[MYSA Parents] Thoughts on goal differentials

[Mike Baptiste]

For those of you with children who have played for us in previous 
years, you know that the MYSA implemented a number of changes this 
season related to the number of players per side, the field size, goal 
sizes, etc.  These changes were meant to give our players more ball 
touches during matches to gain more experience and to bring us more in 
line with leagues across the state and country.

One side effect, which we expected, was that there would be more goals 
scored during matches, especially with the wider goals in U10 and U12.  
The interesting thing is that the biggest change has been in U8 which 
did not get bigger goals, just a slightly smaller field.  We have seen 
significantly higher goals per match in U8 this season.

With the advent of higher scoring matches, there will be matchups that 
result in lopsided scores and I wanted to share with you, our parents, 
what our coaches are often thinking and doing during a lopsided 
matchup.  In talking with our coaches and some parents, there seems to 
be some concern and misunderstanding about how teams with large point 
leads were handling the second half of a match.

Coaches are loathe to run up scores - its just not right to rub it in 
to a team thats having a bad day, doesn't have the same caliber of 
players, or had a number of players absent.  Most coaches will make 
changes in lineups or strategy once a score differential hits between 5 
and 10 points.  There is no magic level and all coaches are different.  
But at some point a coach will realize that if they continue to use 
their normal rotations, the score will continue to go up, so they try 
to make changes to keep the score in check.

Coaches handle this in many different ways.  One way is to implement 
passing rules for their players.  A coach may tell their forwards that 
they have to pass the ball 5 times on an attack before they take a 
shot.  The upside of this is that it gives the players a chance to 
improve their passing in a game situation and makes it more likely that 
the opposing team will break up the attack by intercepting a pass. An 
unintentional downside is this can be misinterpreted by opposing 
players and parents as the winning team 'playing with them' and mocking 
them by trying to play some sort of 'keep away'.  But almost always it 
is the opposing coach trying to keep the score reasonable while having 
his/her players hone an important skill.

Another common strategy is to make significant lineup changes.  Most 
coaches will have fairly static lines and rotate them through on a 
regular basis to ensure fairly equal playing time, etc.  All teams have 
players of varying ability and it is quite common for coaches to group 
advanced and moderate skilled players in the same 'line' both on 
offense and defense.  But in a lopsided match, many coaches will put in 
a strong defensive line and a weaker offensive line.  This gives 
players who often don't get scoring chances a chance to score and work 
on their offensive skills with more offensive playing time while the 
stronger defense handles the increase in opponent attacks that often 
result from the weaker offensive line losing control of the ball more 
often.  Now some of you might think 'well by using a strong defense 
they're protecting a lopsided lead which isn't right'  It may appear 
that way but keep in mind the coach has a duty to ensure all his/her 
players get fair playing time.  So this setup allows a coach to rotate 
less skilled players at offense and stronger players at defense while 
helping keep the score from getting out of hand.

Finally, there will be times where even after a coach implements the 
above strategies, his/her team will continue to score.  One of the 
hardest things to tell young players is "don't score", though it is a 
valuable lesson in sportsmanship.  But it can be difficult, especially 
for players who rarely get scoring chances in closer matchups.  So if a 
coach tries to limit a score by implementing the above strategies and 
his players still score, he/she may try to spread the scoring around by 
telling the players who already have a goal to work on passing to those 
that don't.  For some less skilled or less confident players getting 
that goal can be a major confidence booster.   So the next time you 
find your child's team on the losing end of a lopsided match, keep in 
mind that when the winning coach makes some strange substitutions or 
match strategy changes, most likely they are trying to limit the 
spread.  Its not meant to mock or make fun of the opposing team.  Its 
an effort to moderate a lopsided match while still teaching his/her 
players important concepts and skills.  Its not fair to ask a winning 
team to completely shut down in a lopsided match. Matches are some of 
the most important learning opportunities for players and coaches want 
to maximize the learning potential of each match, lopsided or not. So 
coaches do what they can to continue teaching their kids while 
preventing the score from getting out of control.

And that's probably one of the most important things to take from this 
email.  No matter how excited we all get during our kid's matches as 
they progress through the season, they play in our league to learn and 
have fun.  But we parents and coaches are learning to.  So if you 
notice a coach do something you don't understand or don't agree with 
for whatever reason, ask them about it after the match.  Don't accuse 
them of something or yell at them.  Just ask.  The case of 5 passes 
before shooting is a perfect example.  It may seem like they were 
toying with their opponent, when in fact they were just trying to limit 
the score while improving their skills.

I'm sure you may not agree with all the answers you get, but at least 
you gave the coach the benefit of the doubt and you might learn 
something new.

On a side note, we coaches are learning too.  There is no easy solution 
to a lopsided match or any 'right way' to handle it.  So we're learning 
how best to handle it each week that it happens.  Its also making some 
of us reassess how we've taught our players.  I know that I as a coach 
probably over weighted offensive drills in the past because we had so 
many players on the field, attacks got broken up more often than not, 
usually by chance.  But with less players on the field, our defenders 
play a much more prominent role and need to improve their defensive 
skills to break up attacks.  So it has become critical that coaches 
work in more defensive oriented drills to better hone their defensive 
lines.  So while we may see many lopsided matches in the coming weeks, 
I expect the number of them will start to decrease as coaches adjust 
their training and drills to handle the new mechanics of the small side 
match.

See you on the fields!

Mike Baptiste
MYSA