I just don’t get it. I do better in practice than the starter, and the coach always talks about how important practice is. But then I only get a couple minutes at a time in the game, and just when I start to feel comfortable, the starter comes back in. He’s a good player, sure, but doesn’t practice count? If I play better in practice, but can’t get more minutes, what else am I supposed to do?
—D.Y., El Cerrito
There’s a lot to talk about here, but let’s start with this fact of life: We all tend to think we’re better than we actually are. I always thought I was as good a reporter as the writers for the New York Times, but I’m pretty sure my self-assessment back in the day might not have been as spot-on as I hoped. So it’s possible that you think you’re clearly doing better in practice than the starter, but really, you might only be even with him, or conceivably not as good.
And of course that all depends on what you mean by “good” — and the coach may be using criteria that you haven’t considered. Maybe he’s more concerned with being in the right place than making shots; or more focused on precise execution than pure skill.
So, as is almost always the best course of action in these situations, you need to talk to the coach. And don’t start the conversation with “I deserve to play more,” or “I beat him in practice every day so why don’t I get more minutes?”
The first question always should be “What do I need to do to get more playing time?,” and the tone should not be aggressive or demanding. It should come across as a legitimate question, with you looking for answers from the coach’s perspective (which after all, is the only one that matters).
If the conversation goes reasonably well, you can consider asking the coach why he feels the starter is the starter. A question framed something like this might work: “Jason is obviously a good player, which is why he starts. What things that he does should I be doing more of?”
The combination of these two questions gives the coach an avenue to answer as honestly as he feels he can — and of course, some coaches don’t want to talk about these kinds of things at all, so you may not get any really satisfying answers. But you have to try this first, as that’s how any worker in any situation needs to proceed.
Most of the time, though, you’re going to get some answers that will help you figure things out. Maybe you’ll find out that the coach doesn’t feel you know the plays, which means you can work on demonstrating that you do; or maybe he’ll say he likes the way Jason gets to the basket, which again points out what direction you should go in.
And as for playing better when you get more time, that’s basically true for everyone, and that’s a big advantage for starters. Coming off the bench is difficult because your margin for error is less, and it is harder to get in the flow of the game. Yes, it’s unfair, but as some annoying adults are fond of mentioning, life isn’t fair — so all you can do is the best you can do, and hope that gets you more time on the court.
Clay Kallam has been an assistant athletic director and has coached numerous sports at a handful of high schools throughout the Bay Area. His Behind The Clipboard column is regularly featured in SportStars Magazine. This particular column first appeared in our December 2018 issue. For more local sports content, be sure to visit SportStarsMag.com.
As a coach I tend to video most of my games and closely analyze the games. People tend to lie to themselves about how they play a game. When I approach a player and tell them they had 7 turnovers in a game they are shocked, when I tell them they don’t hustle back on defense they are shocked and so on. Players and parents tend to remember what they want to remember….even coaches are guilty of this. So if you are positive you are better than another player the stats would show, so I recommend you have someone keep your stats and the other players too. Prove to your coach that your numbers are better for at least 5 games and then bring it to his attention.
Don’t forget about being a team player aspect also, many players want to prove themselves as soon as they get into the game, so become “ball hogs”, and take the shot every time, when passing to an open player was a better option, even though you may make that shot, you want someone taking the best shot from a percentage viewpoint, passing skills are valuable too