Question about elementary / middle school team sports

[Anonymous]

I recall from my years of sports (admittedly many years ago) that it was considered bad form (unsportsmanlike?) for an opposing team to just crush the hell out of their opponent at these years, say 5th-8th grades.

For example, if you have double+ the other team’s score, you’d back off a bit because there is no way the other team is going to win. The coach would put in the players that need more practice/play time to improve their skills which would perhaps also allow the opposition to score a few points and keep some dignity.

If the losing team gains rapidly and things get frightfully close, the coach would put in the highest scoring players back in and reclaim the game.

Is that outdated? Or was my experience rare, perhaps?

[Anonymous]

My DD plays on a team that routinely outscores their opponent by 10+ goals. They have a rule that if the score goes up by a differential of 6, they play down one player. By seven, 2 players, and so on. They will also switch up positions (for example, my DD is a goalie, and they will put her in on offense).

[FPYCparent]

Depends on the sport. The Suburban Friendship League (soccer) has codified what the previous poster offered:

https://www.sflsoccer.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/fall-2023-rules.pdf

...

X. Law 10 – Determining the Outcome of A Match

A. Mercy Rule

1. When the goal differential between two teams has reached four (4), the winning team is obligated to remove a player from the field. This continues for each additional goal scored until the minimum number of players needed to play the game is reached, i.e., seven (7) players for games playing the 11 v 11 format and six (6) players for games playing the 9 v 9 format. (Some examples follow ...)

[Anonymous]

Not outdated. My kids’ coaches will make them switch positions, or pass a certain number of times before they’re allowed to try and score (and I’ve seen other coaches do the latter when my kids’ teams are down).

[Anonymous]

OP's outline is the classy way to do it. In baseball, that means the offensive team stops stealing. In basketball, no one should press and there should be a lot more passing before shots are taken. Each sport has ways to demonstrate sportsmanship... but it's up to the coaches to use them.

[Anonymous]

Our football league has a rule that once you get up more more than a certain point, you have to start pulling starters. I think when you're up my more than 24, you can only 6 starters, I believe

[Anonymous]

It should be a time to play bench players and to stop the press.

[Anonymous]

That's a rule in Recreation level soccer, but not mid-level (Select or Classic) or Travel soccer, regardless of age

[Anonymous]

Really depends. Some coaches blow other teams out because they don’t think it’s fair to their own players to not play their best. Others make their top players play other positions.

[Anonymous]

It depends. In most circumstances yes, but if you are playing with a club in a tournament that ranks based on goal differential then no.

[Anonymous]

My kid's baseball team did this once and ended up losing the game!

[Anonymous]

In junior squash and it’s considered poor taste to “ bagel “ an opponent 11-0 in all 3 games .

If a kid is playing a much weaker opponent and they are leading 10-0, they might intentionally hit a serve out of court or hit an easy ball for the opponent to get.

[Anonymous]

So it depends on what you are talking about.

If you are talking travel sports where "rankings" are involved it depends on how the rankings are determined as to how much score differential matters in said rankings. Some sports cap score/goal differential. Others don't and you see more lopsided scores in those games. Some times coaches are just jerks and don't care.

If you are talking about lower competition levels, I coach CYO basketball, and we are given warnings that could lead to a suspension if we continually win games by more than 25 points. Whenever I've blown a team out (and it has happened) and I've always written an email to commissioner explaining what steps I took to try to keep the score below that threshold.

Steps I usually take include having less skilled players play more, insert a X pass rule, no fast breaks, play a zone, etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Stopping fast breaks is usually the hardest one to implement. It is also the most dejecting to a team because, at least in my view, it would suck as an opposing player to watch a kid with an uncontested lay-up, right under the basket, pull it out.

[Anonymous]

Dropping a player is tacky mockery.

Play your backups. Switch positions.

Losing team forfeit and then play a mixed scrimmage with the remaining time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So it depends on what you are talking about.

If you are talking travel sports where "rankings" are involved it depends on how the rankings are determined as to how much score differential matters in said rankings. Some sports cap score/goal differential. Others don't and you see more lopsided scores in those games. Some times coaches are just jerks and don't care.

If you are talking about lower competition levels, I coach CYO basketball, and we are given warnings that could lead to a suspension if we continually win games by more than 25 points. Whenever I've blown a team out (and it has happened) and I've always written an email to commissioner explaining what steps I took to try to keep the score below that threshold.

Steps I usually take include having less skilled players play more, insert a X pass rule, no fast breaks, play a zone, etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Stopping fast breaks is usually the hardest one to implement. It is also the most dejecting to a team because, at least in my view, it would suck as an opposing player to watch a kid with an uncontested lay-up, right under the basket, pull it out.

Our kid's new coach sadly seems to fall in this category. Even with a 20-point lead, he's yelling in disgust at the younger and newer kids, takes them out immediately if they get in at all, and keeps the strongest/oldest/most experienced players in until the end. No cares about crushing opponents. Bad form, IMO.