Post by bobgoodman on Aug 23, 2010 22:24:35 GMT -6
I'm still learning about how this organiz'n (Bronx Warriors) works. I understand the reasons, but there are certain drawbacks to how things are done.
An effort is made to keep teams with returning players together if they still qualify by age and weight for their division. The rest of the players are distributed via a draft, with dissolution or addition of teams as needed to get to rosters of the size they want. (And one team was dissolved because it was just plain weak.) Ideally they'd like exactly 22 players per team, with separate offense & defense platoons for the first half of each game, and free substitution thereafter; fewer than 22 is workable, more than 22 a problem. In the Pee Wees we have 5 teams with I think around 90 players total.
Practices are twice a week in each division, and before the draft all the players are mixed in practices. They start with a few sessions that are mixed practice + evaluation, with a coach at each station scouting for all the other coaches, and a clipboard with scores passing from station to station. But now we're in an iin-between situation -- the draft still hasn't taken place, but the veterans are now with their team coaches and the rookies (plus players from dissolved teams) moving from station to station with no clipboard, no formal evaluation.
Today, in what I take to be my assignment for the season, I was assigned to the Blue Devils (Pee Wee div.), of which few players are returning in that class. The head coach of our team decided on a few drills, and we spent most of our time in 1-on-1 tackling. The veterans were good and the rookies, though physically matched, were mostly awful. I asked our head coach if we could take some time this time to teach form, but as I said it I realized the answer, which he confirmed: It would be a waste to teach form at this time, when he doesn't know which of those players we would wind up with.
See, the coaches in the league are pretty competitive. And it's hard to blame the president for allowing them to get their veteran players together at this time. But running these drills without form instruction is a rather inefficient use of time when it comes to preparing the players. We'll have one more session like this before the draft.
As we were leaving, the president seemed to read my mind when he said he wanted all the coaches at the draft, not just the head coaches. I'd thought of skipping it, considering that, especially as bad as I am remembering people, I thought it unlikely I'd be able to contribute useful info to the head coach of the Blue Devils. (Plus, I'm not so competitive that I really care about the draft, other than that there's a fair distribution of talent. Once I see the hand we're dealt, then I'll get competitive.) Some of the players have their names on the fronts of their helmets, but far from all of them, and all of the coaches were saying frequently, "Who?" But it's like our president deliberately wanted to exercise my inferior people-remembering faculty when he said that I just might remember someone our team would want to draft; he encourages us to keep taking written notes. (BTW, the president has a warm personality, and the whole staff seems very collegial, much better than previous organiz'ns I've coached with.)
Total practice time is less than for other programs I've coached in, and the season is a bit more structured. I've heard all the teams in each class are to install offense & defense from the same core playbook ("pro", which I gather to mean 1960s style, is what I've heard, but with not many pass plays at our level) and use that for the first 3 games, after which they can depart all they want. Of course it would be foolish to branch off too much, because then we'd be throwing away whatever we'd worked on up until then.
Oh, just to throw in a data point re a recent discussion -- we do static stretching first thing. I've come not to believe in it, but if that's what they want...I was even given charge of it last Thurs.
An effort is made to keep teams with returning players together if they still qualify by age and weight for their division. The rest of the players are distributed via a draft, with dissolution or addition of teams as needed to get to rosters of the size they want. (And one team was dissolved because it was just plain weak.) Ideally they'd like exactly 22 players per team, with separate offense & defense platoons for the first half of each game, and free substitution thereafter; fewer than 22 is workable, more than 22 a problem. In the Pee Wees we have 5 teams with I think around 90 players total.
Practices are twice a week in each division, and before the draft all the players are mixed in practices. They start with a few sessions that are mixed practice + evaluation, with a coach at each station scouting for all the other coaches, and a clipboard with scores passing from station to station. But now we're in an iin-between situation -- the draft still hasn't taken place, but the veterans are now with their team coaches and the rookies (plus players from dissolved teams) moving from station to station with no clipboard, no formal evaluation.
Today, in what I take to be my assignment for the season, I was assigned to the Blue Devils (Pee Wee div.), of which few players are returning in that class. The head coach of our team decided on a few drills, and we spent most of our time in 1-on-1 tackling. The veterans were good and the rookies, though physically matched, were mostly awful. I asked our head coach if we could take some time this time to teach form, but as I said it I realized the answer, which he confirmed: It would be a waste to teach form at this time, when he doesn't know which of those players we would wind up with.
See, the coaches in the league are pretty competitive. And it's hard to blame the president for allowing them to get their veteran players together at this time. But running these drills without form instruction is a rather inefficient use of time when it comes to preparing the players. We'll have one more session like this before the draft.
As we were leaving, the president seemed to read my mind when he said he wanted all the coaches at the draft, not just the head coaches. I'd thought of skipping it, considering that, especially as bad as I am remembering people, I thought it unlikely I'd be able to contribute useful info to the head coach of the Blue Devils. (Plus, I'm not so competitive that I really care about the draft, other than that there's a fair distribution of talent. Once I see the hand we're dealt, then I'll get competitive.) Some of the players have their names on the fronts of their helmets, but far from all of them, and all of the coaches were saying frequently, "Who?" But it's like our president deliberately wanted to exercise my inferior people-remembering faculty when he said that I just might remember someone our team would want to draft; he encourages us to keep taking written notes. (BTW, the president has a warm personality, and the whole staff seems very collegial, much better than previous organiz'ns I've coached with.)
Total practice time is less than for other programs I've coached in, and the season is a bit more structured. I've heard all the teams in each class are to install offense & defense from the same core playbook ("pro", which I gather to mean 1960s style, is what I've heard, but with not many pass plays at our level) and use that for the first 3 games, after which they can depart all they want. Of course it would be foolish to branch off too much, because then we'd be throwing away whatever we'd worked on up until then.
Oh, just to throw in a data point re a recent discussion -- we do static stretching first thing. I've come not to believe in it, but if that's what they want...I was even given charge of it last Thurs.
