Helmet stickers

I personally don't like them because it's more about the individual then the team. Of course you could give them out entirely on team goals as well. I've heard coaches whom I respect very much talk about them at clinics and can certainly see their point of view. I still choose not to do them at this point.

26 years of coaching and I've only had one type of decal on my helmet and that would be our team's mascot/logo.

We ALWAYS make our kids earn them.
Our original way was for every player to test 12 x 110yd sprints with a 45 second rest. We have time standards based on defensive positions. 18 sec for DL / 17 sec for DE / 16 sec for LBs / 15 sec for DBs. We do this as part of our post-summer conditioning testing.

For every rep they don't make under the alotted time, they will do 1 extra conditioning session following a practice (12 x 55 yd dash). If a kid misses our test, they are doing 12 sessions. No kid can suit up for a game until he has his decals on his helmet. By the first game we have 95% of our players with decals on their hats. The other 5% are new to our program or those who might be injured.

The second way is by participating in at least 90% of our summer stuff (instituted that about 12 years ago) - 80% participation for the incoming 9th graders. If they accomplish this, they do not have to do the 12 x 110's and get to root on those who do run

Those decals mean a heckuva lot to our players. After their senior year, I give them a fresh pair for their vehicles. It's great seeing them around town!

I've never liked the individuals stickers - we use T-shirts for our weekly individual awards because recognition is important. I guess I love uniformity on the sideline and field so I've stayed away from helmet awards but those who swear by them have their belief system that works for them and their players.

Extrinsic rewards are very useful for some kids and that little sticker serves the same purpose now as it did when they were a little kid. "Wow Sam the Sophomore great job staying after practice with the tutor today to prep for that math test." "Thanks coach I really want a sticker so I'm gonna get an A." It sounds ridiculous but it happens.

We got them for weight room attendance in the off season when I played. Every month with only one missed day was a sticker. I can assure you it motivated me to get in the weight room because I wasn't going to start the year with one less sticker than my rival.

I have yet to find a "team first" team that sticks to it. You know by not announcing who carried the ball or who made the tackle or by eliminating senior night. My experience is that while there is no doubt a benefit to putting your team before a single individual the idea that giving a stupid little sticker that really does motivate kids somehow hurts team dynamics is just flat wrong. Feels like a drive towards Communism to me to even desire the complete elimination of the individual.

I DONT WANT TO UPSET THE MILITARY GUYS HERE

Let me say that I have always viewed helmet stickers are a GREAT REWARD and GREAT WAY TO RECOGNIZE individual and team effort/accomplishment. for many of the same reasons the military uses medals and stripes, we use stickers on helmets.

We award academics
attendance
big plays on o, d, special teams
celebrate 100% goals met for indy and team accomplishment
we reward tds, ints, sacks, fum rec, big hits, 100 yard rush, rec, 200 pass, no int, no fumbles, 250 yds rush for the oline, no sacks for oline, and other things.

It causes no harm, the kids are so proud that often they want to buy and keep their helmets after the season.

We give out stickers. It has worked really well here. Been some places where it was not that big of a deal to the kids. here it is. But ALL are based on team accomplishments.

I'm a youth coach and the stickers are something youth kids love, from pokemon tats to their fav. pro team/players. It's almost the next best thing to candy for them. I can't give out candy at practice.

I'm not a fan of the stickers, but I'm thinking of using them, hoping it will bring a little extra encouragement for the players I get that don't go head over heels to make contact.

I'm thinking of using them only during the first 3 weeks prior to season start. Give these things out like candy for blocking, tackling, play execution, hustle etc etc etc. even for the kid that can't tie his shoes, if shows up to practice button up and ready to practice then he'll get one! as long as the sticker will help them each overcome obstacles they normally would struggle with soon than later, I see no harm with a sticker on the helmet.

I just not a fan of seeing the weak link on the team with 1 sticker and the team stud completely covered to the point they over lap. Not the best look in youth. Plus dosen't that tip off the other team who's your weak players vs the strongest players are on your team?
I don't need another coach seeing that my DE isn't stud because his helmet is lacking stickers. I'd like to make him figure it the hard way. No point in making it easier for him.

We have to decal the helmets with the team logo anyway and get them all cleaned up for that so I'll stripe them all down and once the season starts the stickers go away leaving nothing more than a team full of confidence. I hope fingers crossed.

I disagree. There are always ways for a kid to get a sticker for us. Special teams, weightroom, practice players, etc.
If the "team" accomplishes a goal you set forth then why not reward them? It works for us.

We give our kids a sticker of the mascot of each team they beat. Everybody gets the same sticker. The kids(and coaches) like getting the different colored mascots of each team. For example, red bear, gold paw, orange O, green cougar...

totally team awards once the season starts. We also give awards for the off-season and academics before the season starts - those are the only individual awards. Example - attends offseason conditioning - gets the gold stripes - passing league champs - got a purple football decal...

Players love getting them and if that helps motivate them then I will give them to them. Its just a sticker.

"trophies for everyone" has really ruined some of you guys lol. Seriously, its not doing harm to reward and recognize outstanding performance and individual accomplishments within a team. Being recognized for outstanding work is part of life. to withhold awards and recognition to protect the underachiever is an injustice in my mind. "look Id love to put your name on the announcements for setting the state scoring record but johnny two left feet is going to be pretty upset so I cant do that for you"

sheeze louise some can take something positive and put a negative spin on it and honestly, in some ways I wonder if its just because some of you dont want to put in the time and energy to got the extra mile to order the stickers (yes, its an expense too, another reason not to do it) and then take team meeting time to recognize those kids. Trust me, one sticker in an entire miserable year can make a kid feel pretty good. I have kids who get into mop up duty that will bust their hump to get the skull and cross bones. I have kids who wont miss a practice so they can get their perfect attendance sticker on that helmet. giveing a sticker to a top practice/scout team player each week goes far. I do not give stickers for jv games and that motivates kids who would otherwise be happy to just stay on jv. I have some kids who wont get stickers for things like scoring tds but they get them for good grades, attendance, community service etc. Thats very important to recognize dont you think?

If you take the time to work in team stuff then you will see the purpose of the stickers. For example, we give the entire defense a sticker if we get a shutout. We give the entire defense a sticker if we get a stop on a fourth down. we give the defense a sticker for a 3 and out. We give the offense a sticker if we get 20 first downs. we give the offense a sticker for 250 yards rushing. we give the offense a sticker if we have no turnovers or penalties.

we give out awards for touchdown blocks in the open field (want to see your kids block until the whistle?) Just be creative and you can use the stickers to reinforce what you want. This is part of training, building a program. Winning may not be possible RIGHT NOW at every school, the stickers are a way of celebrating performance regardless of w or l.

My kids literally are in competition with each "how many stickers ya got now?"

some more examples of ways to get stickers.

allow no pass completions to your man or in your zone
never give up your gap responsibility (reached for example) and thats a good one for teams that struggle with containment
big hits
big blocks
create turnovers
recover fumbles
interceptions
pancake blocks
10 carries no fumbles
10 passes, no sacks or ints
5 catches no drops

conversions
40 yard punt average
no personal fouls
whatever you want.

I refuse to see anything negative about using stickers provided the coach is smart enough to go further than just giving stars to guys who score tds or get picks and sacks. Thats not going to create performance that you want.

We've used stickers but stopped about 15 years ago. They were just more of a pain than they were worth. It was just something else to worry about with kids lobbying for stickers during films, etc.

I'm not crazy about individual awards but this wasn't a big philosophical decision. We just decided that they weren't worth it.

I really don't like them but you can never go wrong by recognizing a player.

I like stickers for academic achievement. That is about it. I could stomach stickers for attendance to off season events and work outs. I believe everything else is detrimental as it creates a game within a game. I have seen it happen in solid quality programs. The STICKERS became the thing, not the brotherhood. I don't want kids making downfield blocks for stickers. I want them making downfield blocks for their brothers. I don't want them competing for stickers. I want them pushing each other to increase our chances for victory.

In any sticker situation other than academics and attendance, there is a great chance that players not receiving stickers contributed to that sticker situation. Maybe it was the backup DL who did a great job forcing a dbl team, allowing the LB to scrape and force a fumble. What about the DE who hurried the QB into throwing the ball too soon, resulting in a pick. While you may reward the downfield block of a WR, or the POA block of an OL on a 60 yard run, what about the play before where someone made a play to convert the 3rd down...allowing the next play and subsequent long run.

I don't like games within games. I want the kids competing to compete. When it is nut cuttin time, I want the team that wants to do what it takes to BEAT YOU, not the team that wants to do what it takes to earn a sticker.

Especially when, as phantom accurately noted, they can become somewhat labor intensive. I believe time is better spent elsewhere.

It is a lot to keep up with. Sometimes the sticker process requires more breaking down of film than I care to do BUT THATS A GOOD THING for me. it pushes me too to take a look at every kid on every play even when the game is so ugly that I just want to forget about it. we might have had a game where the other guys ran for 250 yards but I have to take a good look at that defensive line play and find the positives. We might have another game where we score 60 in the first half and I have to watch the 2nd and 3rd quarter to see if "scotty sophomore" got his 3 solo tackles or if "jerry jerky eater" batted down any passes.

coachd505 was asking about the dt doing his job or a de getting a hurry.....yes, we give stickers for PLAYING YOUR POSITION CORRECTLY including those things he mentioned. Doing the little things well earns stickers just as much as the "fan things" like sacks and interceptions.

As far as stickers vs brothers WHY WOULD THAT BE AN EITHER OR THING? Cant a kid make a block for his brother and be rewarded with one more sticker on his helmet? of course he can. Instead of completely ignoring the fact that the kid made that block we recognize him and he wears that sticker for the rest of the season proudly. I think its worth the time and effort and we all know the kid is proud of himself for it and will do it again. Its a point of emphasis. he will tell his story about his stickers over and over through the season.

I see kids sometimes gathered around the lunch tables holding their helmets on sticker day, they cant wait. they get into these discussions about what each sticker means to them, how they got that sticker and of course how coach owes em a couple more ha ha.

There is no doubt about it, for US, FOR OUR TEAM and for every team I have ever coached, the stickers are overwhelmingly positive.


the worst thing? I spend 300 dollars or more every year on them.