Like any self-respecting coach of a U-10 travel team, I keep a detailed scouting dossier on every opponent we face. This way when we run into them again, say at U-11, I’ll know which of their players we need to kick early on in the game to upset them. That kind of thing. As somebody once said, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.
Busy doing nothing at work this morning then when I get a call from another coach in our league, brazenly trying to tap into this resource.
‘I was wondering if you could help me,’ he says. ‘We are playing ____ this Saturday and I know you guys beat them a while back. Obviously, I’d love your take on who their best players are and what way they play?’
This is quite a moral dilemma. Do I offer him a glimpse into my notebook (arguably the most comprehensive breakdown of every nine and ten year old boy in our division) or do I use this opportunity to feed false information to a team that could yet deny us the league championship? Of course, I opt for the latter.
‘Well, their goalie is really good (he’s pathetic) so warn your players not to shoot from outside the box (we scored three from distance!),’ I say in my fakest sincere voice. ‘They play a high offside line (obviously they don’t) so warn your offense to hug the halfway line. Oh, and they are a very physical team so I’d start your bigger players rather than your skilful ones (they are actually all nippy tricksters). Other than that I don’t know much about them.’
The last is the biggest lie of all. My real notes about that club run for three full pages.
‘That’s more than enough pal,’ he says, thrilled with this scoop. ‘If you ever want any information about any team we’ve played just give me a call.’
‘Sure thing,’ I say. As if I’d ever be naïve enough to take another coach’s word for anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment