quitters in your school

If it were me I would ask(demand) that all team related things be turned in since it was given and not paid for by that person since it did essentially belong to the football program.

It's a theme around here that the quitters try to form a kind of suicide pact with other kids to get them to quit as well. It's kind of disgusting and more than a little bit upsetting because you realize just how weak minded some of the young boys are when they're swayed to quit because 'all their friends are quitting'.

I'm at the point where I don't mind the quitters, I mind the ones they take with them. I just want players that are strong enough to be unpopular or disliked at times.

Had that happen to me a while back...

And the more I reflect upon it... it was my fault. Taking over a struggling program, I was trying to foster ownership in something, no one wanted ownership of... a struggling program.

It quickly became my program, and I embraced it as such... taking as much pride in it, as a coach could. Some players bought in, but those that didn't, those that quit, had an easy out. They were quitting me... not their buddies, not their school, not their families, but me.

So they could still be with their buddies, who didn't quit, because in everyone's mind, they had quit me... and not the team.

If I had it to do all over again... I'd really focus more on the embodiment of team, family, and their responsibility to each other, almost removing me, from the equation.

I don't worry myself over guys that quit because they couldn't hack it. What bothers me is when the quitters keep on talking to players and spread dissention through a program, I saw it as a player and see it now and again as coach. Only then do I wory about how my players deal with those guys.

For the record, how are we defining "quitting" in this thread?

A great deal of wisdom in this post and I wish I had seen it about five years ago.

When I talk about this to the kids I use the analogy of a fight:

"There are three guys that want to kick Jim's butt tonight at the movie theatre parking lot. Jim asks his buddies Tom and Bill if they will help him. Tom and Bill say 'You can count on me. I will be there!'

Now, when it's time for the fight, Bill shows up but Tom is nowhere to be seen. Jim and Bill get their butt's stomped.

Now, how should Jim and Bill feel about Tom after that? Do you think Jim and Bill should still be best buddies with Tom? Do you think Jim and Bill should still hang out with Tom at school? In the halls? In the cafeteria? In Town? "

(The kids always say "hang out with em? are you kiddin? I would beat the crap out of him!)

And I continue, "Tom bailed out on Jim and Bill for one fight and you guys are ready to dump him for life. Why?"

(Because he let them down, he ain't got no heart!)

"What if Tom had told you, guaranteed you, that he would be there for 10 fights - Would you hold that against him any worse?"

(I'd never talk to that dude again)

"Well, that's what football season is. It's 10 big gang fights and some of the guys that you were counting on to help you fight those fights won't be there. Are they any different from Tom?"

(No)

"Then why do you still hang out with them in the hallways, in the cafeteria, and in town?"

Sillence.

"Think about that."


A few guys get the message, but the rest go back to hanging out with the quitters. It drives me nutts!

This thread just made me think of something from a few years ago. I was at a school that was stuggling with the level of interest in football. Football had become a bit of a joke amongst the student body. We were 0-9 going in to the last game fo the year which was a rivalry game that also involved a massive charity fundraising competition between the two shcools (raised over 300,000 in one week combined). The principle asked the head coach to make a PA announcement to the student body on gameday. He delegated it to me and this is what I threw together in the 30 minutes that I had. I adressed some of the issued that this thread raises and that quitting and quitters always raise. Our kids really appreciated it. Notice the subtle jab at the kids we lost along the way. There are several references to things we as a team had talked about throughout the year.



On Monday July the 30th at 8:00 am, 53 young men stepped onto the practice fields behind the football stadium to begin what is known from coast to coast, by young and old, as two-a-days. The temperatures that week and in the following weeks would soar to 100 degrees, with the heat index hitting 105 degrees on multiple days. The heat was brutal, and dangerous. Six high school football players died of heat stroke last year. They labored, they battled, they pressed on through the heat.

Then came adversity. They lost some games and the journey got harder, the road got steeper. They battled, they pressed on, they fought through. They shook it off and stepped up.

Then came the critics. The cheers overshadowed by jeers. The ribbing, the teasing from small minds and weak souls. They battled, they pressed on, they fought through. They shook it off and stepped up.

Then came attrition. They lost some of their brothers who wilted under the pressure. They picked up the slack. They battled, they pressed on, they fought through. They shook it off and stepped up.

Then came more critics. More teasing from spectators who dare not risk victory nor defeat. They battled, they pressed on, they fought through. They shook it off and stepped up.


Then came the moment. The moment in time when they realized what they were fighting for. They were fighting for each other, they were fighting for the fans, the fans that traveled to Clinton and stood at the fence cheering each snap of the game. They were fighting for their parents who supported them at every turn. But they also realized they were fighting for the boo birds and the negative Nancies too. They were in fact fighting through all of the adversity and all of the turmoil for the critics, the small minds and weak souls. They were fighting for those people who didn’t have the discipline to maintain their eligibility, the people who didn’t have the heart to battle the heat, to stand up to the critics. They were battling for those who did not have the courage to battle themselves. They were fighting for the critics because they couldn’t and wouldn’t fight.

Through it all they learned some lessons. They learned that life is not easy. But you press on. When marriage gets hard, and it will…when parenting gets hard, and it will…when life hits you in the mouth, and it will…you press on, you fight for what is important no matter how hard it gets. They learned to be players, not spectators, doers, not talkers. They learned how to sweat and bleed for someone else. The learned how to get knocked down, get back up, dust themselves off, and go at it again. They learned that real men have empathy for others, defend others, and love others.

Tonight the seniors take the field to battle for the last time. They need your support. They deserve your support. They have battled for you, all of you, now they need you to stand behind them, all of you.

Battered but not beaten, bruised but not deterred, they rise to battle once more. They invite you to join them. They have only begun to fight.

That was awesome rcole!

Good thoughts. I like the urinals idea.

If it is gear that is driving you up the wall......


WHEN do you give out gear?
We really didn't issue anything this Spring until like the last day.....meaning, if you didn't "earn" it, you didn't get anything issued to you.

I can go with that definition. I was asking simply because with todays 24/7/365 view of sports seasons, I don't think you can hold it against someone who finishes one year, but chooses NOT to play the next.

you guys may be right. In so many cases PARTICIPATION is used a tool to evaluate a program and a kid who plays as a freshman and soph but bags it before his jr year is going to raise eye brows.

so is he a quitter if he just decides to work instead of play football as a jr? or if his family needs him to work so he can go to college? I dont think so, I always think of a quitter as someone who makes the commitment when he turns in his physical and we take the time to suit him up....then he bails for whatever reason.

its not always personal of course...sometimes there are just other things in life more important than football and team to that kid.

I used to take it personal and disliked quitters. even was hard on them.

the off season points program has weeded out a lot of them. also, we do not hand out spirit packs(t shirts and shorts) until the last day of 3 a days. we now give them to kids as a reward for finishing preseason camp in good standing. all we issue is a plain practice jersey, helmet, plain pants and pads.

I disagree. I don't see it as a four year obligation.