A Coach's Diary

We play the game to play. As athletes, want to be out there, involved, and making plays that will help our team win. As parents, we want to see our kids out there, involved, and making plays that will help our team win while having fun and learning lessons that will help them now and later in life. As coaches, we (most of us) want all of our kids out there, involved, and making plays that will help our team win, while teaching life lessons that will help them now and later in life. When we first start playing on rec teams, everybody plays. It's all about fun and learning. Everybody plays an equal amount of time and hopefully get the same opportunities that everybody else gets. Then, we start playing on select and travel teams, and we start to see some separation. We start to notice that some kids are just a little better or more prepared than others. While we might still get to play at least half of the game, some kids get to play a little more. And some kids get the ball a little ...