Is it poor sportsmanship or not?

[Red Baron]

Is it poor sportsmanship for a coach to 45 a team, when he keeps his starting 6 in the whole time? Or should he give his second or even third string players some playing time? I've heard all kinds of reasons why it is or it isn't okay to 45 a team. So is it poor sportsmanship or not?

 

[robt78155]

Poor sportsmanship is getting ahead 44 points and then kicking on first down...which is exactly what I would have done against our rivals...".beat them boys till their mama's ran out on the field and begged the refs to stop the game".... 8) .ya I know ,i got some issues ....Our coach Rabon doesn't have my character flaws, much more civilized. He and Joe Paterno are about the same age (80's) and have that gentleman thing going on....)

 

[freeagent]

Is it poor sportsmanship for a coach to 45 a team, when he keeps his starting 6 in the whole time? Or should he give his second or even third string players some playing time? I've heard all kinds of reasons why it is or it isn't okay to 45 a team. So is it poor sportsmanship or not?

I remember going to a clinic where Choid Helton, Brice's daddy, was speaking and he got this question.

His answer was in the regular season, you play subs when you can and try and make the game go as long as it can. If it's playoffs, you get the thing done as quickly as you can.

Problem occurs is when you're a good team and only 9 or 10 kids. Then, you need to have a system where you rotate your better players in and out of the game.

If I have enough kids for a third string (and don't have a JV squad), I sure think those kids might want to get a little playing time if for no reason other than to reward them for the hits and stuff they take Monday through Thursday practices.

 

[freeagent]

Poor sportsmanship is getting ahead 44 points and then kicking on first down...which is exactly what I would have done against our rivals...".beat them boys till their mama's ran out on the field and begged the refs to stop the game".... 8) .ya I know ,i got some issues ....Our coach Rabon doesn't have my character flaws, much more civilized. He and Joe Paterno are about the same age (80's) and have that gentleman thing going on....)

I'd say that the apple don't fall too far from the tree, Brother Robert the Second, but I think Caleb might be a little more of a softee than you are ... haha ...

 

[SavannahSixManFan]

I remember a game my freshman year at Rochelle. We played a “Boys Ranch” school that was starting a team. We were their first game. I looked it up in Lone Star Football and because it was an “outlaw” game it was not recorded. We must have played them on one of the Friday nights between Paint Rock on 9/28/73 and Mullin on 10/19/73. We ran three plays in three minutes and the score was 24-0. It could have gotten real ugly real quick but Coach Johnny Bradshaw immediately emptied the benches and later in the game asked the second string to start missing tackles. I was the third team quarterback and I played the entire third quarter (the only one we did not score in…lol) and we ended up winning something like 62-31. We were 45’ed three times that year but during Jr High and High School we rarely 45’ed anybody unless it was a JV team. You can state your case for either side of this issue but in my case winning by 45 feels just as bad as losing by 45.

 

[Clairatt19]

This is such a tough one. Against a good team, where you've gotten some turnovers, recovered some onsides, etc. and get out by 30 or so, you have to put them away - a lead can evaporate in a hurry in sixman. Against a team that you clearly outclass, its really tough. We put our young ones in, but the other team leaves their starters in, and I understand that. But, then what happens is the other team's seniors go to pounding on our freshman. Which I understand, too. But after about the second cheap shot on a 112 pounder away from the play, guess what? Here comes the starters back on the field and now they are po'd. Then the other side thinks we're poor sports. Its a dilemma. So from where I'm standing, holding a score down goes both ways. If being a good sport means that I am required to put my backups in against your starters and watch them get teed off on, then mark me down for being a bad sport.

 

[seguinlifegate]

we've never played our starters the whole game... but we do expect our kids to do their absolute best when they are out there. we refuse to punish our seniors by pulling them though. its not their fault if we're ahead, its their job to get us there. we pull the juniors and sophmores to get some fresh legs in. we don't consider ourselves poor sports at all. three years ago freddy beat us 70 to 12 or something like that and i don't feel like they were poor sports.. its a competition really and there is no reason for anybody to pull up at all... its just this "what goes around comes around" attitude that we have as coaches.

clairatt makes a great point as well

 

[Box Dad]

Good perspectives!

 

[GSB]

I'd say it depends on the game.

Middle school, we have a rule to never 45. Middle school is developmental and as a coach you can totally control a game. i want as many reps as I can get and I can always find players to run the ball that will keep us from scoring quickly, or scoring at all. At our first game this year the other team's primary RB was a no-show. They had several 6th graders against my 8th graders. The game could have been over at half, but I put in my whole bench in the second quarter and told them not to rush (the other team was having a hard time with snaps) and to wait for them at the line and do your best to tackle once they got to you. The other team started throwing and my boys came over at the end of the quarter and asked what are we supposed to do now? I said now we work on pass coverage. Let them throw. At half, I went to the other coaches and asked what they wanted me to do. I told them I could keep it going like this or I could end it if they wanted to go home. They said let's keep it going. We played the whole game much to the chagrin of the officials. We still won, the other boys had a good time throwing the ball around, and I had two kids who never run the ball, much less score a TD, score a TD. I believe there is hardly any situation to 45 a team in middle school. Cheap shots are about the only reason.

In high school, if it is a non-district game, I put in whatever I have on the bench to keep the game going to get my young boys some reps. They have to get reps in some game and this is a perfect opportunity.

During district play, it's business and I can see the wisdom in getting done with it. Injuries, cheap shots, huge turns of events, who knows what will happen. Just get the game over and on to the next one with your full team in tact. One key injury in 6-man can totally change your season.

 

[Pinedrive SB20]

If you can 45 a team do it. Don't risk injuries. its part of six-man.

 

[freeagent]

I've seen this topic three places. This one's locked.

And anyway, since I said something on this one, there's nothing left to be said.

"It's good to be the King," Mel Brooks, History of the World Part I