SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

anyone else care to never hear this comment again ? it should be outlawed. In the PDT on sat about 90 % of the articles had this listed as a coach comment. The interviewers should say " Yes everyone plays hard these days --Did you play smart ? " just a pet peeve of mine I guess MD

I think all coaches use this phrase. It does get old though. Id rather hear "We played hard" over "Refs screwed us again" anyday though.

Yep...classic coachspeak. Playing hard should be a given.*

Even though they dont always play hard?

What if a coach said, "We don't make excuses at _(Insert name of school here)__. We gave our best effort tonight but this year God gave the opponent more ability than He gave us..."?

I agree 86...coaches can't always say "played hard" because they don't always get 110% out of their players every game. Not everyone plays hard these days. It is a coaching nightmare when you CAN'T say to the media "they played hard out there, they battled, and they were scrappy." Sure, they may not have been fundamentally smart/sound during the game, but when you can get 110% and serious hustle out of a group for 4 quarters, that's half the battle, IMO.

I would love to hear just one time from a coach that "my team played" heartless! I see too many games anymore where players don't hustle back on defense, get on the floor after loose balls, dive into the stands to save a ball, etc.

Playing hard is becoming a lost art in the game......not every place, but in many.

After watching Portsmouth play all 22 games last year........that statement would be music to my ears this year........one of the reasons that we have struggled so much the last several years is because we "didn't play hard" and as a result had talented teams that underachieved.

Although it is a bit repetitve, the phrase should be said by every coach every time he or she talks about their team. Playing hard should be common place but all to often is not.

Philo's coach hates the phrase, especially from other coaches. Kind of like a slap to the face.

What else should a High School coach say? If the team loses, it is on his shoulders, if the team wins, the team gets the credit. That's part of being the coach. You don't ever single out a player or a team for lack of effort. As the coach, it is your responsibility to get that effort out of them or put someone on the court who will give you the effort.
At Pro Level it's different.

appreciate the comments --I always played the game hard and was surrounded by players that did the same , I always thought it was a given. To be more exact, I hate to hear the coach of a losing team state "we played hard" when the team played a terrible game. To me playing smart ( very few dumb TO's, few blown assignments , good shot selection etc etc ) is alot more important than playing hard . I always take playing hard for granite --I guess some teams don't however. MD

I've seen teams play smart though and still get beat because the other team played harder. I'll take a team that plays hard every minute over a team that plays smart but not as hard. The trick is getting a team to play smart and hard that's when good things happen.

my BB hero Larry Bird ----I'd say he played smart more often than hard. MD

Coaches try to be positive. It sounds better than we are not as athletic as our opponets. The team then feels they are not as good as their opponets and will lose their confidence.

Facts are that a public speaker must consider his audience. A high school coach’s audience is sensitive to negative comments.
Furthermore, since local reporters are swamped with work, and most of the time working off site, comments that are elaborate are prone to be misquoted. Teaching young men should not be done through any media. Coaches (at the high school level) should take part in interviews in order to recognize positive efforts by the teens they coach. Sometimes it is hard to find anything positive to say, and clichés are even safer than taking moms advice.