Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Sweat Socks: RL HS Coaching Tennis Dynasty

Young Drachma · 05-05-2022, 10:50 PM

So today was stupid because we were missing 6 from the lineup. Two were for legitimate injuries, but we don't have that kind of depth especially against a 6A team.

Still, the girls were extremely resilient. We were missing 4 of our best 5 players, but our true 1 and 4 showed up to play singles which make sure it wasn't a total bloodbath.

We won 3 singles matches, but lost 4th singles (despite some grit and fight from one of recent JV promotees) and then all of the doubles teams lost. The 1st doubles pairing (right now our 3rd doubles team) were also putting up a lot of fight, but they literally played the 1-2 players from that team who were paired up at 1st doubles. Our net play was stellar, but we just didn't have the length to finish that match.

So we lost 5-3 overall (50-35) because we just played 8-game pro sets. I'm annoyed at the girls essentially thinking that someone else would pick up the Slack and that we'd be okay. Also, I got us this match as a showcase match and so many kids flaking was annoying because we wouldn't have played it had I realized I'd have JV kids getting destroyed and stuff.

The positives were way bigger though. First, it establishes that even with half our roster missing we're more than comfortably a 6A team. Like there's just no way we had any business being in this match and we were really my 4th singles player figuring it out away from us clinching the tie.

Anyway, regular season is done. District tournament is Monday. I am going to make one adjustment -- a sophomore who I thought wasn't going to play is going to in the last singles spot for us -- because the 9th grader I was going to play there didn't show up today, the sophomore did and I think she's better anyway. There's just no way the 9th grader would've put up the fight that she did and that convinced me to change my idea.

Lastly, the other team's coach offered that we could just call this a scrimmage rather than an actual match at the very end. I said if we split we could list it because we both stay unbeaten, but otherwise, I'd take her up on that. It wasn't really a good representation of our season nor our whole team. Like yeah they beat us, but if you saw the players that played, anybody who saw the lineup would know you didn't actually play the "real" team.

They essentially beat our JV team and 3rd doubles pairing, but lost to our 1st and 3rd singles and half our 2nd doubles squad. Still, I'm going to use this as motivation next season for the girls and not let them claim anymore undefeated stuff, because besides the 12 that showed up today, nobody else had the grit to care enough to play.

But I'm letting it go, we'll start districts and it's a good lesson for me next season and for coaching broadly.

05-05-2022, 10:50 PM	#55
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	So today was stupid because we were missing 6 from the lineup. Two were for legitimate injuries, but we don't have that kind of depth especially against a 6A team. Still, the girls were extremely resilient. We were missing 4 of our best 5 players, but our true 1 and 4 showed up to play singles which make sure it wasn't a total bloodbath. We won 3 singles matches, but lost 4th singles (despite some grit and fight from one of recent JV promotees) and then all of the doubles teams lost. The 1st doubles pairing (right now our 3rd doubles team) were also putting up a lot of fight, but they literally played the 1-2 players from that team who were paired up at 1st doubles. Our net play was stellar, but we just didn't have the length to finish that match. So we lost 5-3 overall (50-35) because we just played 8-game pro sets. I'm annoyed at the girls essentially thinking that someone else would pick up the Slack and that we'd be okay. Also, I got us this match as a showcase match and so many kids flaking was annoying because we wouldn't have played it had I realized I'd have JV kids getting destroyed and stuff. The positives were way bigger though. First, it establishes that even with half our roster missing we're more than comfortably a 6A team. Like there's just no way we had any business being in this match and we were really my 4th singles player figuring it out away from us clinching the tie. Anyway, regular season is done. District tournament is Monday. I am going to make one adjustment -- a sophomore who I thought wasn't going to play is going to in the last singles spot for us -- because the 9th grader I was going to play there didn't show up today, the sophomore did and I think she's better anyway. There's just no way the 9th grader would've put up the fight that she did and that convinced me to change my idea. Lastly, the other team's coach offered that we could just call this a scrimmage rather than an actual match at the very end. I said if we split we could list it because we both stay unbeaten, but otherwise, I'd take her up on that. It wasn't really a good representation of our season nor our whole team. Like yeah they beat us, but if you saw the players that played, anybody who saw the lineup would know you didn't actually play the "real" team. They essentially beat our JV team and 3rd doubles pairing, but lost to our 1st and 3rd singles and half our 2nd doubles squad. Still, I'm going to use this as motivation next season for the girls and not let them claim anymore undefeated stuff, because besides the 12 that showed up today, nobody else had the grit to care enough to play. But I'm letting it go, we'll start districts and it's a good lesson for me next season and for coaching broadly.