As coaches, it is easy to get wrapped up in the pressures of the moment and lose sight of the big picture. Now that we are three games into the spring season, I thought I would take a minute to focus on what’s important. The vision of AYSO is to provide world class youth soccer programs that enrich children’s lives. The key element of the vision is to enrich the lives of all the players on your team. How are you doing with that? I hope you can say that having you as a coach has enriched the lives of all the players on your team.

In the next two weeks, Easter and Spring Break will take their toll on many of the teams in our region. Many of our games will include at least one team with fewer than seven players. When two teams with dissimilar numbers of players meet, let’s say a team of six and a team of 10, the solution that will best enrich the lives of all the players is for the team of 10 to loan the other team two players. That way all the players get maximum playing time. If the team of 10 keeps all of their players and plays 6v6, nearly half the team of 10 is on the bench each quarter. That’s not enriching lives.

So, which players should you loan out? If beating the other team is the goal, you loan out your two least talented players. Load them down with turkeys so you can win, of course! If enriching children’s lives is the goal, you try to balance the teams, because a hard fought game that ends 2-3 is way more fun for both teams than a 15-0 blow out. So, if the teams are fairly equally balanced, you give up a couple of mid level players or your best and your weakest. If the teams are not so well balanced, you give up stronger or weaker players as needed to make a good game.

But, if you mix players between the two teams, who gets credit for the win and who gets the loss? Here’s the really cool thing: it doesn’t matter. Every player on every team should play every game like it was a world championship match. Players should always play to win. Otherwise, they are cheating themselves, their team mates, and their opponents. But once the game is over, it doesn’t matter who won. I’m not keeping track of standings, and neither is anyone else. Sure, there are bragging rights at stake for the coaches, but the game is really not about the coaches. Really.

Win all of your games or lose all of your games, no one outside your team is going to know or really care. Develop players who can shoot, play long and short, understand risk and reward, and transition effectively between attack and defense and people will notice. Develop players who love the game for the rest of their lives and people will notice. Make sure every player has fun, gains skills, and wants to come back next year and people will notice. Years from now, when your players call you “Coach” and tell you about how their high school team did, or about their adult league team, or about how much fun they are having coaching their own children, that’s when you’ll know you won.

Enjoy coaching, and don’t lose sight of what’s important.