Statistic - sharing them with the team???

Heinie Wagner

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I coached a high school varsity AAU basketball team this spring. All kids from our local high school. My assistant kept stats. I was going to share them with the team after the season but was convinced it was a bad idea to share everyone's stats with the whole team, kids might bully other kids based on them, parents might get upset etc.

Our HS coach doesn't share stats, he gives a couple of them at the end of season banquet when talking about each player, but that's it. He doesn't name an MVP or give any awards other than varsity letters and certificates. Our HS doesn't name a valedictorian or give class rank, as you can tell, we live in a very special town. :)

A few years ago when I coached 8th grade travel hoops, a parent did game changer for all the games and we shared it with anyone who wanted to see it, with no issues. My oldest son's majors (11-12 year old) LL team also shared stats without any issues, the coach was a pro who runs his own baseball facility.

Do you share stats with your teams any negative or positive experiences doing this? I'm coaching 7th grade travel hoops this winter and think it is important that kids start to realize the differences among themselves and plan on sharing scoring stats.
 

moondog80

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Sep 20, 2005
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I coached a high school varsity AAU basketball team this spring. All kids from our local high school. My assistant kept stats. I was going to share them with the team after the season but was convinced it was a bad idea to share everyone's stats with the whole team, kids might bully other kids based on them, parents might get upset etc.

Our HS coach doesn't share stats, he gives a couple of them at the end of season banquet when talking about each player, but that's it. He doesn't name an MVP or give any awards other than varsity letters and certificates. Our HS doesn't name a valedictorian or give class rank, as you can tell, we live in a very special town. :)

A few years ago when I coached 8th grade travel hoops, a parent did game changer for all the games and we shared it with anyone who wanted to see it, with no issues. My oldest son's majors (11-12 year old) LL team also shared stats without any issues, the coach was a pro who runs his own baseball facility.

Do you share stats with your teams any negative or positive experiences doing this? I'm coaching 7th grade travel hoops this winter and think it is important that kids start to realize the differences among themselves and plan on sharing scoring stats.
I think high school seems like the right age for this. I wouldn't want to hand out a list showing that some 12 year old whose parents made him go out for baseball is hitting .000, but presumably your team has all players who are at least semi-legit. And they all know the pecking order anyway, if you asked them to rank one another in batting average, I'll bet they'd do a pretty accurate job.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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As moondog said, at that age they already know who's good and how good they are. I hit .000 my senior year (0-7) as mostly a pinch runner and defensive replacement, and that knowledge hasn't crippled me that much into adulthood. Everyone already knew I could both run and hit like the wind, myself included.

I say give them the info and let them have fun with it. Let the kids bust each other's chops over them. As long as you don't have a team comprised of assholes who hate each other, I don't see the downside.
 

DJnVa

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I wouldn't have a problem--you know your team and you know the attitudes. Assuming you don't think anyone has some 0-20 with 15 Ks under their name, it should be okay.

I hit .000 my senior year (0-7) as mostly a pinch runner and defensive replacement
Nice. I went 1-2 with a bases-loaded walk and a PH dinger. Our coach believed second basemen couldn't hit. I started most of the year, he just didn't let me hit. Asshole.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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I wouldn't have a problem--you know your team and you know the attitudes. Assuming you don't think anyone has some 0-20 with 15 Ks under their name, it should be okay.



Nice. I went 1-2 with a bases-loaded walk and a PH dinger. Our coach believed second basemen couldn't hit. I started most of the year, he just didn't let me hit. Asshole.
As a freshman I played a 14-inning game as the left-fielder with the DH assigned to my lineup spot. 14 innings in the field with no at bats. I almost quit baseball.
 

Heinie Wagner

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I think high school seems like the right age for this. I wouldn't want to hand out a list showing that some 12 year old whose parents made him go out for baseball is hitting .000, but presumably your team has all players who are at least semi-legit. And they all know the pecking order anyway, if you asked them to rank one another in batting average, I'll bet they'd do a pretty accurate job.
With the 7th grade basketball team I'll be coaching, I'd bet that at least 8 out of 10 kids would rank themselves in the top 3 or 4, maybe all 10, same with parents. Top two would be unanimous, but after that I don't think the players or parents have much of an idea where they truly stand. I coached in 5th grade, assistant coach took over in 6th grade and used mostly same stuff I did, equal playing time and offense where everyone was encouraged to shoot, handle the ball etc. Top two players were outstanding passers and made everyone else look a lot better than they really are.
 

Heinie Wagner

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I say give them the info and let them have fun with it. Let the kids bust each other's chops over them. As long as you don't have a team comprised of assholes who hate each other, I don't see the downside.
There are a couple kids who fit that description on the HS AAU team and their stats are in the lowest third too. One of the worries is that they'll hammer the kid who was even worse than they were.
 

santadevil

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I'm coaching a mosquito baseball travel team this year (ages 9, 10, 11).
This is my 4th year coaching, but the first I'm keeping track of stats. So far, I've only shared with the other coaches, just to remind ourselves of how well which kids are doing.

I hadn't planned on sharing the stats with the players. But I have showed my son his stats.
Right now he seems more interested in the math part than anything else.
 

Was (Not Wasdin)

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My son's lacrosse coach (youth travel 7th - 8th grade) kept very detailed stats (there was usually an assistant on the sidelines whose sole function it was to track them). The only ones he shared were things like ground balls won, turnovers forced, and face-offs won. He wanted to emphasize the importance of doing "the little things" that lead to wins. Never recognized anyone for scoring, but he always pointed out who got the most ground balls and forced the most turnovers.
 

moondog80

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I misread your original post and didn't realize you were talking about basketball; that probably requires a higher level of maturity, since a baseball player focused only on his stats will mostly help the team anyway, where a basketball player can really do some damage. It's such a team game, I'd think twice about it. Maybe share them selectively, as a way of positive reinforcement (Johnny got 11 rebounds today!), but I'm not sure about spelling out that Timmy is averaging 3.1 points while Billy is at 2.5.
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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Maybe you could talk to the math teacher about giving the raw numbers so the kids could calculate the stats themselves.

Nice way to show a practical use of math.

Edit: also thought it was a baseball team, don't know if basketball has enough stats to keep it interesting.
 

loshjott

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I coach 13U baseball. We keep stats on gamechanger and most kids have asked me for access, which I granted. They look at their dads' accounts anyway. No real negative repercussions yet.
 

santadevil

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I coach 13U baseball. We keep stats on gamechanger and most kids have asked me for access, which I granted. They look at their dads' accounts anyway. No real negative repercussions yet.
That's nice to know.
That'll be my age group next year and I'm thinking of slowly introducing some basic stuff to them next year.