Squad Selection

This week was the first week that we've selected a squad of players for a match this season.  Ian, Terry, Andy and I discussed it after the game and felt it worked well; even though there were some people who would clearly have been disappointed not to play, all those that were selected got a decent run.  We would hence like to continue to select a squad of 15 in the event that we have a large number of players available for future fixtures.  In this message, I want to explain why we propose that we select a squad for future matches; outline the criteria for selection and ask for your help in making this work.

We decided to select a squad this weekend given that 20 people had indicated their availability.  We felt that to have 20 people turn up on Sunday would be counter-productive to the team and many individuals.  With 20 players, the amount of subs we'd have to make to get people on and off would be very disruptive to the team and affect our rhythm and cohesion on the field.  Secondly, many people would get very limited game time and some might not even get on at all.  In particular, we don't think this latter part is fair to people given the time commitment required.

We believe that it's better for everyone that we select a squad of 15 players which is an optimal number for ensuring everyone gets a decent run and having enough subs to bring people on and off.   Additionally, we'll rotate the squad so that the same players don't miss consecutive matches.  So in future, should we have more than 15 players available for a league game we would like to select a squad of 15. 

In selecting the squad, in addition to footballing ability, we will consider the following:

- regular attendance at training 

- balance, ensuring we have cover for most positions and not too many players of a particular position

- reliability; i.e. a good track record of turning up for games after confirming ones attendance 

- clubmanship: generally contributing to the well being of the club; e.g. always available for training and matches, always on time for matches and training, attends team social events,  attends post-match drinks, turns up to support the team when not playing, does a role for the club (e.g. league matters, kits, treasurer, match reports, etc)

 

Additionally, we would like to rotate the squad such that the same player(s) is (are) not omitted for every game.  So if you're not selected one week, normally, you can expect that you will be selected for the following fixture.  This will mean that from time to time many of us can expect to miss a game.   

In putting this into practice we'd like to ask for your help as follows:

Confirming your availability early: we'd like to announce the squad by the latest on Thursday night so that people can make plans for the weekend accordingly.  We hence ask that you respond to the evite as soon as you view it and no later than the Wednesday prior to the fixture.  If we don't hear from you by Thursday (i.e. the day we select the squad) then we have to assume you're not available for selection.  So, please reply as soon as you view the evite.  

Notify me if you're selected and become unavailable: it would terrible for someone to be selected and then not show up as this means that someone else who is available missed the chance to play.  If you are selected for the squad and become unavailable for any reason, please notity me by email, SMS or phone such that I can arrange a replacement.  

Finally, it's worth noting that I don't expect we will have more than 15 people available for many of our fixtures.  Regularly, people have to travel and as we have seen during the season thus far not all of us are available every week; some weekends we have as few as 12 players.  So this approach only applies to those games when we have a large number of people available; i.e. more than 15.  

That's about it.  

Ian, Terry, Andy and I would like to hear your comments on this proposed approach.  You can either contact us directly or post a comment using the link below this article.