Player Growth and Lineup Adjustments
Throughout the season always consider potential adjustments to the lineup while providing motivation for player improvement
The power behind the line-up
In the previous post I discussed options for adjusting the rotational order for your team. In-depth analysis of your team’s stats will guide your decisions to take advantage of your team’s strengths and/or disguise weaknesses. I also encouraged the coach to be prepared for possible lineup changes due to injury/illness.
As your team starts their league season, what tactics will keep players focused on their growth and how should lineup adjustments be used to help promote the success of the team?
continue to motivate all of your players
One of the biggest challenges for teams that lack depth is finding ways to motivate the players. Once the team is past try-outs and preseason, some players may tend to relax or ease up, as they have accomplished their original goal(s): making the team, earning a starting position, etc. To keep their attention and focus, use a combination of tactics:
Stats - Using the stats from practice and matches with appropriate goals/targets will provide consistent, non-emotional, feedback to all team members. Remind your players, based on their position, of their statistical targets. In addition, they should see that your practice design is supporting growth towards these targets.
Goals - I discussed developing and adjusting personal goals for players as you move through the season. Keeping these goals fluid will help to motivate and re-focus a player.
Scouting - Teaching your team to scout and prepare for an opponent will keep them excited about the next match. Be sure to provide information to all team members (not just starters), reminding them of their possible roles in the upcoming match.
Competition - Use your practice plan to provide continuous competition for each position. Drills that have a scoring component, that have a winner/loser, and that you stat, provide important feedback. This is a great motivator for players trying to earn match time and will push the starters to stay focused.
Position training
Throughout the season, continue to dedicate a portion of practice to position skill training. In my experience, I have seen coaches opt to spend the majority of time in practice on team drills, essentially eliminating position training. Their argument is that they will provide the position feedback during the team drills. Unfortunately, the focus is typically placed on systems, winning the drill, etc., while actual feedback on position performance disappears.
I would suggest dedicating time (it can vary practice to practice) every day to position training. This will provide players with focused instruction designed to address weaknesses. It will allow the coach to compare how players are improving relative to their position peers and, hopefully, increase the trust the coach will have in a non-starter’s ability to perform come match time.
playing time
Your approach to coaching in a match will send an important message to your team. If you always tell the team that playing time is open but then rarely sub out the starters, motivation for the non-starters will quickly diminish. For the team to sustain success and grow throughout the season, the depth chart will come into play for the various reasons we have already discussed.
It will be important for you to find time for players that are not currently starters. The farther the team goes into the season without them getting time practicing as a starter or in actual matches, will typically diminish their effectiveness. I would suggest the coach must continually review the upcoming schedule and look for opportunities to provide playing time for the non-starters.
Note: In upcoming blog posts I will discuss strategies for subbing players and how to balance playing time vs everyone having a “team mentality” throughout the season.
Line-up adjustments
Be prepared to make a lineup adjustment at any time. The obvious ones will occur with injury or illness. It is the rare team that can play an entire season without having this situation happen.
Consider these other reasons for a lineup change as you move through your season:
A starter seems to be leveling off, showing less motivation/focus. You should always initiate a discussion with this player and try to change their behavior. However, I always found that having another player sub in for her provided multiple benefits: playing time for the sub, realization by the starter that she doesn’t own the position, and team knowledge that the sub is able to come in and contribute.
I discussed match preparation in the last blog post and how you should consider match-ups. If your team lost to an opponent in a previous match, consider a lineup change the next time you play them if it addresses a weaknesses for your team.
Throughout the season, keep asking yourself if your current starting six is your best possible lineup to win league, or the region, or the playoffs. Sometimes we don’t force ourselves to step back and critically evaluate our team. Ask yourself, if you were preparing to play your team, what would your game plan look like? This may lead to a lineup adjustment.
A suggestion
When you do decide to implement a lineup change, don’t do it without proper preparation. Provide the potential sub with practice time with the other starters. (See note below.) Then, some time prior to the match, individually inform the starter and the sub about the plan to make the adjustment. When coaches surprise players/teams with a significant change from the norm, the side effects can be more distracting than the actual sub.
Note: From a team perspective, the benefit of continually subbing players into the starting lineup in practice and in matches, is that the team then has experience with the different players being in the mix. The team then learns how to play with these people and trust them. Following this plan, a lineup adjustment in a future match will not be a distraction to the team.