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Post by sneakyben on Nov 24, 2008 5:13:29 GMT -6
I know that a good way to get your mimimum-play-players in the game is as a 'bearcrawling' DT, stuffing up the middle
However, does anyone have any experience of doing this in leagues where hitting below the waist is illegal on anyone but the ball carrier?
...
Also, I am after some technique advice for O-linemen on how to block such a player (other than staying low)...
Could anyone help with this?
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Post by coach79 on Nov 24, 2008 20:10:19 GMT -6
For the advice portion, We came acros a couple teams that did this and we just practiced to either fire out lower or push down towards the ground in the back. We never got a call on it or anything. if we really needed to we would fall on them, but that only happened one time.
-CB
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Post by belebuch on Nov 30, 2008 0:43:03 GMT -6
We tried bearcrawling during practice one day and you would be surprised how effective it is. I had my doubts also but now i use this technique in my D.
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Post by davecisar on Nov 30, 2008 7:02:41 GMT -6
Most teams that use bearcrawlers do it to do 2 things:
Clog the A Gaps in a pile to force the ballcarrier towards other defenders
Get weaker kids playing time
Most of the time it doesnt take much of a block to keep those kids out of the backfield
Most of them are coached to go to the ground and stay low if contact is made, they arent going to overpower anyone- So its hard to get movement on them in most cases.
If you use tight splits they arent going to be a problem
Unless they stunt in combo with linebackers (which we do a little of), which you should prepare for, not a problem.
GAM defenses will not do this BTW.
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Post by kkennedy on Dec 9, 2008 15:42:04 GMT -6
Any body ever heard of any serious safety issues with bear crawling d linemen? I have coached this technique for all of my 9 years in youth football without issue. However this season our board decided to vote to NOT allow us to bear crawl d linemen. I disagreed to the point that I stepped down over the issue. Supposedly our president had all kinds of information that pointed to it being unsafe. I inquired numerous times to have the info sent to me in an email but I never received it, nor have I been able to find any info like that while searching for it myself.
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Post by eickst on Dec 9, 2008 18:59:13 GMT -6
Just another example of a board regulating things that don't need regulating and once again doing it with misinformation.
I'd rather my MPP kids bear crawled and contributed to the team than go toe-to-toe with a player that will probably demolish them physically and emotionally.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2008 21:12:36 GMT -6
Any body ever heard of any serious safety issues with bear crawling d linemen? I have coached this technique for all of my 9 years in youth football without issue. However this season our board decided to vote to NOT allow us to bear crawl d linemen. I disagreed to the point that I stepped down over the issue. Supposedly our president had all kinds of information that pointed to it being unsafe. I inquired numerous times to have the info sent to me in an email but I never received it, nor have I been able to find any info like that while searching for it myself. Used it for 4 years, the worst injury I ever had was a stepped on hand. |
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ltlacy
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Post by ltlacy on Dec 9, 2008 23:58:36 GMT -6
I do it every year and cause fumbles most of the time, tackles of loss, and big pile ups!
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Post by kkennedy on Dec 16, 2008 15:57:39 GMT -6
Yeah again I have used the technique for 9 years with no issues whatsoever.
My president who had so many issues with it sent me an email stating that she believed it was cruel punishment to have the kids use that technique and also claimed to have alot of e-mail info from other clubs about it causing injuries which was never forwarded to me.
At the end of it all I think the issues was WHO I had doing the bear crawling and NOT that I was using bear crawlers at all.
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Post by los on Dec 17, 2008 22:27:44 GMT -6
While I certainly understand the reason for using the technique......lets you play your "not very athletic kids" on defense, in a useful manner.......you gotta admit......from a spectator standpoint(like a parent)......it doesn't look like they're playing football.......probably looks like they're crawling in there on all fours, getting mashed like a bug on every play? I mean really ......how many of you guys enjoyed "bear crawling drills", when you played?....be honest now, lol.... I hated it.....and would dread to think I must do this an entire game.......surely there's other ways to get these kids in a game(somewhere) that, at least looks like, they're playing football.....its all about perception.
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Post by kkennedy on Dec 18, 2008 5:23:00 GMT -6
But where?? Put them at corner or safety so they can get absolutely trucked but the other teams better athletes??? I just can't in good faith put a kid in a position where I know he is more than likely to fail especially when I know I can put him somewhere with a technique that is beneficial to the team.
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Post by davecisar on Dec 18, 2008 6:41:12 GMT -6
Many of our Bearcrawlers make plays, we use several stunts to get the guards going one way, the BCs go another etc, have had a good number of fumbles caused by said stunts.
Its all in how you coach it and package it. If you make the BCs a very special group with some of it's own swagger kids and parents love it, it's coaching.
Simply put, think about doing an open field tackling drill with kids in a 10 yard by 10 yard square, how many tackles is that super weak unathletic player going to make?( remember hes super weak, he has poor body control, poor feet hes not athletic or aggessive) He is also a very easy target for the other teams backs to get a whole head of steam and knock his block off with an open field block. That's the situation you put him in when you put him at safety or corner.
Contrast that with doing an "open field" tackling drills in a 1 yard by 1 yard square. Where does that super weak kid stand a better chance of making a tackle? In huge open space, or in tiny space? The less athletic you are, the more space is your enemy.
When he's getting blocked asa a bearcrawler he's dealing with blockers that have a 1 foot head of steam, not a 10 yard head of steam etc. like he would if hes playing safety or corner. Much safer for him at BC and he has a legit chance at making plays and adding value on each snap.
Put that weak kid at safety or corner like some coaches do and see him get burned right away for a quick TD>, how does he feel then? How about the parent? Well coached teams do that. Most well coached teams have a coach whose only job it is is to see who the other teams MMP players are, where they play and when they come in. I assure you if a MMP kid is put safety, we are attacklng deep the very next play or at best they are really playing 10 vs 11 football at that point.
Ive had defenses with BCs and without, for me it is the safest, easiest and most effective way to get a good number of rookie unathletic kids on the field from the opening gun on defense. We start unathletic kids at this position and rotate the starters at it each week. The kids really enjoy getting a chance to start and play lots of downs from the opening gun rather than coming in for a play or 2 or when the game is out of reach like so many coaches do. Parents really appreciate that as well, little JOhnny started last week etc.
Never an issue if you are coaching a team with 12-15 kids, in a YMCA league.
Huge issue when coaching teams of 25-35 kids in a competitive league ike many do.
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Post by los on Dec 18, 2008 21:33:15 GMT -6
I don't know what kinda offense and defense you play kkennedy.....or what kind of special rules you have there?....however.... I can tell you some of the places we played them but it probably won't help you out much....3 or 4 on ko team....3 or 4 on ko return.....in our 61 defense, we could sub them in occasionally for a series, here and there, at DG(with a good DT next to them)....or MLB(if we had a good d-line)....1 of the 2 safeties(they were usually our invert safety, to play the run, on pre-determined calls=better kid would stay in the mof).....let 1 play corner with a good DE and safety to that side......on offense(ran mostly dbl tight or pro "I") they could play any split reciever position, as well as a TE at times....and they weren't just decoys.....we expected them to block downfield and would throw them an occasional pass....like Dave said....if you have a large team, which we did some years.....it takes a certain amount of planning ahead.....to keep a smooth rotation of all these subs, going in and out of the game, at these different positions(we played 10 min. regulation qtrs. so there was plenty of game time).....something else we tried to do as much as possible was to platoon our teams.....if I had to estimate......I'd say in any given season, on a team of 24 players, ours were kinda divided like this with our oldest age group(11-12's).....8 really good athletes(usually returning players).....8 fair athletes(some returning, some new).....8 (new guys or just very unathletic returning kids)....by trying to platoon the best 16 kids, as much as possible, (left room for the other 8 kids to get in on the regular teams.... then they all had a starting position on special teams).....this was just my own crazy way of doing it.....may not work in your situation? good luck los  |
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Post by kkennedy on Dec 18, 2008 23:04:43 GMT -6
Los we play with fed rules and as far as play count for mmp's specials do not count. They have to be plays from scrimmage. Again my thing is that it was AND is still not a safety issue. I had someones kid doing the Bear crawling who did not like it and took it as a shot to their ego's. Even though I do alot of the same things with it that coach cisar mentioned.
Bottom line ended up being after 9 years with a 55 and 16 record with this club I am at a new club and they are less one pretty good coach.
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Post by los on Dec 19, 2008 20:42:56 GMT -6
Ahhh ok...how many plays from scrimmage does each kid have to get? We didn't have a "mandatory" minimum play requirement......but....since every kid paid the same 25 bucks to play, it was wise to get everyone as much playing time as possible......or face an angry parents wrath, lol......sorry to hear about all the hassle you're getting there and hope you find a good fit with another program......anyone that spends 9 seasons coaching youth ball, certainly has my respect.....like I said before, I understand the reason teams use the bearcrawling technique.....it just didn't fit with the way we played our interior d-line(ours were actually 2 gap players and aligned head-up on the ogd's and ot's)....so we used alternative ways to get these unathletic kids in the game.....sometimes they hurt us.....sometimes they made plays, lol
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Post by davecisar on Dec 20, 2008 13:22:40 GMT -6
$ 25, when was the last time you coached 1970? We paid much more than that in my last year of youth ball back in 1974. LOL Are those games with paid refs and on a real football field?
Most of the fees around here are $159-$1000 for an 11 game schedule, with the average probably about $225-$250.
Most coaches including myself find it much easier and fair to set a minimum play standard prior to the first day of practice and stick to it. Ive coached many more teams without MMP rules than those with. I play the kids 16 plays each if I have 24 or less, the more kids, the fewer the number of plays. When I had 36 it was just 6 plays, probably shoudl have been 8.
I think if a kid is consistently coming to practice ( they cant miss more than 2 with us and we let them go, 3 kids let go in last 11 seasons) he plays X amount in tight games and a whole bunch in games that arent tight. Real playing time on offense and defense, not just "throw away" plays on special teams.
You said on many occaisions that you had teams with 14-15 or so kids by end of season, so much less of an issue of getting kids in than when you have 25-35 from wire to wire coming to practice every day like many of us. This year we had over 85% of the kids on all 3 of the teams I coached have perfect attendance. With those kinds of numbers you have to have a standard to make it a fair and reasonable proposition for all involved.
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Post by los on Dec 20, 2008 22:13:57 GMT -6
Oh hey Dave.....no...that was my senior year of HS in 1970-71....fyi....but I did coach a youth team with one of my buddy's in 1972, lol...we charged 25 bucks from the early 80's when I started helping down here, in this league, till the late 90's, when I stopped....guess we're just "financially challenged" here in our part of ga.....we wanted "every kid" in our community to have the opportunity to play youth football....25 bucks seemed like a fair price.... still does... lol....so what does this have to do with bearcrawling again? Its "one" option, to get weaker kids in the game....there are "other alternatives"though, that may be more palatable to the parents.....who are usually the ones causing the "grief" with these league officials.....why?...cause bearcrawling the entire game, "doesn't look" much like the kids are playing football.....its all about perception......when they watch any other football game, like HS or higher level games on TV....they don't "see" anyone else doing this, lol.....can't really blame them.....is it any more dangerous a technique than other stuff, causing more injuries = "I doubt it", sounds like some league president taking the easy way out?....what I am saying though, is there are many other "alternative ways" to play defense(and offense) and get production out of weaker players.....but you gotta use your imagination.....stack them...stunt them...slant them.....split them out......cover their a$$ with better players....whatever, lol
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Post by davecisar on Dec 21, 2008 7:50:10 GMT -6
Never a fan of spiitting Johnny out with no intention of ever throwing to him, teams do that around here all the time. Once we figure out who is who, we dont cover him at all and play 11 vs 10 football.. Slants, putting them at LB in stacks (open space) puts them in a position to fail IMHO. We play them at BC, and then rotate them in on the o-line- no splits on the weakside of UBSW where all they have to do is cover the inside gap or wedge block or occaisionally crab block , all the same things our other offensive linemen do.
Personally Ive done it for 10 of the last 11 seasons and have had zero problems with parents or kids. It is essential for the success of the defense and its an entry level position, kids rarely play it 2 years in a row. It's all how you present it,m package it and coach it. BTW every week I se teams in goal line defenses bearcrawling, Navy did it yesterday. Weve been averaging over 90% retention ( in 2008 only 1 kids didnt return from my 2 2007 teams) and about 85% perfect attendance, so we must be doing something right. Better than the retention problems and issues you seemed to be having with your teams. Which is the end goal when you come down to the base question of how do you most effectively get these kids in games. The BCS start, they play from the opening snap, they get into the flow of the game and because of the position they are in and the technique and stunts they really DO make plays and really DO add value every play instead of just wishful thinking.
Price, $25 I figured it was from way back when you coached last. $25 x 25 kids is $625 which wouldnt even pay for referees for one season let along field fees, equipment etc etc Fair price? Not if you want to keep the kids in descent equipment, playing on nice fields and have the games reffed by competent referees.
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Post by los on Dec 21, 2008 10:59:46 GMT -6
Our HS program actually paid for the officials(as long as their season lasted)......since they were already there doing their game on thurs. afternoon......we used their field.....lights.....they loaned us a bus and driver(for road trips if we wanted it)...they gave us equipment for the really large kids.....all at no charge.....they liked us I guess? ;D.....far as equipment maintenance Dave, uhhh....I am an auto tech by trade you know....so can repair things(if you give me enough parts,lol)....didn't take a lot of money for us, just sweat equity.....good thing too.....cause here.....theres plenty of sweat and not much money, lol  But seriously and this is a good topic(hopefully we won't get locked for not starting a new thread?).....funding for youth football, to keep player fees reasonable for all......We also recieved(after the appropriate groveling of course, lol)....rec funds from the city councils, of our 4 small towns in the county....civic clubs gave us donations, like the jaycees, lions club, community chest at the local bank, etc....a few well off business guys in the community, would donate money every year.....we had raffles.....cookouts, etc...just took getting out there and asking/begging for it, lol.....public relations stuff.....so yeah, this also helped us keep the participation fee's very low for the players! |
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Post by davecisar on Dec 21, 2008 19:21:30 GMT -6
Every team fundraises and gets outside funds and does fundraisers. Even with that everyones fees here in 2008 are what I mentioned.
Helmets are required to be either recertified every year ($25 each with shipping) or buy new ones ($70-$125 each). They last 5 years max, that is just the starting point. They cant be "fixed" its structural.
I realize the last time you coached was over 10 years ago, but the price of things is quite high these days, Refs alone are 3 x$40 or $120 per game etc. Then add in blocking dummies, uniforms, practice jerseys, game/practice pants, balls etc etc.
ID rather keep the thread on track on the bearcrawler "issue" anyways. If the goal of BCs is to get them interested in the game of football and to get them in games doing something they can have a little success at. Or to be able to start them or play from the opening gun throughout the whole game. If that extensive playing time and success leads them to come out the following year, thats a good thing. If guys using this philosphy and approach have had extremely high retention rates and attendance figures compared to those that use other methods, if Im a youth coach, thats valuable information.
We have every player eligible to return but 2 now from all 3 teams I coached last year, already prepaid for the 2009 season.That includes probably 16 kids that played primarily as bearcrawlers. We had just 1 drop in 2008 during the season a 2nd year kid who played primarily Tight End. Retention, drops, attending practice has never been a problem here. How much of it has to do with getting each kid lots of playing time from the opening gun and putting them in a postion where they legitimately have a chance to make plays and add value on every snap? I dont know, but it doesnt seem to hurt us one bit.
Im always blown away by the coaches that complain about not being able to get kids to attend practices or dop rates in double digits. I dont think here is any way either of those things should ever be an issue when you are coaching youth football.
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Post by los on Dec 21, 2008 20:50:39 GMT -6
I agree with everything you're saying about retention, playing time, appreciation of the game and knowing something about youth football, I can understand "why" teams use bearcrawling.....but "you're preaching to the choir here", lol.....I'm not the parent's watching their kids do this all game, or the league admins catching all the flack from them, or the youth coach's trying to find alternatives, when the heat comes down on them....from what I understand (and correct me if I'm wrong), the GAM defense seemed to be one of the first to employ bearcrawlers at the 4 interior d-line positions? I assume you've modified the original WT6 to use them also, at some positions? Not sure about any others? Nothing wrong with it at all, if thats what you like and the parents have no problem with it....The bearcrawl just wasn't a common practice here and teams still found ways to play all their kids somewhere.....these teams play a similar defensive style to what their respective jr. high teams play(usually some version of an 8 man front)....not saying its better or worse.....just the way it is! We did as well in "out of league" games, where stunting/blitzing from depth was allowed.....I actually loved the 53/33 stack and would often put these unathletic kids in as stack backers and run tap stunts with them....was a good equalizer, allowed them to make some plays and more importantly....it "looked like" they were really contributing to the effort, lol....it took a little more imagination and planning to fit them in our normal 61 defense(as I mentioned in the earlier post) we played in regular league games....offensively, some of these unathletic kids made some key catches and blocks for us over the years, playing at the wr. positions, so in my opinion, they weren't wasted there....now...if you just make them run wind sprints every play,as decoys, I agree....thats a waste!
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Post by davecisar on Dec 22, 2008 6:17:03 GMT -6
Well your unathletic kids must be a heck more "athletic" than mine. My 6 worst you could throw 100 perfect passes to them ON Air and they might catch 4-5. Put them in a real game with defenders and a pass rush and a crowd etc. Im getting them the ball on a direct snap when we are up a couple of scores, not relying on them to make a catch in a key situation.
In youth football at age 8-10 the average completion rate is about 20%, throwing to your very best kids. At the Pop Warner national championships, the BEST teams of 1000s of teams at the Junior Pee Wee level (same age group with older lighter 11s) the final 4 teams pass completion percentage in 2007 was less than 25%.
That figure would lead most to believe that if that is the best the best teams with the best players can complete, the chances of a less competent team with far less competent players (mmp kids) would fair much worse.
As to blitzing MMP players, mine are too slow, cant change direction etc to do any kind of LB stand up LB stunt effectively. A stand up MMP player in space is a big target and has little chance of making any kind of play. LBs spots are reserved for the very best players on the team, because that is the position that requires the most athleticism in a youth football defense. even on "blitzes". In my opinion those kids would be wasted players and have little chance of making a play or adding value on a snap. I guess if the entire goal was to make sure they "looked" like they were football players to placate parents ( I prefer to resolve that before the first practice, explaining team football and why we do what we do) I guess you could line him up as a wide out and have him run endless streak patterns. Same result, he looks like a football player, doing football player stuff but he isnt really accomplishing anything for the team or making any plays. A number of teams around here do that, once we figure it out we just leave that player uncovered. We have a coach who all he does is follow who the MMPs are and when they come in etc.
Ive never had a problem with parents whining about their kids playing bear crawlers. That is all explained day 1 in a 30 minute talk before the very first practice. If they dont "get" it we give them phone #s of competing programs and ask them to move on. In 11 years of doing it, have yet to have anyone take the phone # slips ( I did hand 1 out once and require someone to leave, but thats another story). Its all in how you present it, package it and coach it. Probably didnt hurt we were vying for or winning league titles 10 of the 11 seasons etc. not sure of all of the dynamics that led to high retention and attendance #s. But I think the playing time and putting the kids into spots they coudl have some legit success and add team value may have played as much a part as playing on a team that was winning etc.
The net is we have never had the big retention or attendance problems you seemed to face using the alternate approach you suggest and Ive coached it this way in 3 different towns, 5 different leagues.
Why do you think your attendance and retention rates were so poor in an area obviously football is so important and has such wide support. You cant get lots of $$ and support like you did from the community unless football is important to them etc
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Post by los on Dec 22, 2008 11:54:06 GMT -6
Ha Ha....OK Dave....bearcrawling = good.... everything else = evil.... I always figured people gave us money, cause they wanted to see the kids doing something constuctive.....didn't realize they wanted us to win youth football championships  Thats my bad ;D |
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Post by davecisar on Dec 22, 2008 12:28:31 GMT -6
The Goal is to develop a love and appreciation for the game, teach and retain Those that do that are doing well in my book Those that have high drop rates and cant get their kids to come to practice probably arent doing that very well, probably doing something wrong. The wins take care of themselves, a byproduct. Any techniques, schemes, processes we can share with youth football coaches that increases the retention and attendance numbers is a very good thing  We can also learn what not to do from those that can share thier failures and mistakes etc- Once we got the coaches, players and parents to buy in to our "team" concept, where and what they played wasnt really a huge deal. They just wanted to be a part of something they knew was bigger than themselves, on the right track, fun and special. Once you create that, the kids come to practice,dont quit, come back the following year and you have success on the field as well. |
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Post by jhanawa on Dec 22, 2008 12:39:24 GMT -6
Just my opinion, and I don't coach the real little bobbleheads (8-10), but If my kid was taught to bearcrawl instead of taught how to play football correctly then I'd have concerns as a parent. As a coach, I view it as any easy way out of dealing with unathletic kids. Again, just my opinion, but its the coaches job to develop these kids. I know this can be done because we do it every year. We get unathletic, out of shape kids that have never played before and teach them how to play football on their feet. I just don't see the value of bear crawling other than in a goalline situation, but again, we play at an older level (12-14) where bearcrawling would be a liability IMO.
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Post by davecisar on Dec 22, 2008 12:57:25 GMT -6
FOr the 100th time, all players have an offensive and defensive position. In close games they may play more on one side of the ball than the other. This insures they will play 16 plays per game for my teams in every game, no matter what,
Very few BCS play BC for more than 1 season, they "graduate" to more complex positions.n Very few games do they play only BC< but using that technique insures we will get him in a BUNCH from the opening gun, not just in "garbage" time or special teams. Parents love it.
BTW in 2007 I had 20 of 22 kids carry the ball on one of my teams and 12 different kids score TDS, including MMP kids. Same in 2006 and about the same in 2 of the 3 teams I coached this year. It works very well for us and my personal teams last 5 have had over 95% retention etc.
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Post by los on Dec 22, 2008 14:32:54 GMT -6
Thanks for that info Dave.....somebody finally told me how many plays mmp kids "must" play......so 16 plays is about the average for most programs that use this as a "mandatory" rule? Or is this just you're personal number? That seems to be a manageable number of plays , provided the games last long enough and your team isn't too large, even without bearcrawling on the d-line? This may be part of the issue with some programs..... poor clock management/use of timeouts.....the games aren't long enough in duration.....or some kind of running clock/mercy rule deal....that doesn't allow for proper substitution of weaker kids......we didn't have any mercy rules or running clock, and playing 8 minute or 10 minute "regulation" qtrs.(depending on the age group you were coaching) allowed us to get every kid in the game, reguardless of how you played offense or defense.....this would be with an average sized team, like 18-25 kids.....now....if you wanna hear nightmare stories/or mistakes....I have some of them too.....like one season back in the early 90's, when we had 2 younger teams(8-10's).....I coached one of them......both teams were decent size, probably 20 something kids at the start of the season......well, after two weeks into the season....the other coach quits/disbands his team(no replacement available)......the following mon. at practice, we have 12-15 new players coming over to our team(with the next game that thurs.).....so now we have our original 2 coach's, a couple dads that came over with the other team and 30-40 total players to teach and get in an 8 minute qtr. game, with about half of them clueless  ......needless to say, I missed a kid or two, that next game(and definitely heard about it from their parents!)  .....this would be an extreme case though. |
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Post by davecisar on Dec 22, 2008 15:47:00 GMT -6
MMP rules vary from league to league and vary per the number of kids you have on your team. Most 25 sized teams the MMP rule could be anywhere from 6 to 24 plays in the leagues I know of from the clinics I do etc. Internal standards obviously vary according to the head coach's philosophy. My internal standard was 16 plays when we played in a League that had no MMP rules and 10 minute quarters with 25 kids. Of course real football, no running clock thing etc. BTW Our internal standard is 16 plays BUT we tell the parents it is just 10 plays, so if by some circumstance we just got 16 it was still 60% more than the original "deal". Coaching is communicating effectively and setting reasonable expectations If the other coach of your sister team started with 20+ kids and ended with 12-15 wow, he would be the poster boy for what not to do, how not to run a team. A usefull exercise would be to do the exact opposite, ala George Constanza of what this 'coach" did Ha ha. Losing that many kids is a "you" problem, especially in an area with so much community support. |
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Post by dvo45 on Jan 2, 2009 6:49:43 GMT -6
Just my opinion, and I don't coach the real little bobbleheads (8-10), but If my kid was taught to bearcrawl instead of taught how to play football correctly then I'd have concerns as a parent. As a coach, I view it as any easy way out of dealing with unathletic kids. Again, just my opinion, but its the coaches job to develop these kids. I know this can be done because we do it every year. We get unathletic, out of shape kids that have never played before and teach them how to play football on their feet. I just don't see the value of bear crawling other than in a goalline situation, but again, we play at an older level (12-14) where bearcrawling would be a liability IMO. I used to feel the same way about bear crawling until this past season when a few of the 8th grade kids I coach started to do it. They said it really helped them get penetration faster. |
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Post by coachorr on Jan 2, 2009 10:59:18 GMT -6
kKennedy,
Sorry I am coming to this conversation late, but you said:
"I disagreed to the point that I stepped down over the issue. Supposedly our president had all kinds of information that pointed to it being unsafe."
That guy is full of it.
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But seriously and this is a good topic(hopefully we won't get locked for not starting a new thread?).....funding for youth football, to keep player fees reasonable for all......We also recieved(after the appropriate groveling of course, lol)....rec funds from the city councils, of our 4 small towns in the county....civic clubs gave us donations, like the jaycees, lions club, community chest at the local bank, etc....a few well off business guys in the community, would donate money every year.....we had raffles.....cookouts, etc...just took getting out there and asking/begging for it, lol.....public relations stuff.....so yeah, this also helped us keep the participation fee's very low for the players! 
Thats my bad ;D
......needless to say, I missed a kid or two, that next game(and definitely heard about it from their parents!) 
.....this would be an extreme case though. 