Posted on January 29, 2010: Winning vs. Player Development
A Responsible Sports Fan suggested the following Scenario Question:
At what age should winning be pushed ahead of development and fair share of playing time?
Dear Angelo,
There is not one specific blanket answer to your question about when equal playing time should take a backseat to playing the most talented players more often (potentially making victory more likely). Some coaches might argue that sharing playing time as much as possible (at almost any level) can actually lead to more victories, as one ends up deepening talent across the board, and does not come to rely on the same small group of athletes.
You ask, "At what age should winning be pushed ahead of development?" I'll take a strong stance on this one and say, "never." The best coaches continually find ways to develop ALL of their players, which often ends up benefiting them on the scoreboard.
PCA talks about the opposite of positive coaching being win-at-all-cost coaching. Win-at-all-cost coaches will stop at nothing to get the "W," even if it means putting all of their coaching attention on a small group of players and essentially ignoring those who seem less talented. In youth sports, which we define as high school and younger, I don't ever see the need for this approach.
With all of that said, there are certainly some playing environments (perhaps high school varsity and elite travel teams) where the most talented players will get the bulk of the playing time. As long as these leagues/coaches are transparent with the players and their parents from the start about how playing time is decided, then I see no problem.
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