Respond With Determination

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Sorry that I have not posted for so long.  Other things were pressing.  We have a lot to catch up on so let’s get back to it.
The following is my response to a player’s cry for help.  Most players will find themselves in this position at one time or another.
I certainly did.  I didn’t always respond in the best way when I was younger, but this is what I recommend as the solution.
To paraphrase the problem, this player is playing only a few minutes per game.  He is very frustrated and believes that he is better than several players who are getting selected ahead of him.  I do not know the player or the coach and I have never seen the team play, so I cannot give an opinion on the coach’s decision.  Here is my advice to this player and anyone else who finds themselves in this difficult situation:
These are the times that test your commitment to the game, the team and to yourself.  There are a few important things here:

1. You should make it clear that you love the game and believe you have a contribution to make.
2. You should make it clear that you are not happy with your current playing time.
3. You should respect your teammates and your coach as you send this message.

The best part is that you can communicate all of this without speaking a word to anyone.
All of these things should be evident in your training.  When you are only playing a few minutes in the match, training becomes the match for you.  I have been in this position many times.  I went through this from time to time with my club team, my college team, and my pro team.  Now that I am a coach I have a different perspective.  It demands a real maturity to handle this like a young professional, but your coach’s respect for you will grow tremendously.  Anyone can complain, but a leader solves problems for themselves and the team.  A new approach to training will make a statement more powerful than any words you could say.  Other players will follow your lead and you could be responsible for raising the level for the whole team.
That will be noticed.

Good luck.

As cliche as this sounds, you must stay positive at times likes this.  Try to look at this challenge as an opportunity to help re-shape your personality and possibly that of the whole team along with it.  DON’T GO TO THE DARK SIDE!!!  It is so easy to fall into the trap of just whining to your teammates about playing time, but that does nothing to help you or the team.  In fact it does the opposite.  It undermines the coach and can divide the team.  At the very least it weakens your position with your teammates.  After all, you are basically arguing to them that you deserve to play more than they do.  Can you think of anyone who wants to listen to that?  If you are not getting playing time then you had better be unhappy about it.  But you have to respond in a way that actually helps your cause.  As a very happy consequence, your positive response can benefit the whole team as well.

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