Anyone have trouble getting kids to show up??

Inner city has its own nuances.
I once had an inner city team where 1/4 never had any phone. When we had to communicate with them , we called a neighbor or went to their "house" in the projects. We had 2 parents show up at games, not enough for a chain crew. Loaded all the kids in coaches vehicles at the practice field ( right accross the street from the projects) to go to games. Many had not eaten by 12:00 on Sunday, probably over 1/2. Interesting dynamic you have to have experienced to understand.

Coach,
I hear you. I am sitting here at 8:30 Sunday evening. We start practicing tomorrow 8/11. I am always nervous about how many kids will make it to practice. I posted before that I coach in the inner city of Philadelphia, and I face the same problems as the previous posters. We decided a few years back to just do the best we can. We have an academic tutor, we have a very nice weight room, we lift in the spring and during the summer at 7:00 am. The problem we had this past summer is that most of my players had to attend summer school, so that was an excuse to miss the morning work outs. On top of this we were a 3A school the past few years, and this yea we are moving down to a 2A classification. The numbers n our school have gone down every year. I am looking at about 20 players right now. I am hoping that once school starts a few more will come out for the team. If we get 15 -20 9th graders then they will fill out our JV team.
I just got off the phone with my wife,(she is out of town with the kids, I stayed home to get ready for tomorrow), and she said that I am always discouraged the first week of football.
Now having said all of that, we are still a tough football team. We have had winning seasons the past 3 years, and the kids seem to pick things up pretty quickly. You must stay positive in front of the kids. That is one thing which I have always done, and they do pick up on that.
Good luck to you, and evryone else as your seasons start.
Coach Geiser

I think seeing this topic must be a sign from God. We are about the only school in our city with any issues regarding to getting kids to show up for practice. Coach Geiser our situation is similar to yours - we are an underfilled 3A school that has had 4 coaches in 4 years. My head coach, myself, and the assistants are dedicated, yet we had more show up to 7 on 7's during the summer than actual practice right now. We have a game in 12 days and currently have 15-20 kids in all. It's hard some days not to get down, especially when you have 10 guys show up for a practice and you can't even go against air on one side of the ball, but you really have to be strong.

I really did some thinking this weekend and have some ideas that I'm going to present tomorrow, but you guys are hitting the nail on the head, you can't show the frustration and disappointment in front of the kids and I think at times we have, just because none of us has ever been in a situation this dire. But I'm really taking it upon myself as the OC to be strong, provide the kids with every chance to be successful, and keep showing up because things are going to get better.

Well, we have money issues too so some of this would come from my own pocket, but here it goes.

1. Community Festival - This school has had little support outside of the student body and parents, so I would throw a festival at the football stadium. The school is new - 6 years old, so the facilities aren't bad at all. We could have some kind of youth football going on, a fish fry outside in the parking lot, and maybe some kind of musical/talent show performance in between the youth games. This would be a Saturday morning type of deal.

2. Preseason Player Meetings - We would have a form we fill out as coaches as we meet with each player and their parents explaining to them the importance of their son to the success of our football program and outline the goals we want them to acheive this season. I just feel kids these days crave attention and discipline, and this kills two birds with one stone.

3. Offer Incentives - This school has trouble getting athletes to come out in general, so starting with football and other fall sports we have to offer some incentives to play and follow through on them. I actually fed them something small on Saturdays during the summer to try and improve attendance, but it didn't really work too well. Some of the guys on the staff were tossing around the idea of giving them a free spirit pack if they brought two guys that were eligible with them to practice, so that might be the way to go as a starting point.

4. Make Each Day Fun - Finding something to do everyday in practice that is truly fun, whether it be the linemen challenge of catching punts or coaches vs. players in 7 on 7 or a relay race by dividing the team in half and putting the linemen at the end to get them to push themselves, as coaches we have to do things to break the monotony of football to them.

5. Sell The Parents - A preseason cookout inviting the parents to have FREE food and have open discussion about any aspects of the program from play calling to playing time to any suggestions they have about making the program better. We have to get our parents to sign a pledge before their son can be even put on a roster so this is almost a must. The principal is even willing to go as far as picking them up on a bus so the administration is behind us.

The kids just don't want to play because of the bad experiences they had the past couple of years so it's a rebuilding project, but I've been through one before that wasn't as dire but it got turned around into a decent program and the resources here are better and I think it can get done sooner than later.

I think the main thing that will help out.. is I fully expect to have 99% of my team by a week from today..

We are purely going to put in our bear cov 1 and cov 3 on defense.. very simple.. easy to learn.. quick to learn.. especially being that we have been doing this same stuff with all of the starters all summer during 7 on 7..

On offense, most of the skill guys already know 90% of the offense.. need to get the line back to basics.. and install the rest of our run game..

I am just glad I am not running the Wing-T at this point.. and having to put all of that in in 3 days before we scrimmage..

The wife keeps telling me as well.. just worry about the ones there.. and worry about the rest when they get there.. and I guess she is right.. thats all I can do..

good luck to everyone..

So... in a situation like that are there consequences for those who did not show up one day and did the next? In the first two days on my fall camp we had 8 kids miss the second day. I am trying to decide what to do if they come back tomorrow. Our numbers in general are down so I really want all that I can get- don't want to run any off. But still want to set a high standard. Is falling behind its own punishment? Does the rest of the team see it as such?

Airraider--

I have learned that my wife is always right about things like that. She might not know X's and 0s, but she usually is able to talk sense into me when I am looking at just the Football perspective.

I don't know if you have given gear out yet, but I made three lists. Group A were the ones who did what was expected (fund raising, etc), B was ones who did "avg" and C were the guys that were flakes. Doesn't matter if they are frosh or Senior. A gets their equip first, etc. A few seniors are in group C and some frosh in group A.
First year doing it so we will see

My thinking is there is nothing more motivating than getting a shot at the "newer" stuff.

We take away playing time. Its funny how the excuses that parents and players make tend to go away when you tell them that they will miss a 1/2 or an entire game because they have let their team down when they miss a practice.