How to Play the Numbers Game

As a youth athletics coach, it is up to you to get the most out of your kids and instill in them a sense of hard work. Sports team websites can help you achieve that goal in a number of ways. They give you the ability to communicate effectively with parents and team members, schedule events with ease and organize the league in general. But there are other, more specific applications of the website.

One thing a sports website allows you to do is compile and distribute team data from throughout the season. There are a few strategies you might employ when it comes to statistics - you don’t want to highlight the wrong things, or put down individuals for failing to match up. But with the right touch, numbers can provide motivation and celebrate your players’ successes.

• Track the intangibles. A great way to reward hard work and effort is to have an assistant or team manager keep track of all the hustle plays throughout the games. These can include diving for loose balls, hustling to cover another’s missed assignment, sprinting to make a play, or a number of others. Set a goal for each player to hit a specified number of hustle plays and highlight each one after the game.
• Make defense an emphasis. This won’t apply to every single sport - track, swimming and some others don’t rely on team defense. But for those that do, you should create goals having to do with points allowed, shots allowed, and opponent’s possession time. Using stats to back the defensive performance of your players will give them an extra motivator and give them a tangible goal to reach for.
• Show improvement over time. Sometimes it can be difficult for kids to take back and look at how far they’ve come in a season. This is there data comes in - by putting team stats from the first week or two side-by-side with the last, your players will see how much progress they made. This technique is particularly advantageous to a team with a losing season. The important thing is that your players realize that their own improvement is more important than their win-loss record, and these numbers will help to show that.

Data can be a valuable tool for youth athletics coaches. With a team sport website, you can show your players what matters most.