Caoch's Dilemma - The Practice Player

As I get my equipment together, wash the pinnies, re-number my cones, put air in the balls, draw out plays, and all the other things coaches do (or make someone else do) to prepare for the season, there is no doubt that I am excited to start the Fall season.  If I don't end up with a team of my own, I must have really made the ruling power(s) of the universe mad somehow.  I can't wait and I'm sure the other coaches and returning players are just as excited.  For some, it will have been a year since playing together - different towns, different seasonal sports preferences and the like have kept these guys apart since last November in some cases.  I'm anxious to see old faces and what they've done in the time off, they're anxious to see what new stuff the coaches have prepared to add to their level of play, and parents are anxious to cheer on some really competitive basketball.  It's all gravy...almost.

With all this excitement, for me, comes a small, but difficult problem.  It's one thing that I try my hardest to be mindful of, and this season may make that a little tougher.  I prefer to carry a roster of 10 players - makes practices easier and game management less of a concern.  But I learned this spring that the level of competition may impact minutes awarded to players (we strive to put the players in situations that play to their strengths to reduce unnecessary stress, which hopefully should reduce mistakes), some people don't realize that AAU may require more travel than the local travel teams did, and the next thing you know you are struggling to put a team on the floor about half way through.  Fortunately, the other coaches anticipated this and carried more guys to compensate.  I am really considering doing the same depending on which players return.  Fortunately, I had really reliable parents last season and they were ride or die for their sons, the team, and were supportive of the program as a whole.  If I get another group like that I'll have nothing to worry about.  But when you carry 12 or more guys, you have to rethink some things, and one thing that was surprising, albeit valid, is that you can't always determine playing time based on practice.

In the past I tried to use practice as the basis for playing time.  I guess I just got really lucky that it worked out that way.  But thinking back, this last year I've broken that rule but never really noticed it or given it a thought.  Broken...such a strong word, let's go with bent instead.  The general idea was if you want to play a lot of minutes you have to go hard in practice.  Good practice meant good amount of playing time assuming you stayed out of foul trouble or weren't building houses with bad shots.  But in some cases, some players got minutes even though they had a less than stellar week of practice.  Like I said, I never really noticed it until this season when I noticed it happening on the other teams.  One day, I just decided to ask why. Names have been changed for obvious reasons.

Coach A:  Tony's dad keeps telling me his kid should play more, maybe even start.  I just can't do it though.
Me: Why not?  Look at this kid.  Diving on the floor, running hard.  Even picking up this new press pretty well.  Maybe not a starter, but could be decent defensive help off the bench. He hasn't been turning the ball over so he wouldn't hurt on offense unless you needed points. 
Coach A: That does me no good if he only does it in practice though.  You have the stats, he's not the same kid come game time.  He's a good player, but he's scared.  I can't teach him swagger, but until he gets it, I can't really put him in tight games either.   
Me: Fair enough.  What about Travis.  He is only going 75% in practice every day, no matter how much you, me, or even Coach D talk to him.
Coach A:  He's the opposite of Tony.  He's slacking now, but same story - look at the stats.  He's a rebounding machine and is tough to score on in the post.  And if I take him out, who do I put in his place.  I can't go small and give up all those rebounds. 

At that point, I was beat.  He was right.  Unfortunately for Tony, he wasn't better than the alternatives, and while he would get some minutes for his efforts during practice, his confidence level minimized the reward.  Some would argue that the confidence to perform would come had he been given opportunities, but this is AAU basketball we're talking and the competition would have destroyed him and the bond with his teammates, which poses the risk of destroying the team.  The last thing I want to do is have a kid despised by his teammates - it's a tough season as it is, why make it tougher by spending it with nine guys that can't stand you.  So maybe I hold back some minutes and just keep praising the kid for the good play on the floor hopefully helping to boost his confidence so that one day he'll get the minutes he deserves.

I'm sure no coach likes having to make that decision, but it has to get made in competitive basketball.  It helps to have open lines of communication and positive reinforcement, but it's still a very delicate situation.  Add more players to juggle minutes between, and an expectation to be competitive in every game, and you've got serious work on your hands.  But, as coaches, we wanted that.  Maybe we're a little crazy.  I'm probably really crazy, because I'm actually looking forward to overcoming this challenge of managing more guys, instilling confidence in guys like "Tony", and getting game level participation from "Travis".  It all starts in 48 hours...