Mercy Rule

[Chizaggi]

I am proud to say that i have played with you in the past. Apparently different coaches/parents have different mentalities of GAMES. it is not the end of the world if you take it easy on a weaker team

To TIN-Man, it is one thing to try to run it up on a weaker team in the regular season and playing hard in a REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP game, the type of games to build confidence. If you say that you get confidence by running it up on Heritage and other schools like that then that is just messed up. It doesnt show that you have worked hard or that you came out on top in a tough game, it shows that you have no RESPECT for the other team.

Just because Australia ran the score up on some team doesnt mean that it is fine to do. I understand that people have different paradigms than other people, but there should still be respect.

Chizaggi...it is pronounced- pair-a-dime. It means belief system...dont ever attack another one of my posts again. I was discussing something with Tin-Man that he brought up...

 

Hopefully you was referring to Tin-Man when you mention the 26-0, but I think I was the only one who wrote about a team beating another team 26-0.

Oh and don't come on here attacking other people's post and not expect the same in return.

[Tin-Man]

he was referring to my post about when science hill beat farragut.

i think the whole thing was referred to me and the 26-0 thing was just weird coincidence.

what team do you play for?

[Mental16]

i dont remember bringing up 26-0 except for an example or hypothetical story.

I understand where you are saying to play hard no matter who the team is. I was actually the same way, but when i played hard it didnt mean i had to score. You can play hard without running the score up and making the team feel like pooh. I am not saying put your team in a situation where you are up 2-1 with 2 minutes left..i am just saying that this is just a game, and even those people who arent that great at it want to have a good time and i dont think losing 16-0 is having a good time. Playing on Farragut, we stopped scoring at 8 on most teams...and that may seem a little excessive and it probably was, but our players werent out there to score goals..our 2nd string and JV played most of those types of games. I remember Jared Britcher and Aaron Doyle both coming off the field on their own will because they didnt want to pad the stats...even when our coach wanted them in, they refused.

About the William Blount game; a similar thing happened to Farragut my sophomore year at sub-state. Our starters came out slow and we put in our "Death Squad" and they actually scored the first goal of the game...then our starters woke up and decided to play.

[lcsoccer]

I am proud to say that i have played with you in the past.

 

The pleasure is all mine mental. We had some good times!

[Tin-Man]

i dont remember bringing up 26-0 except for an example or hypothetical story.

I understand where you are saying to play hard no matter who the team is. I was actually the same way, but when i played hard it didnt mean i had to score. You can play hard without running the score up and making the team feel like pooh. I am not saying put your team in a situation where you are up 2-1 with 2 minutes left..i am just saying that this is just a game, and even those people who arent that great at it want to have a good time and i dont think losing 16-0 is having a good time. Playing on Farragut, we stopped scoring at 8 on most teams...and that may seem a little excessive and it probably was, but our players werent out there to score goals..our 2nd string and JV played most of those types of games. I remember Jared Britcher and Aaron Doyle both coming off the field on their own will because they didnt want to pad the stats...even when our coach wanted them in, they refused.

About the William Blount game; a similar thing happened to Farragut my sophomore year at sub-state. Our starters came out slow and we put in our "Death Squad" and they actually scored the first goal of the game...then our starters woke up and decided to play.

but a team that is losing let's say 5-0 at halftime, then in the second half all the winning team does is pass, then the losing team is still not going to have a good time, because they are never going to get the ball for any amount of time. If a team is not that great and they play a great team then their is no way they are going to have alot of fun, unless the coach just puts in all younger players and risks getting scored on, which nobody wants (I think). Personally I would rather play a game in which we have a chance on scoring but losing 9-0, then losing 5-0 and never getting the ball.

Let's face it it is just never fun to lose, but that is part of the game. Every one loses, it doesn't kill them, sure they might get frustrated but that isn't your problem it's theirs.

the bottom line is that a mercy rule does not belong with a sport as competitive as soccer has become. The game has been played and loved for a long long time and i don't think that it got this popular by the game's sportsmanship.

just curious does anyone know who actually came up with this idea?

[BigG]

but a team that is losing let's say 5-0 at halftime, then in the second half all the winning team does is pass, then the losing team is still not going to have a good time, because they are never going to get the ball for any amount of time. If a team is not that great and they play a great team then their is no way they are going to have alot of fun, unless the coach just puts in all younger players and risks getting scored on, which nobody wants (I think). Personally I would rather play a game in which we have a chance on scoring but losing 9-0, then losing 5-0 and never getting the ball.

Let's face it it is just never fun to lose, but that is part of the game. Every one loses, it doesn't kill them, sure they might get frustrated but that isn't your problem it's theirs.

the bottom line is that a mercy rule does not belong with a sport as competitive as soccer has become. The game has been played and loved for a long long time and i don't think that it got this popular by the game's sportsmanship.

just curious does anyone know who actually came up with this idea?

I did not start the thread, but I did mention that Florida highschools had a mercy rule. I didn't think it was a bad idea (having coached there) but sure there are some negatives to it. Will the TSSAA ever start it? No, they have enough problems with the whole public private thing to worry about someone scoring a lot of goals. I think the whole thing boils down to possibly not what you score, but how you score... does that make sense? It is about respect. I would say we have gotten as much out of this debate as we are going to get.

[AFRICANOWL]

I remember in 2004 hearing about the science hill game and i have based my opinion off of that game .............there needs to be a mercy rule ...........when players become frustrated they tend to lose control over their emotions which could lead to fights, injurys, etc etc

[Mental16]

I am against the mercy rule...my only point has been that the players can have enough control not to get up 26-0 on a team. i personally think that the idea for mercy takes more away from the game than if a team just gets up and then takes it easy or plays younger players.

[Tin-Man]

I did not start the thread, but I did mention that Florida highschools had a mercy rule. I didn't think it was a bad idea (having coached there) but sure there are some negatives to it. Will the TSSAA ever start it? No, they have enough problems with the whole public private thing to worry about someone scoring a lot of goals. I think the whole thing boils down to possibly not what you score, but how you score... does that make sense? It is about respect. I would say we have gotten as much out of this debate as we are going to get.

 

i think it makes good sense if you mean you shouldn't run up the score by breakaways all game, but maybe push it outside and work on finishing crosses or something. but i still don't think there should be a mercy rule, the team should merely score in different ways.

it is good to know that TSSAA won't start it.

ya we tore this debate up, but it was fun

[Mental16]

Indeed

[soccerpro1]

I was watching a girls' game once, CCS versus East Ridge. The score at half time was 7 or 8 to nothing. They quit posting any additional scores, let the time run even during injuries and reported the half time score as the final. East Ridge didn't win a game the entire year and regularly got beat by double digits. That was mercy!

Edited March 21, 2006 by soccerpro1

[itsaboutthegame10]

I have been reading all the statements about this "mercy rule". As someone who has seen a lot of soccer in different states, I find this an unbelievable topic!! In other states, Texas is where I started in soccer- this would be a joke! A mercy rule? This is a prime example of the AYSO mentality. Don't get me wrong, it is great that 6, 7 and 8 yr olds get equal playing time and they have to "play nice", not keep score, can't score too many points, and all the other crap, but at the high-school level it is supposed to be "competative". There was no AYSO soccer in Texas where I began soccer. Thank God for that. I have coached teams from 6 to 15 yrs old. I have had at least 20 teams in that time frame. I have coached 2 teams at the same time and they were the same age- just at different levels. It would be the equivalent of your division 1 and division 2 teams here. (There it was gold and silver). I have beaten teams by 10 goals and have been beaten by 7 in a game. At NO time would I have changed anything that I wanted my team to try and accomplish. When I was getting beaten in the ground, the team that was destroying my team did not let up and that was perhaps to best game my team played that season. In the end one of my players, right now a great defender at Bearden High School, asked me, "coach do you think we could get better and beat that team in the future?" My answer was a simple "no". There a just simply teams that have better players, more of them and better coaching. In this case they had "better" of everything. Guess what???? That is life. That is how it should be in everything that you do.

 

 

well you must be a great coach in telling your kids that you can never beat that team, way to build their spirits...