Coaching Tip #24

Tagged – Season Management

This is one of the most obvious statements that you can hear.  Of course you have to win the matches you have to win.  But bear with me for a moment.

Not all matches are equal.  Sometimes you play teams at a higher level than you.  Sometimes you play teams at an equal level to you.  Sometimes you play teams at a lower level than you.  The games you have to win are the games against teams worse or the same as you.  The matches you don’t have to win are those against the teams that are better than you.

The reason it is important to remember this is a simple matter of motivation.  The reality is that teams are very often more motivated than normal to play against the best teams.  And conversely less motivated than normal to play weaker teams.  How often does it happen over the course of a season a team plays a great match against a top team only to lose in the end and then in the very next match loses to a weaker team.

Of course, you have to do everything you can to win every game but the really good teams are the teams that play at their best against the weakest teams.  Only that way, can they be sure to win the matches they have to win.

The collection of Coaching Tips can be found here.

For more great coaching tips, check out the Vyacheslav Platonov coaching book here.