|
Post by rbush on Apr 8, 2009 8:57:00 GMT -6
This summer our staff is looking at holding a camp for students entering the 3rd-6th grades. I am wondering how long these camps should be. I have coached 3rd-5th graders before and know their attention can easily be divided (one kid was completely focued on going to Taco Bell after practice). I'm thinking an hour a day for two days. Does this sound reasonable?
Also, because this may be important, we plan on having our players run the drills and be very hands on with the youner kids. Build some support within the community.
|
|
|
Post by Wingtman on Apr 8, 2009 9:16:53 GMT -6
What I've learned is to do your youth camp an hour before or after your varsity camp. Your guys will be hanging around anyway, and its easier to get them to stick around for an hour before/after then to just come up for a youth camp.
We ran a youth basketball clinic 2 years ago. Had 3 coaches. 3 1st graders showed up. The next year we ran it an hour before varsity camp and had a much better turn out and as I coach I felt I wasnt driving up for just an hour.
|
|
|
Post by davecisar on Apr 8, 2009 9:23:12 GMT -6
Coach,
You wont get much done in 2 hours total
Ive coached that age group for 17 seasons, and they can go 2 hours no problem at all as long as:
You arent wasting any time No standing around It's fun They see some progress You incorporate "football" stuff
|
|
|
Post by darebelcoach on Apr 8, 2009 9:35:00 GMT -6
We run a youth camp as well at my high school. We go 4 days for 2 hours a day....we make it fun but also instructional...we end each day with a little 7 on 7 action (we let the big boys be the captains)...and we end the 4th day of the camp with a little BBQ action and we give them t-shirts....kids seem to like it and in the 3 years I have been here as head coach, it has gotten a bigger turn-out each year.
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Apr 8, 2009 9:58:48 GMT -6
Our staff does one through our youth league and the money goes to a scholly we offer each year. It is 3 days and goes from 8:30ish to 11:30ish.
we roughly have 80-100 kids come and devide them in to 2-3 groups, depending on how many we have in each level. The ages are rising 3rd-8th and are usually bottom/younger heavy.
We do 1- our dynamic warmup and SAQ 2- a skill session for O and D 3- 2nd session (switching groups) 4- finish with Rebel Ball.
Roughly 35-45 minutes each. When you divide them up, make sure the individual groups is small, so that they stay engaged. Keep them moving and switching. Offer lots of water breaks, especially for the little ones (they have as much fun running to the water horse as anything). We also do a popsicle break toward the end as the day gets hotter.
On the last day, we set up an obstacle course with hurdles, dummies, trash cans, tires, and any thing else we find and let them race each other. We also 'time' them in the 40 and pro agility. You could also have a FG kicking contest or do punt/pass/kick.
Be up beat and positive. Most importantly for the coaches, HAVE FUN!!!! Give the kids funny nicknames, jump in a do drill, let the little kids tackle you, etc..... anything that they will go home and tell mom and dad, and makes them ready to come back tomorrow.
This past year, we had the Carolina Panthers come in and they did the whole session one day and brought all their own stuff. They had it set up kind of like county fair where you ran through cones, caught passes, tackled dummies, etc..... If you have a pro team in the general vicinity, check with them b/c they all do something like this as part of community outreach.
|
|
|
Post by justryn2 on Apr 8, 2009 11:42:49 GMT -6
I agree with Coach Cisar, there isn't too much you can get done in just an hour a day. Some people might look at that and think that its just not worth it for only an hour. You can definitely go two hours if you keep a quick pace.
Also, if the camp includes 3rd through 6th grade, you may want to consider breaking up into two groups; 3rd-4th and 5th-6th. The differences, both physical and mental, between most 3rd graders and most 6th graders can make it difficult to work them together in a lot of drills.
|
|
|
Post by fbcoach522 on Apr 8, 2009 22:50:57 GMT -6
I am planning our camp for this year and am trying to make it more upbeat and you all have given me some great ideas, THANKS!
One question is do you have them rotate through every position or let them pick an offensive and defensive position?
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Apr 9, 2009 5:45:49 GMT -6
I am planning our camp for this year and am trying to make it more upbeat and you all have given me some great ideas, THANKS! One question is do you have them rotate through every position or let them pick an offensive and defensive position? for the younger kids we keep it pretty basic and let them choose, for the older kids (we have middle school ball) tend to steer them towards certain positions, but usually the better ones will be playing both ways in the fall. If the chubby little 3rd graders is going to sit by himself and spit on fire ant hills if he doesn't get to be a QB, we will let him be a QB. The important thing is make them want to come back and play. We have a good relationship with the youth league and we do clinics for the coaches so they are on the same page with us at the high school. So as the kids come up through the ranks, they get steered closer to where they need to play. We have a good group of OL coaches and they do a lot to help foster the OL type kids and get them excited about the position.
|
|
|
Post by coache67 on Apr 9, 2009 6:52:14 GMT -6
We do one week M-F 9-2. The first two days are instruction in the morning and application in the afternoon. Wed Thur are straight 7 on 7, with the championship games being on Friday. We "test" them in the 40, 20, pro agility, pushups, pullups and situps in addition to a punt, pass contest on Mon and Tues also. On Friday we give them all Tshirts, have a pizza party and hand out certiificates, take a picture for the local paper and send them on their way.
During the instructional periods, we let every kid try every position. We have found that having the kids run around and play football is a lot more beneficial to gaining numbers than just having a real football camp. You know who really loves it though, the moms!
Our varsity kids come up and help out as well by setting up stations, obstacle course and their favorite ALL DAY QB, BABY!
|
|
|
Post by davecisar on Apr 9, 2009 7:45:51 GMT -6
Why 40 yard dashes, especially for little kids?
How many youth football plays in a real game require kids to run 40 yards?
Less than 2% in the games I analyzed.
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Apr 9, 2009 8:20:41 GMT -6
You'd be surprised how many want to know their 40. The young'uns just want to run, but if you give them a time, you'll be surprised how many will remember it the next year.
|
|
|
Post by touchdownmaker on Apr 9, 2009 8:32:10 GMT -6
Do you have to insist on insurance and waivers to run a youth camp? seems that you would.
|
|
|
Post by warrior53 on Apr 9, 2009 13:20:47 GMT -6
Why 40 yard dashes, especially for little kids? How many youth football plays in a real game require kids to run 40 yards? Less than 2% in the games I analyzed. because it takes up time - the kids compete against each other - and everyone uses the 40 to test speed - if you are going for that long in the day, you need some time doing something other than drills to break the day up - especially for little kids
|
|
|
Post by coachwilley on Apr 9, 2009 14:06:00 GMT -6
We do two days for 2 hours each. One thing we do is wait until the Carpenter Center meets and then we actually use half of the team as Team work for the individual teams. We invite their coaches and Taylor to the needs of what the coaches want to do. This year we also included the middle school program in this camp. They get a Tshirt at the end. After reading the posts about pizza and BBQ's, I'm wondering what you guys charge? We go 15 bucks.
The insurance is covered by their carpenter center league...
|
|
|
Post by coachsky on Apr 9, 2009 14:23:58 GMT -6
We run our camp from 6:30pm to 8:45 pm. Monday thru Thursday. We generate about $8k from our camp. Parents pay a rate comparable to other camps ($80) so we have to make it a great deal. We give them a nice T-shirt and nightly mini Gatorade and snack. We give out POD's (player of the day) awards for each age group and give them a signed football. We give a daily Team Player award.
We sell a ton of logo gear to parents and even sign up incoming 8th and 9th grade parents for our booster club. We don't take Freshman to spring camp, so we have a special session for incoming Freshman during our Youth Camp.
We don't do forty's or anything non FB.
We have 6 - 15 minutes skills session. A nightly competition. 20 minutes. 10 minute snack and talk to close. A coach or players does character/motivational discussion.
It's worked well for us - we should sell out this year at 150 campers.
I have forms, waivers, flyers. PM me if yo want a copy.
|
|
|
Post by davecisar on Apr 9, 2009 15:11:51 GMT -6
Why 40 yard dashes, especially for little kids? How many youth football plays in a real game require kids to run 40 yards? Less than 2% in the games I analyzed. because it takes up time - the kids compete against each other - and everyone uses the 40 to test speed - if you are going for that long in the day, you need some time doing something other than drills to break the day up - especially for little kids Ive done about 40+ youth camps: Lots of competitive team building games Lots of fundies 40s IMHO = lots of standing around and serve no real football purpose for the younger kids
|
|
|
Post by touchdownmaker on Apr 9, 2009 15:46:17 GMT -6
I would rather do a punt /pass/kick competition than 40s, I think the kids would too.
|
|
|
Post by coachdawhip on Apr 12, 2009 14:04:30 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by touchdowng on Apr 12, 2009 14:40:53 GMT -6
We did ours like darbelcoach
2 hours - grades 3rd through 8th.
We formatted it this way.
(15) General FB agility stations (30) 3rd through 5th Offensive Skill / 6th through 8th Defensive Skill (30) Switch it up (30) 7 on 7 Modified Games (our camp is a 4 day camp. We used day 1 to let the teams practice their plays and days 2,3 & 4 were for games. (10) Camp Talk and Recognitions
Make it fun, keep them MOVING and have one coach or player be the designated nose wiper. You'll have a few kids that can't keep up with the tempo and you can't just throw them aside. We have him spend a few minutes with them, encourage them and then get them back to drills. Never fails, there's usually one or two young ones per day depending on the heat.
|
|