Post Game Meeting Tips?

Looking for coaching suggestions on what to say and/or do at post game meetings. I like the idea of meeting with the team for a few minutes after the game to congratulate the team on their effort, maybe a couple of areas for improvement that will be worked on at the next practice, etc. Short and brief.

Also, what is your experience with the coaching staff giving out a MVP game ball. I have mixed feelings on this one. The pro is that you reward and acknowledge a great play or effort and the girls will be excited about participating in the meeting wondering who got the ball this game. The con is that its a team effort and everyone contributes in some way during the game. Obviously if you have a policy of giving out a MVP ball, you have to select a different girl each game so as not to alienate anyone.

We always have a pre-post game speech. I think it is very important to fire them up before a game, and acknowledge them after.

One of my fellow coaches does something pretty cool. For his team he gives the big 'team' trophy to the MVP of the weekend. And yes, tries to alternate so by the end of the summer they all have one.

Post game meeting rule #1 - No parents allowed, I have been asst coach and a parent on teams that allow parents to be near the post game/tournament meetings and this is a disaster waiting to happen. Take the girls along way away from any parents then you can adress parent issues with concerned parents later.

Post Game I think it's a great idea to go over the good and great things that happened, I'm think the MVP is great, but IME retelling a player's great play while sitting together as a team is pretty heady stuff for a young girl and may not need a physical reminder. You need to be honest as well, if there were things that happened in the game that need to be addressed at practice you need to point that out. I try to apply the sandwich philosophy whenever possible (i.e. start positive, then toss in necessary criticism, then end positive). One of the toughest things to do as a coach is to talk to the team after a really, really bad game. Keys to remember for those, #1 the world didn't end #2 Discuss things team needs to do better #3 Reinforce that it was not your normal level of play but an aberration. If you treat it as a UFO or bigfoot siting (something rare and unexpected) you can minimize the players fear that they will repeat the performance at the next game. We played over a hundred games last year and had 4 real stinkers. Everytime the girls took it out on the next opponent which is what you like to see for resilience, and what you need to set as the expectation.

I don't have a problem with parents being around the team meeting, I think it's helpful to hear what the coaches have to say, but I think it should be clear that it isn't the forum/time for their comments. Sometimes the parents are too hard on their own kids and need to hear some positive things said by the coaches hopefully that changes the tone of the conversation for the car ride home.

I think pre-game meetings are important as well. We don't do it 100% of the time ( i think you get get immuzinized to the rah rah speech by over exposure). I think it's a highly effective way to amp up the intensity level.

Post-game talks are just a way to let coaches pretend to be Knute Rockne or Vince Lombardi. They are total a waste of time.

If there are any comments to be made about play during the game, make them *DURING THE GAME*, when the comments might do some good. If mistakes were made during the game that you want to work on, then talk about it when you can work on the mistakes. A coach should have made a list during the game of the mistakes. You take care of them at practice.

At some point, as the players become more experienced and skilled, they zone out listening to the same "effort" and "desire" speech that they've heard a 1000 times.

Not all post game speeches are negative. We use that time to assure the girls we appreciate the hustle and good play decisions they have made. ( maybe we make fewer mistakes than others....IDK?? )

If we do 'bloop' a play, we give the girls a chance to offer "I should have done this.....instead of what I did". I want my players to figure out and think on their own ( through instruction at practice ) and apply that at game time. I don't want my coaches yelling at my players ( harshly ) during a game. But most of ours are older girls, if they still need instruction on plays ( at game time ), they don't need to be on the field anyway.

I'm sure the speeches get old, but I had to listen to my dad and coaches for 20 years. And my kid is gonna get the same. Haha.

From experience as a player, I can say that post game speeches are a great thing. In the heat of the moment, it is sometimes hard to acknowledge every good thing that someone did. I'm often busy with backing up the action from the outfield, catching a ball, or maybe I'm on base and I didn't get to see where the kid that hit me home's great hit went. It's a great time to rewind, reflect, and acknowledge all of the wonderful things that everyone has accomplished.

As someone who has helped coach as well, I enjoy being able to point out the positives. I don't always have a positive for every kid (this is rec ball) so I keep it brief and name the important ones, saying that "everyone" had great effort or something at the end. If someone who doesn't usually produce much does something surprising, it is definitely noted. It's also a great time to reflect on the bad, so I'll walk into the next practice knowing that this is what we'll fix, they know what we'll fix, and hopefully they'll walk in here ready to work on it.

We do give game balls at the end of the season, mostly because our commissioner wants us to. I think we made it so everyone for 13U got one last season. We listed their season highlights on it, such as one girl had five homers.

For spring ball, we didn't do game balls. However, the two girls that stepped it up the most the week prior were allowed to be captains. They got a special sign to hang over their bat bag, in charge of stretching, etc. They loved it and liked to compete to try to win captain.

I think coaches should adapt their post game "meetings" to fit their style. For example some folks are just down right emotional they can hit really high hi's, but also have really low low's. (I resemble that remark.) Something gets in our heads one way or the other and that thought remains and the "feelings" of it are magnfied either good or bad. For that type of a person I offer 2 suggestions: There is no rule that says you have to do a review right after the game if you aren't the kind of person that can step aside from the emotions and think clearly about the entire game and what just occured. Just send the girls home after every game and then take the time to think through things with a clear head. Review the past game at the next practice instead. (Notice that I said every game. Don't do post-game reviews except the one game when Shelley has made 2 errors because she'll think that you are so furious just with her.) The other option is that you need to recognize who you are and keep a list of ideas throughout the game. Obviously everyone can keep a clipboard with them, but for my particular style I absolutely must or I will get lost/focused on 1 or 2 good or bad things. Writing things down as they occur is a great way to keep myself focused, and then I have time to figure out how I'll go over each of those things.

I'm very big on goal setting. We had goals that we wanted to reach for the season, the tournament and for each game. Those goals were posted, discussed pre-game and then that is an excellent list to review after the game. Those goals can be any number of things depending on the age group and the girls abilities. I like them because they are "non-emotional." You either achieved them or not. If you achieve them, then you succeeded wheither you won the game or not. If you didn't achieve them then you have things to work on next practice even if you've won the game 15-0.

One of the things that I personally don't like is to hear as girls get older is "I'm sorry." If they have worked hard, and given 100% of themselves in practices then I don't need them to apologize at the time or after the game for a physical error to me or their teammates. They know what they did, they don't need reminded and I don't want them to start thinking "Oh great I can hear the coach now" each time they make a physical error. The younger the girls are the more they need to be "assisted" in the right direction closer to the play because they are going to make a lot more mental errors than older girls.

I liked using game balls to encourage girls to grow, not for something that they did. I gave them out only for "Exceeding my Expectations." I let them know at the beginning of the season that the only way they would "earn" a game ball was for doing something that I didn't expect them to do based on what I've seen with them during practices. I constantly wanted them to mentally force themselves over whatever their fears were, whatever their bad habits might be and want to "exceed my expectations." So recognizing achievement in terms of the little "growth" things is something else that coaches can do even when they don't seem huge. 2 line drive outs from a girl who's had nothing but ground balls all season is a great step forward in her growth. Both ended in double plays and would ordinarily be overlooked. Girl that drops a ball isn't always a good thing, but if she's an intravert and finally called out loud enough to be heard "I've got it" that would be something to celebrate.

Perhaps most importantly .... use the post game meetings to let them know that the past game was nothing more than practice for the next one. Whatever form that takes for you and the age group you are coaching.

Short and simple and save the instruction for the next practice. Possibly use it as a time to acknowledge some things you really liked about the game, but other than that, just use the time to remind players of the next practice or other logistical things that need to be addressed for whatever reason.

I think the game ball idea is great. We give out little helmet stickers to our girls for the accomplishments they make. It is not always for the "big" things, either. We have one girl who just couldn't do anything on offense, but she always had her back up assignments down on defense. So, she got stickers for that. I think it is important to reward the little things they do right. We have received numerous compliments on our post-game meetings from opposing coaches/parents.