Kids are dropping out of sports in droves. When asked why they quit, high on the list is that they hate sitting on the bench. As coaches, one of the most powerful things we can do to keep kids in sports is to get them into games on a regular basis.

PCA supports YSO leaders enacting rules that guarantee every player a significant amount of playing time in every game. But Double-Goal Coaches don't need to wait for organization leaders to change the rules. They can keep kids in sports by finding ways to get kids into games, even tightly contested games.

When we think about why kids don't get into games, it's often because coaches are so afraid of losing that they don't put their weaker players in even late in a blowout game. It may be one chance in a thousand that a team can come from way behind late in a game, but many coaches are just not willing to risk even a one-in-a-thousand chance.

At PCA we ask coaches to assess their "fear profile." How afraid are you of losing a game? Are you willing to have the courage to take the chance that you might lose a game by getting your weaker players into the game. The trade-off is the chance of losing a game versus losing a kid to sports, perhaps forever.

A high school basketball coach once developed a sure-fired way to get his weaker players into the game. He named his bottom five players the "Mad Dogs" and told them they would play the last minute of the first quarter and the first minute of the second quarter of every game!

The Mad Dogs played their hearts out--knowing they had a short time in the game meant that every second counted--and the coach reported that often the Mad Dogs would improve the team's competitive position by outscoring the opposing team's starters during those two minutes. He also mentioned that at least one of the Mad Dogs improved so much that he ultimately became a starter.

Do you have any creative ways to make sure every kid gets into almost every game? Share them with us so we can pass them on to other readers of the Connector. E-mail us at connector@positivecoach.org.