Success

Sometimes your greatest successes are the ones no one will even know about.

I'm currently involved in the process of team formation. Most of the players have a predestined team, primarily because of having been on certain teams in the past, but there is a great deal of analysis and consternation around the few that don't. The main problem is that we have too many players for 3 teams, and not enough for 4, and we want to keep as many players as possible. The criteria for who might go and who might stay falls into two categories, IMO: talented or connected.

So, I'm kept up at night going over and over the various possibilities in my head, with no resolution, because there is no resolution that doesn't involve somebody getting the short end of the stick. The proposal I presented today, after much negotiation, was one where I accepted 2 more players than my maximum preferred team size. Then, when I thought I had the approval of my fellow coaches, I passed it on to the executive committee for their review only to have one of the coaches say to the executive that perhaps he could take one more. Sigh. Just when I thought it was over.

Last season was similar, in that I worried a lot, analyzed a lot, and basically volunteered to do the negotiating process. It was less difficult in that I had several players to choose from that were new (unconnected) and of average talent, but it was more difficult because I had a problem that wasn't even my problem.

Another team, one I used to manage, not coach, had had a very poor season. Not as bad as the one my team just endured, but at the time it was the record-holder for poor season. The problem was that there were 3 coaches on the team with different styles, which confused and frustrated the players, their parents, and naturally the coaches themselves. As a result there was some bad blood. Enough that one of the parents even wrote on their registration form "any team with a qualified coach, except (that one)". Normally I never see this information, but due to my over-involvement in the team formation process I ended up accessing more player background information than I would otherwise.*

Now I knew there were several disgruntled parents, but here was a case where the parent was considering leaving the club rather than having their kid on this coach's team again. And if you know me at all, you know I have to have everything worked out, have to have everyone happy. Happy, happy, happy!

So I started contacting the parent indirectly at first, then directly, and discussed the situation with him. I came up with a suggestion that would let him "keep an eye" on the coach, and subtly pushed him towards talking with his son about how bad things really were. In the end, he took my suggestion, and also found out that his son wasn't as upset with the coach as he was, and that his son would prefer to stay with his friends.

Of course, the coach in question has no idea that anyone was unhappy with him, and I ensured that he didn't find out. The season passed by, everyone got along a little bit better (a winning season will do that), and it's all water under the bridge now.

And we all lived happily ever after... until...


*(Love that phrase, BTW. "Than I would otherwise" completes a sentence without me having to think of the other half of whatever it is I'm talking about!)