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Post by coachcb on Aug 18, 2010 7:58:20 GMT -6
I have taken over a small, struggling program in a very isolated community; 8 man football out in the middle of nowhere. I am running into problems with practice because of the isolation. They have to bus kids in for practice and it's putting us in a jam.
1. The bus rolls in at 9:00am, I get the players out on the field by 9:30am and we're doe by about 11:30am. Now, this, in and of itself is touchy; the heat of the day is kicking in around 10am..
2. Because they're bussed in, they stay on campus over lunch. They're fed lunch in the cafeteria at noon. They generally finish up lunch at 12:30am. I've been giving them until about 1:15pm, and then we get ready and head out to the field. This time frame has been a b-tch, period; it's the absolute hottest portion of the day, they've got a gut worth of heavy food (pork chops yesterday...) and, even with a practice with a medium tempo and lots of water, they're throwing up they're lunch. And, I do mean medium tempo' solid rest between reps and drills. The kids are getting beat up and overheated because it's so hot and they don't have enough down time between practices. Yesterday's afternoon practice was friggin aweful; they were dragging and, in all honesty, it wasn't safe. We struggled to get anything meaningful done.
3. The bus doesn't come back until 3:30pm, so after lunch I have AT least 2 hours where we have to get stuff done. I don't have access to a gym so that we can stay inside and get stuff done, I can't run an hour long chalk and film session, and it's becoming very clear that this 2-a-day situation is going to get nasty quick.
So, I am going to have to make a choice here; I can't have the bus drop them off earlier but I can have it come back and pick up the kids right after lunch and get them home and rested up. They're getting beat up and the morning practices are starting to suffer. I don't know what to do; that afternoon practice is basically a waste. I can walk through stuff, chalk and keep things light, but that's not going to take much time. And, even then, the heat of the day, coupled with the lack of rest, and lunch is causing problems.
I don't quite know what to do here; the kids are getting worn down in a hurry.
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Post by coachbrek on Aug 18, 2010 8:18:55 GMT -6
Why can't you have one three hour 7:00 am practice?
I grew up in farm country we had one practice at 6:00 am, we had to get home so we could get in the field during harvest.
I know of other programs to this day that only have one early practice for the same reason.
They co-op with other towns and bus to one location for football, no two a days just one long a.m. practice.
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Post by 19delta on Aug 18, 2010 8:25:43 GMT -6
Coach -
Sounds like what you are leaning towards is just having the one practice in the morning. Given your situation, I don't think that is a bad idea.
Couple things:
1) What's the deal with the bus? Why do you have to rely on that? Why can't you simply schedule a long evening practice (maybe go 6-9 or 7-10 or something like that)? That way, you don't have to feed the kids and if transportation is an issue during the day, parents should be home at that time to get the kids to practice.
2) Who's in charge of the lunch menu? Granted, I like pork chops as much as the next guy, but how about a PBJ or lunchmeat sandwich, some fruit, and Gatorade instead? That would be a lot cheaper, quicker to prepare, and certainly easier on digestion than the pork chops. You have no obligation to put on a banquet...simply get those kids some quick protein and carbs and get them hydrated.
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 18, 2010 11:10:00 GMT -6
heck maybe if you can find the space, let them have some rack time to refresh.
Also, ice tubs are a great way to get your legs back quickly.
But like DC, i would try to get them in the heat, but just have a walk through. I truly believe that just being in the AC is the reason so many kids can't take the heat. We work our kids pretty dang hard leading up to doubles, but by the second week, we have very few kids struggle with the heat.
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coach81
Probationary Member
Posts: 13
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Post by coach81 on Aug 18, 2010 11:34:52 GMT -6
Coach, I would also highly recommend just one morning practice session. You will get more done, and keep your kids safe.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 18, 2010 22:02:32 GMT -6
Coach - Sounds like what you are leaning towards is just having the one practice in the morning. Given your situation, I don't think that is a bad idea. Couple things: 1) What's the deal with the bus? Why do you have to rely on that? Why can't you simply schedule a long evening practice (maybe go 6-9 or 7-10 or something like that)? That way, you don't have to feed the kids and if transportation is an issue during the day, parents should be home at that time to get the kids to practice. 2) Who's in charge of the lunch menu? Granted, I like pork chops as much as the next guy, but how about a PBJ or lunchmeat sandwich, some fruit, and Gatorade instead? That would be a lot cheaper, quicker to prepare, and certainly easier on digestion than the pork chops. You have no obligation to put on a banquet...simply get those kids some quick protein and carbs and get them hydrated. The bus is totally out of my control; I'm coaching at a private school that brings kids in from as far as and 100 miles away. We are very, very isolated and the bus comes at 9:00am, period. I might be able to have the bus driver come back and grab them at noon, but the AD won't be too happy with it as the buses are also bringing in volleyball players and cross country runners. Today, I went with a longer, more intense practice in the morning, fed them at noon, let them nap (in the locker room..) until 1:30pm, chalked and then went through a walk through practice in the afternoon. This was what my AD advised me to do and it had mixed results. The morning practice wasn't as productive as I'd like; they were still beat up from yesterday. The afternoon chalk and walk through allowed me to work with the assignments and alignments for a bit, but it still wasn't very productive; they're just too beat up from the heat. I am getting a little spooked; I have been pumping the kids full of water the last couple of days but they were all dragging this morning that were dragging and I think two of them ended up with a mild case of heat exhaustion. The practice was up tempo but it wasn't anything extreme. I use the a fast paced practice to condition the kids and never set aside a period for sprints and what not. Honestly, it was the kind of practice that they'd be able to handle had it started at 8:00am.. The food is what it is.. We had sack lunches for a few days and things went well; sandwiches, fruit, Gatorade, etc.. The cafeteria lunches are good; lots of fruits and vegetables available, but everything else is very heavy. I think this may be big part of the problem. BUT, the area is pretty impoverished; the lunches they're getting are probably the best, if not the only, meal that they're getting each day.. Catch 22; make sure that they're getting a solid meal with enough calories or cut back to a lighter one where they're just not getting enough food. Honestly, it's the heat and it's bad. By the time I get them geared up and out of the field, it's past 9:30am and we finish up at 11:30am. By 10:30am, it's been in the low 90s the past few days. Even taking them out and just going through a light walk through at 1:30pm is a lot; it almost hit 100 degrees at 1:00pm today. We're going to run through the same stuff tomorrow; if they're really beat up in the morning, I'm going to pull practice WAAYYY back. But, that's going to P-SS me off because the practice schedule revolves around getting solid reps (with enough rest time) at the basics of everything. I'll see if we can get off of the field quicker, get into my classroom and watch youtube clips of the offense we're running. That's a plus; they love the scheme we're running. But, if I want the bus to come back at noon, I have to tell the driver as soon as they pull up. And, again, my AD isn't going to be happy, if he even allows it. So, I am thinking we're going to work the same way we did today; but I may have to pull things back even further. They've got a three day weekend coming up (don't ask..) so they'll have plenty of time to rest and recuperate. But, it's still friggin scary..
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Post by coachcb on Aug 19, 2010 6:42:19 GMT -6
Basically you're just flipping the instruction. Where as we have pre-practice meeting, then practice. Your pre-practice meeting is the afternoon practice from the day before. At least that's how I would kind of approach it. But really? 90's...too hot? I'm assuming the humidity is high as well. and on a side note - those kids who hop a bus and ride 100 miles for a practice - AWESOME!! That's a love for the game. It's the triple digit days that are getting old... Swapping seems to be the best way to go; we aren't taking any steps backwards. But, there are times when we're stuck in neutral because they're worn down. We walked through several offensive schemes and a few defensive twists last night, we'll hit them full speed this morning. It's a struggling program, for sure. But, I'm really happy with the kids I have out; they've been getting their a--es kicked for the past 2-3 years, but they make it to practice on time, everyday. They're a tough bunch of kids and most of them are sophs and juniors. Hopefully, they don't realize I'm incompetent anytime soon and we can start to build something.
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