Load Management is Not About Decreasing Minutes
I think Tim and his team straddle the fence a bit? If load management is not about decreasing minutes, what is it is about?
It might be minutes of play ( more important and less likely to decrease) or minutes or practice ( less important and probably easier to decrease). The reality is that coaches love to overplay the best players and, coaches love practice. Coaches see practice as important. In my experience the best coaches can begin to develop a rhythm of practice and play and, begin to see that normal practices are often just unnecessary stress in season.
I am not a fan of days off because at least in my experience a day off signaled a "night on" and by "night on", I mean a night on the town.
In other words the rest is often negated by another type of stress often induced by alcohol consumption and lack of sleep.
The key for us was always to manage practice time and to have practices that were more recuperative and restorative.
The biggest problem with bad coaches is that they can't resist the urge to coach.
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