High School Games

We've been spending a lot of time watching high school games of late. A few things we've noticed. Early on senior dominated teams tend to do well for the obvious reasons, it's not their first rodeo. Young players, even the future superstars, tend to make mistakes early and look over their shoulders for reinforcement. Very rare is a freshmen or sophomore who plays on varsity that plays with the confidence of a seasoned vet and is not nervous about making mistakes.

Watching shootouts and tournaments you see different coaching styles and philosophies play out in front of your eyes.

There are coaches and programs that act like the season is a marathon and play accordingly. They tend not to worry about winning games in November and December but rather focus on making sure that their teams are executing and putting forth the proper effort and learning the process on how to win.

Sure we all want to win but maybe an early loss to an inferior opponent will give a coach the needed ammunition to get his team's focus for the long haul of the season. How many times have you seen a team lose a game it's not supposed to lose, then go on a tear and win everything? Why? We're guessing because their players come back to focus on the things they need to do to win.

Other coaches take the mindset that every game is game 7 of the NBA championship and must be won at all costs. While we love competitors and we love winning sometimes this mindset can burn out a team. How many games of your 30 game schedule are really "BIG" games? Probably only a handful, your top opponents in conference, a neighborhood rival, a school district rival, and maybe a top ranked team in the area will be your big games during the season until playoff time. If you take your team on a high wire act of every game is game 7 you could lose their sense of urgency when the really big game happens.

Sadly there are programs out there that are clueless in the early part of the season. Just showing up to a game with all players in uniform is a win for their team. Teams that are unprepared for a press, or a zone, or man to man defense show up all the time and are exposed early and often in this part of the season. We feel for those kids since more likely than not their season will be lost by Christmas and they won't get the opportunity to compete on a level playing field which is what this great game offers us.