really teaching them? Is that Good sportsmanship? I thought so and still do a little bit. I have never had a problem with teams kicking the crap out of us because I think it gave us drive to work harder and compete the next time we faced each other.
At the high school level I see some of these scores and don't like some of the blow outs. BUT don't the kids that are on varsity and have put the work in deserve to play as well. Telling them not to be aggressive is the wrong message to send these kids.
I had a football game where every time our kids hit someone they fumbled and I told them they could not pick it up and run it in. I had the our kids let them recover it. It has 35 to 0 at half time. My main back's had 4 carries for 4 touchdowns.
Thoughts
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby The Schwab » Wed Dec 05, 2018 5:11 pm

It's not a head coaches job to stop his/her team, it's the job of the opposing coach. That being said, use that time to mix in some of your bench players with some of your starters, look for a different look of rotations, maybe you'll find a combination that works. Offensively, run through your offense and work the shot clock. Defensively if you're a pressing team I think you can press until a couple minutes into the 3rd quarter, but don't be afraid to mix up defenses. Kids still have to play defense with the same intensity as always otherwise bad habits are formed.

I don't like it when opposing coaches will slap on a press when the team up by a large margin empties their bench.

Just my two thoughts, take it for what it's worth.
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby maddog1971 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 9:20 am

Ok... but if you press and press all the time... doesn't your second string need to work on what your first team does.
I am now in the camp of get a big lead and work on things, different offenses, different defense or looking for a special play.
But my main 5 get equal time on the floor as my second or 3rd line of players.
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby Bison-Vikes #1 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:43 am

IMO, you generally know the quality of the competition prior to the game starting. Have always felt if you know your team outmatches opponent, begin rotation early and often. Give younger players opportunity to play with 75% of starters when the game starts. They will learn valuable lessons while the game is still in hand from your best players.
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby The Schwab » Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:47 am

Which is why you mix in some of your bench guys with some of your starters, have them work on things you need them to be able to execute with the starting group in a varsity game. If it's your program philosophy, you will integrate it throughout all levels of your program, so those kids will have a chance to run your defenses during their sub-varsity games.
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby maddog1971 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 11:23 am

But how do you stop your main guys from scoring and basically being the best kid on the court or field?
So I have mixed and matched kids and gave orders to the good kids to make sure they do everything possible to make sure the bad kids score. I have other coaches says thanks and I have other coaches get mad because it was embarrassing to their kids for my team not to play hard.
So in baseball..... they pitchers get the ball across the plate. The score is 20 to 0 in the 3rd inning. I have kids swing at anything close to the plate and not over their head. Then you have parents mad because now I am teaching them to swing at bad pitches?
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby Bison-Vikes #1 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 11:29 am

maddog1971 wrote:But how do you stop your main guys from scoring and basically being the best kid on the court or field?
So I have mixed and matched kids and gave orders to the good kids to make sure they do everything possible to make sure the bad kids score. I have other coaches says thanks and I have other coaches get mad because it was embarrassing to their kids for my team not to play hard.
So in baseball..... they pitchers get the ball across the plate. The score is 20 to 0 in the 3rd inning. I have kids swing at anything close to the plate and not over their head. Then you have parents mad because now I am teaching them to swing at bad pitches?


I don't think you as a coach should have to. There are many things to be learned in playing sports. Hopefully the players have learned by their last years in high school what are the right and wrong things to do and when to do them. Also believe your better players deserve to be on the court/field/diamond as much as possible. They have earned that playing time. Hopefully you can come up with a good rotation to satisfy all. Good luck.
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby sportsnut5 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 11:43 am

There are so many lopsided games. I have been on both ends of the spectrum, and it is no fault of the winning teams. A team has to run their system. Many of the top teams are pressing and pressure defense teams. Those teams work on that style and it is difficult to get high school kids to play with that intensity at all times. As a coach, you never want to tell the athletes to drop the intensity with which you play. You can change pick up points and those types of things, but dropping the intensity with which you play is not in the spirit of the sport.

Mixing in rotation players is a great strategy and can be of great value with your team, but with that you have to stick to your system. If you never plan to use a 23 zone defense, you are doing a great disservice to your team if you play it just because you feel sorry for the opposing team.

Another concern of mine is injury due to reduced intensity. We all know that often times when athletes are not going at 100% and not fully committed, that is when injury can often happen.

I also agree with Schwab, many of the teams that are struggling will put on a press against younger players when the clock is running in the 4th quarter so that they can hopefully make the score look better. For me, this should be a time when the struggling teams stick to their system and try to get better verses like skilled players. I absolutely hate it when many of these running clock situations turn into foul fests because a team is trying to make a 30 point loss into a 25 point loss.
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Re: Running up the Score or Sit your Players

Postby NDPREP » Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:52 pm

maddog1971 wrote:But how do you stop your main guys from scoring and basically being the best kid on the court or field?
So I have mixed and matched kids and gave orders to the good kids to make sure they do everything possible to make sure the bad kids score. I have other coaches says thanks and I have other coaches get mad because it was embarrassing to their kids for my team not to play hard.
So in baseball..... they pitchers get the ball across the plate. The score is 20 to 0 in the 3rd inning. I have kids swing at anything close to the plate and not over their head. Then you have parents mad because now I am teaching them to swing at bad pitches?


In Baseball (coaches have different levels of comfort) but 15 runs up you get station to station, no stealing on past balls or at all and no matter where it is hit you advance 1 base. So if youre on first and the batter gets a hit you stop at 2nd no matter what even if it is to the fence. Sub in younger players you can still re enter starters if need be. Playing like that I have seen even the worst teams get out of an inning eventually. Now if there is a pitcher throwing no strikes at all nothing you can do about that, but tell your kids if he gives you a good one take a shot at it.

Ive seen some coaches tell all their kids to bunt but honestly a decent bunting team playing against a bad team is probably going to get on base doing that.
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