At long last we’ve come to the end of a trying flag football season. Yesterday my 10-12 team closed out with another loss. We are at the point where it seems pointless to give them the special awards, because they showed such limited effort through many of the games. They got down early and then got down on each other. It is hard to reward that. It is hard not to feel responsible for that myself, but I don’t know that I entirely am. A grandpa (of a kids whose parents I have still never met) stopped me before the game started and thanked me for coaching with patience. It felt clear to a lot of the parents that this season was about learning.
The other two were about winning. Going into the 8-9 double header we have a clear statistical defense player of the year (DPOY) and Fab 4 vying for offensive (OPOY). Despite my own kid’s admission that he was working for DPOY, OPOY is closer to his grasp. The Hustle Hawk award is out of his reach, but a possibility for his baby brother down on the 6-7 squad.
I’m doing something different with that team for the last game. I’m sacrificing offense in order to stack the D with the top 5 flag pullers. The goal is to lead with defense and demoralize the opponent. I have some kids with offensive flash and some raw kids who need to get touches in order to really show what they are capable of. I’m excited to see what they can do and what we can do as a team to close things out in both age groups.