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Post by tiger46 on Aug 19, 2007 12:40:00 GMT -6
I thought maybe coaches at any level could appreciate this.
I coach a 9>10yr old team. I’m sort of a Star Wars/Star Trek geek. I call my linemen Jedi. I tell them they are just like the Jedi in the movies. They give the most for the team, sacrifice the most for the team, for the least amount of glory. They are not to seek glory. They are to seek excellence!
I tell them that mammas and daddies in the stands are going to cheer for the backs when we score. Some people may cheer for the Tigers. But, nobody’s going to cheer them for what they do. They are not going to hear anyone yell, “Great crab block, left guard!” when we score. Only we understand what we do. They may as well get used to that now!
The team cannot work without them and that they work for the team. They had better learn to love hearing “GO! TIGERS!” because that is the closest they’re ever going to get to glory.
But, there is one person who is looking at you. There is one person that cares more about what they do on the line than what the backs do with the ball. That person is me- the HC. And, I don’t look at what they do just to get a chance to yell at them. I’m looking at them to get a chance to cheer for them as loud as anybody who’s going to cheer for the backs. I do not cheer to give them glory. I cheer in appreciation of their excellence!
I have to say my linemen have started to develop a swagger. I don’t allow trash talking. But, there was a little going on when the competition heated up in a 3 on 3 blocking drill. They would point and yell stuff like, “I beat you!”, “You owe me!” and, “WHOO! Give me my push-ups, son!”
My athletically superior, awesomely studly, runningbacks requested to join in. One of my pudgy linemen (2nd slowest kid on the team) fired off with an excellent drive-block. And, he kept driving! He pancaked one of the RB’s about 5 yards back from where we started. My jaw hit the ground at about the same time the RB did.
The back wasn’t hurt but, stayed on the ground with a wide-eyed look of disbelief. My o-lineman jumps up, points at him and, yells, “You got whupped!” before hustling back into position. He was absolutely ecstatic!
My other, more compassionate, o-lineman goes over and helps the RB up. He escorts him back to the drill with a sympathetic hand patting his shoulder. The RB does his push-ups at the feet of the o-lineman that beat him. Mr. Compassionate looks at the smug o-lineman that pancaked the RB with stern disapproval and says, “You beat him that easy because he doesn’t know how to do it.”
A third, way less compassionate, o-lineman looks at the back, sneers, and says to him, “Because you ain’t no Jedi.”
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Post by coachjim on Aug 19, 2007 15:42:42 GMT -6
Good story, that's cool about the jedi thing.
"Do or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda
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Post by tiger46 on Aug 20, 2007 15:22:53 GMT -6
The kids that play upfront are starting to have a little fun instead of thinking of themselves as rejects. They're starting to get the attitude that they're an elite squad. I hope that they can keep it going through the season.
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Post by los on Aug 20, 2007 23:22:39 GMT -6
Thats pretty good tiger, just for laughs sake, I'll tell ya'll a truely funny tale that happened back in the early 90's on one of my 11-12 kid teams. We got this new kid came out for football a couple weeks late (moved up here from miami or somewhere). Well the kid's only 9 or 10 yrs old but his mom wants him to play with us, cause he's big and for ride purposes. So ok, we got a new big lineman type, probably 5 foot 140 ish, really fast, 10 yrs old and no experience what so ever with organized football. After a few days of letting the kid acclimate and teaching him the basic stance's, firing out, tackling etc.., you know just basically how to drive block on offense and hit,shed, pursuit and tackle on defense, I include him in a little 2 on 1(oklahoma type drill) we're doing with the rest of the team. Real simple stuff, just one o-line vs one d-line with the ball carrier trying to read and cut off the block to either side. So I put Jason(kids name) on the defensive side to start with, explaining and showing him again, how to fire out,shed and tackle and he does fair, you know holds his own vs some of the 11 and 12 yr olds and makes a couple tackles but I notice he "is" very quick and strong for his age and his athletic ability is kinda making up for his lack of technique. So after a little d-line play we switch him over the the o-line. I remind Jason that "he's on offense now and blocking the man in front of him" He smiles with a big grin and says, "yes sir coach carl". So after the whistle to start the drill, Jason quickly fires out, forearms the kid in front of him on his butt, then turns around and nails the unsuspecting ball carrier with a perfect decleater, knocking the wind out of the kid, jumps up runs over to me and asks with the same big smile on his face, "did I do it right coach?" Meantime, most of the kids are howling with laughter, the poor kid who was running the ball is still in the fetal position whimpering, the other coaches, couple parents and the rest of the players hanging around are staring at me, mouths agape waiting for my response and the only thing that comes out of my mouth is "thats a start Jason but need a "little" more work",lol!
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Post by davecisar on Aug 21, 2007 6:17:07 GMT -6
Last night in practice had an 8 year old ask me an interesting question. I was talking about our weigh ins on Wednesday.
The ball carrier weight for this age is 80 lbs and I told the kids to be on time and not to do any dieting etc to try and hit the 80lb mark. This kid asks me "What happens if you weigh over 80 lbs?". I told him "You cant carry the ball or catch it on offense, they give you a spanking and make you eat a really gross tasting lolipop". The kid took it hook line and sinker, had a terrified look on his face, as he looked to weigh about 90. LOL little kids.
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Post by zippy on Aug 21, 2007 11:01:21 GMT -6
I help coach 11s and this year about half of our players are new. After the first practice (no pads) a bunch of the new kids where sitting together...huffing & puffing. I walked over, smiled, and said "you know we usually run twice as much at the second practice, right?"
You should have seen the jaws drop and the faces pale. I couldn't keep a straight face and then said "you also know I'm joking, right"?
Not nearly as good as the stories above but it struck my funny bone.
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Post by tiger46 on Sept 25, 2007 12:48:52 GMT -6
An update to this story:
Uh-Oh! It looks like Mr. Compassionate Jedi has joined The Darkside. And, it is my fault. It was just one of those inadvertent things we coaches say sometimes.
During the pre-game preps before our opener, he came up to me and asked me a lot of questions. Did I mention that Mr. Compassionate is also the "what if" kid on our team? Some of you other coaches may have one of those, too. "Hey, Coach. What if...." and he just keeps on with the "what if's” until you finally have to cut him off.
Before the game, that's what he's doing. It finally gets to, "Coach, what if I pancake somebody?"
Me: "That's fine."
Him: "What if I make him cry?"
Me: "Then I'll probably run out there and give you a lollipop."
him: "Coach, what if...."
Me: "Enough! Just get ready to play football."
Sure enough, it's 4th quarter. The kid is playing right DT. He was supposed to have lined up at left DT. They run at him. He fires off, defeats the OL and smacks the lead blocker and drives him right into the RB. The play is stuffed at the line. Mr. Compassionate and the lead blocker hit the ground with Mr. Compassionate all over him.
The other kid is hurt; not injured- just hurt. I run out to give my team water during the timeout. The other coach gets his kid up and walks him off the field. My player that used to be Mr. Compassionate points right at the kid walking a few feet away and yells at me, "LOOK, COACH! I MADE HIM CRY!"
I said, "I know. He's strong. He's up and walking. He’ll be alright." in an effort to cheer up the hurt opposing player. But, Mr. Compassionate is having none of that.
"I WANT MY LOLLIPOP! YOU SAID IF-"
At which point I squirted him full in the face with the water to get him to shut up before he said something to embarrass me. I gave them all water and, got the heck out of there.
That all happened on Saturday. At yesterday’s practice, he cheerfully told my wife about what he did and why. And, he asked her to remind me that I owed him a lollipop for making a kid cry. My wife came marching over to me and asked me if I had actually said something like that.
My reply was brilliant, “ Uhhh…no….un uh.”
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Post by eickst on Sept 25, 2007 13:42:50 GMT -6
Ooops! Maybe I should try that to motivate my defense........  |
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Post by coachjim on Sept 26, 2007 4:19:12 GMT -6
Here's a classic from last weeks practice:
Note: The cheerleaders practice over by the concession area and water hose. The spigot is used to fill up the players water jugs. Not many parents are aware of this... so...
One of my kids was loitering during a water break (as they often do) over by the cheerleaders and concession booth. I had been looking for him so when he finally gets back to where the parents are, his mother starts shouting...
"Shawn, where were you!?"
"I was over by the hose."
*parents' head swivel toward the cheerleders**stunned silence*
"Where were you?"
"Just hangin out over by the hose."
"That's not a nice word Shawn, stop it, now where were you?"
"I was near the hose."
"Stop it."
"Stop what? All I was doing was standing near the hose!"
I heard this went on, to the parents' shock for several minutes, before they realized that there was a water hose, and he wasn't referring to the cheerleaders!
They laughed for 15 minutes straight, and the 8 year old (to his credit) still has no idea what he said wrong. Too funny!
Over by the hose! Now i've heard it all.
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Post by los on Sept 26, 2007 9:37:45 GMT -6
LMAO, funny stuff Tiger! ;D And Jim, sounds like someone is watching too much "R" rated tv or listening to "gangsta rap"= Dang parents need to quit doing that  Must be an age thing, cause being in the over 50 crowd, I'd have thought "garden" hose also? lol! That proves it, I have the mentality of an 8 yr old.  |
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Post by eickst on Sept 26, 2007 11:49:56 GMT -6
That's priceless Coach Jim! |
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Post by tiger46 on Sept 26, 2007 12:54:18 GMT -6
LOL! I love that. "I was over by the hose."
los, trust me; the story doesn't truly give the whole incident enough credit. And, yeah... him telling my wife about it all was truly the icing on the cake.
Wife: "Are you trying to turn them into some little hitmen?"
But, even she had a good laugh about it when I explained.
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CoachJ
Junior Member
Posts: 307
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Post by CoachJ on Apr 25, 2008 11:39:49 GMT -6
We had a story similar to this this season.
During a tournament game, we were up by 5 with 10 seconds left. The other team called timeout and when they get back, they try the old "wrong ball" play. The other team is all just standing there, when the center gives the ball to the QB because they have the "wrong ball" the QB calmly walks 4 steps to the sideline when all of the sudden....he gets blasted by outside LB. Our whole defense was just looking at him like he was crazy and then the clock ran out. Game over.
When he came over to the sideline he was calm as can be despite the fact that we won. When i asked him how he reacted so qucikly, he looked at me and said "Coach, i wasn't going to fall for that nonsense, I saw that play on Youtube."
And now we know how technology can be used for good.
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Post by tiger46 on Apr 26, 2008 8:56:50 GMT -6
LOL! I'm glad somebody nailed that 'wrong ball' play before every coach in the country decides to try it.
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Post by coachdoug on Apr 26, 2008 12:29:01 GMT -6
LOL! I'm glad somebody nailed that 'wrong ball' play before every coach in the country decides to try it. A team tried that play against us about 3 or 4 years ago on the first play of the game. Luckily, one of my CBs had heard that this team had worked on this play, so he was ready for it and shadowed the QB and made the tackle before the QB could get going. I didn't even realize the ball had been marked ready for play yet, when I saw my CB tackling the QB. Later, I got really upset when I watched the video of the play. The entire offense (like at least 8 or 9 players) were moving at the "snap." The officials had been told in advance that this team was going to run this play, but didn't think it was important to make sure they got set before the snap. Not to mention the play isn't even legal anyways. Sheesh.  |
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Post by los on Apr 26, 2008 12:49:12 GMT -6
LOL....coach doug.....after officiating many youth games...even some jr. high games....I learned to understand....theres "movement".....then there's "enough movement thats early enough" to warrant a flag.....otherwise in most youth games...they'd never get a play off for the "yellow rags", (as one of our local mama's use to scream), thrown all over the field? You kinda learn to tone down your penalty sensors, in youth ball and let them play, unless it really effects the outcome of the play or is in the personal foul/sportsmanship category? You could literally call a penalty on "every" play, if you wanted?  |
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Post by davecisar on Apr 26, 2008 13:03:14 GMT -6
Im not sure we see that much around here LOS, Even in Brophys example I dont see a lot of movement.
Here is full game (first half ) of a 4-4 team playing against my age 8-10 kids:
Not sure I see a bunch of movement every play, The Refs aroud here are pretty strict.
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Post by los on Apr 26, 2008 14:13:26 GMT -6
OK Dave.....Thanks.... thats truly awesome.....your teams are perfect.....kids there, are far superior to others.....coaching is top shelf......I may have been "seeing things".....all those years, from the tears in my eyes.....being associated with all this substandardness  |
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Post by coachdoug on Apr 26, 2008 14:15:10 GMT -6
LOL....coach doug.....after officiating many youth games...even some jr. high games....I learned to understand....theres "movement".....then there's "enough movement thats early enough" to warrant a flag.....otherwise in most youth games...they'd never get a play off for the "yellow rags", (as one of our local mama's use to scream), thrown all over the field? You kinda learn to tone down your penalty sensors, in youth ball and let them play, unless it really effects the outcome of the play or is in the personal foul/sportsmanship category? You could literally call a penalty on "every" play, if you wanted? I know what you mean, and that's not what happened on this play. On this play most of the players were still walking up to the line and hadn't even reached their positions to get set when the center picked up the ball and handed it to the QB. Like I said, I wasn't even aware the ball had been marked ready for play yet. It wasn't even close and this level of movement would normally been called at any level down to 5 yrs old. Also, as you said, "unless it really effects (sic) the outcome of the play or in is in the personal foul/sportsmanship category." Well, as a "trick" play, clearly it was designed to affect the outcome of the game (which we ended up winning 6-2, so it definitely would have had a major impact), and since the play is designed to trick the defense into thinking that a snap has not actually happened, then the players being set or not is directly relevent to whether or not the defense would believe there was a snap. Finally, this play is illegal because of it's unsportsmanlike nature (see rules 9-6-4-e and 9-9-3). |
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Post by los on Apr 26, 2008 14:19:42 GMT -6
I agree doug, really crappy substitute for an offensive play.
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Post by davecisar on Apr 26, 2008 15:04:20 GMT -6
OK Dave.....Thanks.... thats truly awesome.....your teams are perfect.....kids there, are far superior to others.....coaching is top shelf......I may have been "seeing things".....all those years, from the tears in my eyes.....being associated with all this substandardness LOS, maybe in Rec level ball but for what most people post here, not the case. We arent perfect but the film clearly shows kids not jumping around on every snap or"chasing Buttlerflies". I guess it must be a lot different where you coach/ref. That was a VERY average game, first time ever with the Jet. Nothing special, but not a penalty on every play either. |
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Post by los on Apr 26, 2008 22:12:19 GMT -6
Dave, no doubt, you all do a great job there......call me crazy....but...if you're "not" playing for a school team, with all the trimmings of the local HS program..... isn't it "all" pay to play rec. level.....besides hijacking the original thread(which I'm sorry for).......I was sharing my experiences....that kids generally make a lot of small mistakes during a game.......the younger they are......the more they make......and they shouldn't be scrutinized or penalized like a HS varsity team.....doesn't mean you "shouldn't "strive for consistent execution on both sides of the ball and try to play by the rules......whether you're in a metro area in the midwest or a rural area in the south.....or what name your recreation youth football league goes by? |
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Post by davecisar on Apr 27, 2008 9:05:55 GMT -6
Los, Thread ride on their own wave, including those Ive started as well, oh well. Guess I didnt get that our of the post, my mistake. What I thought I heard was that you can expect kids age 8-10 to be moving or offsides on every play. The problem many new youth coaches have is they dont really know what kids in certain age groups can and cant do, they error on the extreme to either side and the kids end up not having much fun. I do aggree with your post to an extent. Last year I head coached 2 teams, one was an age 7-9 all rookie team the other an age 10-11 team. In one of the first games in the age 7-9 age group, our LG was holding the legs of a DT to his side, our guy was on the groound, holding onto the DT for dear life with both arms around the DTs ankles. We were running sweep the other way and were up by 2-3 TDs. The head ref saw it and just smiled at me . I laughed and told the player ( very young 7 year old) we were on offense not defense and that he couldnt tackle anyone without the ball. OTOH in same game we get called for a very questionable hold on the perimtier block by our WB- So moral of the story, infractions away from the ball not called aggrsssively, infractions near the ball called aggressively and of curse all dangerous or un sportsmanlike calls always called. This was the first year with this new age group and the calls got closer as the season progressed. However inthe previous season when it was 8-10 they called everything as they do in the new 10-11 age group. |
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Post by davecisar on Apr 27, 2008 12:44:14 GMT -6
Note, my mistake the age group of the clip posted is age 10-11 NOT age 8-10. They changed the age groupings changed last season.
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Post by davecisar on Apr 27, 2008 17:12:23 GMT -6
Dave, no doubt, you all do a great job there......call me crazy....but...if you're "not" playing for a school team, with all the trimmings of the local HS program..... isn't it "all" pay to play rec. level.....besides hijacking the original thread(which I'm sorry for).......I was sharing my experiences....that kids generally make a lot of small mistakes during a game.......the younger they are......the more they make......and they shouldn't be scrutinized or penalized like a HS varsity team.....doesn't mean you "shouldn't "strive for consistent execution on both sides of the ball and try to play by the rules......whether you're in a metro area in the midwest or a rural area in the south.....or what name your recreation youth football league goes by? [/quote) By most youth coach definitions "Rec Level" usually means it is a non competitive or "In House" league dominated by dad coaches. They are rarely very fundamentally sound or execute well. They dont play out of town, in tournaments or go out of state. Nothing wrong with that, it just is what it is. There are very wide disparities in the quality and competitiveness of leagues. every league has it's mission and coaching enclaves. Even on the tournaments there are disparities between the leagues playing at the "competitive" level. Again not saying one is better than the other, but the differences are huge based on the DVDs sent me and even u-tube videos. When you see kids jumping every other play and tons of turnovers and non existant blocking you know it's rec league. Rec also to most means no Selecting, recruiting or sending down to "B" teams. |
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Post by los on Apr 28, 2008 10:56:28 GMT -6
Thats pretty interesting.....thats whats nice about this board here....get to see how the rest of the world does it......share football info and experiences freely.... |
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Post by scotdaking on Mar 12, 2009 14:03:03 GMT -6
These are great stories. I am going to rank the top 3. 1) Over by the Hoes, 2) Jason the blocker and tackler. 3) Where's my lolipop Coach?
Great stuff about the O line. Players with a penchant for physicality love the O line for it can be very rewarding. My compliments to Tiger46 for acknowledging their importance and reminding them that he is watching (I need a tissue, really) and not just to yell at them. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by headtrip on Mar 12, 2009 20:30:07 GMT -6
you want to have a really good laugh? coach 4&5 year olds. most of the stuff that's funny would drive you insane at an older age group, but man you'll have some laughs.
we had one lineman that would fire out and block the defensive lineman, and then the next thing you know he starts stomping on the d-linemans feet, hard.
another kid, only happened once, in a game tackled some kid from the other team (who of course didn't have the ball) and proceeded to reach through the kid's facemask and started pinching his face. our hc had a serious discussion with the boy and the rest of the team. it was funny, looking back on it.
with all the equipment on they look like large bobblehead dolls, and do tend to get a little top heavy. one day, during our scrimmage time, we break our huddle and they start to run to the line and the next thing i know this kid starts to lean and then he just loses it. he starts rolling, looks like someone flung him out of a moving car, body parts going everywhere. the kid just gets up and walks up to his position.
same kid in a tackling drill, misses the kid he's supposed to tackle and slides (he wasn't running so i don't know how he slid, they were only a couple yards apart), as he's sliding his facemask catches in the grass and up and over he goes. i mean his feet were literally pointed to the sky, he rolled on his helmet. all the coaches kinda looked at each other then looked at the kid to make sure he was ok. once we realized he was fine we just had to laugh.
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Post by cyflcoach on Mar 12, 2009 21:42:17 GMT -6
WOW! How do you find equipment to fit 4 and 5 year olds? We have a hard time fitting some of our 6 and 7 year olds.
Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach
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Post by headtrip on Mar 13, 2009 10:24:32 GMT -6
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Must be an age thing, cause being in the over 50 crowd, I'd have thought "garden" hose also? lol! That proves it, I have the mentality of an 8 yr old. 
