Change came when I turned to a coach I know from another team and said, “Tell me what I’m missing.” His answer spoke volumes. He came over and sat with us during the game and talked about some options we could try in order to max out the skills our small players have. It worked. Over the course of the game w merged what we’ve been trying to do with his offensive ideas and it was magic. We were sustaining drives, we were confident in our approaches, and we were distributing the ball. Everything clicked on both sides of the ball and the 10-12 Broncos went on to put up their first win of the season.
Here’s what I realized: I don’t know everything about the age group and I need to remove linear thinking from the equation entirely. This group is about confusion and taking advantage of groupthink–not creating individual match ups. It is about building momentum and frustration in order to create easy opportunities for a few yards. We can’t win by chucking the ball downfield. We bring death by 1,000 needles.
As for the 8-9 and 6-7 teams: Domination. My mid-kid really stepped up and had a great game and the kids all played well together. The littlest Talislegger didn’t have his best game but the kids played well as a team and were able to really turn it on in the second half on the way to a victory against a team (and coach) that complained so much that it made the game not fun.
Afterwards we all went out for snacks and hung out. It was a good day and a series of very good moments.
Some Thoughts:
1. Real good chance I dropped the ball on tackle this year–trying to get a hold of coaches, etc. Hasn’t been the greatest experience so far. Lets hope the Monday night practice goes better–or happens at all at this point.