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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 1, 2010 22:58:48 GMT -6
When I was an ass't with the NBYSA in 2007, I felt like I was out of the loop in terms of authority because most of the kids listened to anyone else in preference to me. In 2008 I was out of the loop even when I was ostensibly the HC of a team with the Gun Hill Rebels!
But this time I thought I was in the loop. Dave is the HC, Brutus an ass't who's worked with him before, and Eric is another ass't but has to miss a lot of sessions because of work. After the draft Dave said that what we'd need to work on most was blocking, and also somewhat with tackling, and I told him I thought I could be a lot of help with those things. Brutus did tell (Warn?) me that Dave was a take charge guy who wanted to direct and observe everything, but I thought for sure he would still sensibly delegate some things.
Today we cut warmup short and assigned the players to teams to start our actual team practice, and fortunately the preliminaries didn't take long. Turns out after tonight we have only next Wed. & Fri. to practice (and it's getting dark earlier) before a controlled scrimmage Sat., and then 3 practices before the first weekend of games. So not much time to put things together.
We had just 13 of our assigned (drafted + returning) players in practice -- most teams had better attendance out of the 19 we each have. 5 or 6 of the players assembled said they had tackle football experience, the rest green. Dave inspected every player's 3-pt. stance and lined up an offense. He started to give play examples, talking mostly to the backs, and our returning center explained to the guard and center on one side who they would block on certain plays. He asked me to work on the blocking, and I was just starting to teach a little form to the tackle who our center had been instructing against one of the 2 players left over for defense, when Dave broke it up. He then lined them all up in a single file for a drill that consisted of watching for when he moved the ball as if to snap it, while ignoring his verbal signals, and then running 15 yards on the snap. Once everyone was thru that once, maybe twice, we began a 1-on-1 straight-on ballcarrying-tackling drill, which we spent most of our session in, starting with players lying on the ground and graduating from that to a standard one giving them each a 5 yard start. Eric wasn't there, and Brutus had to leave early.
I would've started trying to teach everyone form, but Dave's method, except for the 3-point stances, seems to be instant immersion. Have the players -- even those who've never played before but had a little bit of instruction in the pre-draft practice-cum-scouting stations we'd had briefly under whoever's instruction -- just go ahead and try, using whatever form they wanted, and then we'd correct them. Kind of cut-and-try instead of measuring.
Near the end he broke that up for a brief "suicide" conditioning drill.
In between I spoke to David to ask him if "man on, man away" would be a sufficient blocking rule to teach them for now. I had tried to ask him earlier if he wanted shoulder or hands blocking, but he walked away and Brutus just gave me to believe that whatever I taught would be OK.
After practice, I told David that we had a pretty good group, better than others I'd coached, for listening to his instructions. I started to say, "But if it ever gets to us needing it, I've got a trick I used once...." (It's just a variation on one Dave Cisar IIRC calls "Ready-focus", only I make it a different sign and countersign each session, to make sure they show up on time to get it.) But Dave then cut me off and asked me what kind of work I do. I said I was a scientist. Dave said he'd been a teacher for 7 years (I started to say I taught too, just not classes full of kids that age) and that he knew how to get their att'n, and that if they didn't pay att'n and got splattered, that was their problem. He also said a certain player was borderline autistic; I was shocked, not having noticed that at all, and he said that was because of his experience teaching special needs.
OK, great to know. So then I suggested that with so little time to prepare, we could get in more reps if he let us run the drills 2 at a time, considering that we had enough eyes. Even with Brutus gone, we could each have supervised one group of half of them in the tackling drill. Earlier I'd mentioned to Brutus that Dave didn't have to drill the players one at a time in the don't-go-offside drill -- that we could have lined them all up at once and it'd still be obvious who jumped.
But Dave didn't like those ideas, pointing out that he'd had experience in this organiz'n and had played organized tackle football himself, while I never had played it formally, only rugby -- and he'd played rugby too, and blah, blah about someone he was close to who was a big player or coach in that. Well, OK, then.
Then I pointed out to Dave that a coach of another team (see, I had time to glance around because I felt so out of the loop anyway, and all the teams in a class practice on the same ground, same time) was wasting time practicing long snapping to his punters, when in our class we have no-rush punting, so there's no need for a long snap. Dave said that coach knew football very well. (Yeah, but did he know the rules our Pee Wees were playing by?)
So I feel like a 5th wheel on a 4-wheel cart now. Sure, I helped coach the 1-on-1 drill, but Dave and I were watching the same form and told them the same things. The only thing I caught a lot of but that Dave's not diligent in pointing out (or maybe noticing) is the ballcarrier leading with his ball shoulder & arm.
I'm trying to figure out if Dave really wants any help at all, or is so into control that we assistants are superfluous. I'm not trying to steer from the back seat, I'm just trying to help push the car, but I don't know if Dave realizes that. I can teach whatever form he wants, if he'll just tell me and not micro-manage the kids.
At least I got his phone number, and we have a week until the next practice. I'd just like to get a plan for next week from him so I can prepare myself mentally.
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Post by coachdoug on Sept 2, 2010 1:08:34 GMT -6
Bob:
The best thing I can tell you is to just relax and go with the flow. While I don't agree with some of the things your head coach is doing, he may well have reasons (maybe not good reasons, but reasons nonetheless) for doing things that way. Maybe his experience has told him that with so little time to prepare for the first game, he doesn't have time to go over the fundamentals of proper form in blocking and tackling - with the time restriction it's just better to let them go at it and see who has some natural ability - the rest will pick up the technique over the course of the season. Again, I'm not saying I agree with that, but at least it's somewhat reasonable. In any event, competent or not, nothing is more annoying to a head coach than a new assitant who shows up and tells you during the first week of practice that everything you're doing is wrong. I'm sure his reaction to that is, "Well, if your so darn smart, why didn't you put in to be a head coach yourself?"
If you want more responsibility, the head coach needs to know that he can trust you, and offering up a bunch of suggestions right off the bat (again, basicially telling him that you don't think he knows what he's doing), is a sure fire way to NOT build trust. Treat this as a learning year (even if it's learning how NOT to do things). I think you'll be surprised though - I suspect your head coach will actually get things done better than you expect.
Again, try to keep your mouth closed and just learn what he wants done and how he wants it done. He'll start to trust you when he sees you running drills exactly like he does (even if you think it's wrong), and when you start saying things like "You want me to take the line over there and run the 'Get Off' drill? I'll run 'em through one at a time and vary the cadence and try to get them to jump, and constantly remind them to just watch the ball, okay?" and the only response he has is, "Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say."
You may hate doing that, but grit your teeth and deal with it. No coach is going to give you more responsibility until he knows he can trust you, and the best way to build trust is to implement his system EXACTLY the way he wants it implemented - if you can demonstrate some success doing that, then you'll be in a much stronger position to make suggestions and take over responsibility for more of the team.
If you feel like you absolutely have to make a suggestion, ask first. Something simple, like, "Hey coach, can I make a suggestion?" And, if the answer is no (e.g. "No, that's okay, we got it - we're gonna do it like that"), just let it go and keep your mouth shut.
I hope that helps, Bob. I know it's a frustrating situation, but, trust me, it's what you have to do.
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 2, 2010 7:23:12 GMT -6
While I don't agree with some of the things your head coach is doing, he may well have reasons (maybe not good reasons, but reasons nonetheless) for doing things that way. Maybe his experience has told him that with so little time to prepare for the first game, he doesn't have time to go over the fundamentals of proper form in blocking and tackling - with the time restriction it's just better to let them go at it and see who has some natural ability - the rest will pick up the technique over the course of the season. I'm sure that's what he's thinking, and because all the teams have the same time restriction, he might even be right. Probably not, but maybe! And I'm willing to go along with it if he'll just tell me my role. I'm told -- and I've seen -- that the coaches are very competitive. While my tendency is to want to teach form for the kids' benefit overall, even if they don't get it fully in one season or until late in the season, the coaches want to win and win now. That's why they didn't take so seriously the practices before the draft. Before the draft, HC Dave seemed very different to me, and he liked the drills I suggested, like angle tackling, and we ran them. Now it's like, OK, now that that's all out of the way, he's going to micro-manage every detail. But that wasn't the way I approached him. I was like, great work, how about letting the rest of us do some too? I'm just trying to find out what he wants us to do. So far the answer seems to be: nothing! Like he has to personally watch and direct every player rather than give us instructions on what to do. At no time did I try to interrupt and say, wouldn't you rather do.... |
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Post by daveinsarasota on Sept 2, 2010 8:11:30 GMT -6
This is a tough situation. I have been in this situation before and it is not fun.
It can be difficult to balance competence, vs. that of being a know it all. When you're new to a staff...speak the language, assimilate to the way they are doing things, then as time goes by, you will be able to add your own methods to make them more successful.
When you ask him what he wants you to do...ask him if he has any drill in particular that he would like to see you run. Come across as being really interested, and do that drill as good and as perfect as humanly possible.
Regardless if you see any real value add, for example, in that "get off" drill, where they are lined up...you can use that opportunity to perfect their stances...work on their first steps...work on their reaction to the ball.
Let the coach see that you are trying to run his drill to perfection, and offer feedback to how they did the drill. Focus on the detials, and go from there. If to him, the details are how quick they get off the ball...focus on that...if it is discipline and watching the ball...focus on that.
Always convey your efforts, to be within the framework of the system.
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Post by mhcoach on Sept 2, 2010 11:06:21 GMT -6
Bob
Let me preface this post with, Please don't take this the wrong way. I am not in any way shape or form trying to be derogatory. Having never met you what I say is just my observations from this board, & my intimate knowledge of how youth football works in NYC.
You are in a new league, first year there. You have bounced around a few different leagues & it sounds like to me never been particularly successful. More then likely you come off a little strange to football guys in "Da Bronx". You ride a bike to practice, have never played, & don't sound like you command respect. None of these things are an indictment of your coaching abilities. It does however make it difficult for you to fit in. Doug & D I S have given you wonderful advice. You also need to realize that Loyalty is an extremely valuable trait for an asst. coach. Hopefully Popeye & Brutus, don't come on this board.
The other thing to consider, with only 13 players @ practice this allowed the HC to watch everything. Give it time, and show how well you can work within the frame work of a team. Trust takes time, & coaching ability usually bears itself out. Good Luck & don't get frustrated.
Joe
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 2, 2010 12:37:12 GMT -6
When you ask him what he wants you to do...ask him if he has any drill in particular that he would like to see you run. At least so far, the answer is "no"! And I guess Brutus knows that. Come to think of it, this may be a contributing reason why Brutus is so comfortable leaving early and why Eric wasn't there at all. Seriously, when he's got them doing it one at a time? And where the whole point was to pay att'n to the simulated snap of the ball? (He specifically did not want them -- said so -- in that drill to try to do anything else but not leave stance early.) I'm afraid all we could've done there was to get in the way. I did exaggerate a little our lack of contribution. One time in the 1-on-1 drill I did ask for one player to repeat the rep, and Dave allowed that. I want to phone him some time between now and Wed. asking what we'll be doing then, so I can mentally prepare and possibly bring incidental materials. (BTW when I asked our president if we had anything we could use as a "low bridge", he told me the organiz'n did have a chute in a shed, but that Parks maintenance people threw it away.) But I'm afraid I'll have to approach that phone call gingerly! |
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 2, 2010 12:40:17 GMT -6
You ride a bike to practice, Heh -- I wasn't the only staff member who did so. But I was the only one with rusty ol' 1-speed! Fortunately as I'm typing this I just got via Skype some good business news -- our 1st client ready to sign for the program I'm the science director of -- so that may not be the case for long! |
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Post by coachdoug on Sept 2, 2010 13:07:25 GMT -6
Regardless if you see any real value add, for example, in that "get off" drill, where they are lined up...you can use that opportunity to perfect their stances...work on their first steps...work on their reaction to the ball. Seriously, when he's got them doing it one at a time? And where the whole point was to pay att'n to the simulated snap of the ball? (He specifically did not want them -- said so -- in that drill to try to do anything else but not leave stance early.) I'm afraid all we could've done there was to get in the way. Yes, seriously. I think you may be approaching this wrong. Do NOT interrupt the drill to correct these things (stance, first step, etc). Each kids is probably going to be in line for 3-5 minutes before his next rep so you can correct these things then. After a kid's rep, if his stance or first step, etc needs work pull him aside at the end of the line and work with him 1-on-1 for a minute or two then put him back in line where he belongs and look for another kid that needs some 1-on-1 guidance. My guess is that your head coach will appreciate that kind of initiative, although he may ask you what you're doing at first (just to make sure you're not contradicting anything else he's teaching). |
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 2, 2010 18:37:12 GMT -6
Seriously, when he's got them doing it one at a time? And where the whole point was to pay att'n to the simulated snap of the ball? (He specifically did not want them -- said so -- in that drill to try to do anything else but not leave stance early.) I'm afraid all we could've done there was to get in the way. Yes, seriously. I think you may be approaching this wrong. Do NOT interrupt the drill to correct these things (stance, first step, etc). Each kids is probably going to be in line for 3-5 minutes before his next rep so you can correct these things then. After a kid's rep, if his stance or first step, etc needs work pull him aside at the end of the line and work with him 1-on-1 for a minute or two then put him back in line where he belongs Actually I was doing exactly that a lot in the last drills before the draft. Exactly why I didn't do it yesterday when I had opp'ties, I don't remember -- but it sure didn't encourage me early in the session when Dave pulled the team away suddenly for something else just when I was starting to coach them as I thought he wanted me to. (Brutus just stood & watched at that point.) Thanks for reminding me of the possibility, though. If Dave will just tell me the lesson plan, I'll have a chance. |
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Post by utchuckd on Sept 2, 2010 21:04:05 GMT -6
Good luck Bob. You and a lot of the other coaches on here sound like a lot better men than me cause if all I did was stand around and watch him run the whole team through a drill one at a time I'd have a problem with that. I may be way off base and you just need to build some trust with him, but he sounds like a control freak to me. Not that I think I'm the world's greatest coach by any stretch, and I wouldn't have a problem doing anything exactly the way he wanted it done, but I don't show up to watch other people coach. If he kept running it all himself I'd be real frank with him fairly quickly and let him know I'm here to work and I need a job to do. But maybe that's just me and I've never been in a situation where I wasn't given a position to coach and the freedom to do it. Imo it's his job to coach you up as an assistant to what he wants and let you go do it.
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 5, 2010 22:19:07 GMT -6
I phoned Brutus tonight to get a little more background on Dave. Biking to practice isn't the only odd thing about me in the organiz'n; there's also the fact that I'm coaching without having a child playing -- a real rarity, apparently. Brutus coached under Dave last year, and had started the year before when the team (and their sons) were in the Mites div. Dave had already been a HC in the Warriors who took over the Blue Devils when their former HC moved.
Brutus had not been surprised by Dave's "style". Brutus said that the real reason Dave needs help is to stand in for him when he can't make it. Dave often gets word late that he can't make it to a practice session, sometimes even a game, so he misses a lot. That's why Brutus was so helpful in the draft; he'd been to all the sessions, Dave had missed most, so Brutus had a much better idea which players were which -- even suspects Dave drafted the wrong one in one case of mistaken identity. Eric also misses a lot of appearances because of his police work.
Brutus says he doesn't know much about coaching offense, especially line, and that Dave doesn't coach blocking form, so Brutus thinks that's where I'll be helpful -- if Dave will let me! Plus Brutus is helpful with rosters and therefore keeping substitutions straight in games. So apparently our primary usefulness is not so much as assistants as understudies or stand-ins. Which makes it all the more vital that I get practice plans, even if only verbally, from Dave. So I'm going to phone him before Wed. to say that I want to get mentally prepared for that session and the others coming soon.
I'm going to at least figure out blocking rules for the core Warriors plays. If Dave just lets me go as far as teaching blocking form, I'm going to make the QB sneak a wedge, which shouldn't be out of the question considering I'm told Dave has the OL foot-to-foot, 0 splits.
Brutus thinks he, I, and Dave are "alpha males" who each should be our own HCs. But we just don't have our own teams.
Brutus already has figured out which players will play what positions on defense. We'll use a 7 man line, putting what were LBs in the Warriors core play diagrams (4-3) as stand-ups on the DL. Brutus figures to have the girl as a stand-up DC (or walked-up MLB), because she has considerable size and will stand up anyway. We were told by president Jerry to teach the line players a 3-pt stance, but that doesn't mean we have to play that in games! Even if we did, they're LBs according to the diagrams. They're just blitzing every down until we get 18 pts. ahead.
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Post by mhcoach on Sept 6, 2010 7:45:40 GMT -6
Bob
Seen lot's of Alpha Males destroy a staff, also seen them get along and make a team. Talk to the HC, don't post their names anymore unless they know you are(only reason I Post Pasco Paul). Try to be a good solider, it maybe a scary fact that you are the most experienced coach there. Work together & put the players first.
Good Luck
Joe
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 8, 2010 22:31:00 GMT -6
Judging by tonight's practice, it's going to be OK. Maybe Dave was just jumpy at the last session, and I judged him on the basis of too little evidence. After all, I did say he was fine before the draft. Or maybe he read my complaint here and realized I was serious!
Anyway, he did delegate much of the work today to me, Brutus, and Eric. It was like the friction last time never happened. We talked over our observations after tonight's practice and he took me seriously. I'm happy.
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Post by mhcoach on Sept 9, 2010 6:32:16 GMT -6
Bob
See patience does help. Work on the blocking for those core plays, & good tackling. You will be fine.
Joe
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Post by utchuckd on Sept 9, 2010 7:42:20 GMT -6
Good to hear, Bob.
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Post by coachmsl on Sept 9, 2010 19:11:45 GMT -6
Good Luck Bob!
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 9, 2010 20:03:43 GMT -6
Thanks, looks like we got it...our bye week came up first. That means we have almost twice the practice hours to prepare for our 1st opponent, and get to scout them. However, I'll be coaching solo at the controlled scrimmage this Sat. None of the rest can make it. Since our team rule is for players to arrive an hour early, if we don't have our QB sneak in by tomorrow night, I may install that QB wedge after all to satisfy the "core playbook" requirement. |
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 16, 2010 15:36:58 GMT -6
It's gone back almost to how it was at the beginning (i.e. since assembling our roster), it's just that I feel a little better about it. My having HC'd the scrimmage (see 1st scrimmage thread) doesn't seem to count for anything, however, in that the other coaches of our team weren't there to see it.
Monday we got in just a few minutes (after the all-teams stretch & warmup) before practice was called off for lightning. I got drenched, especially on my bike going home, but it seemed practice was canceled just after the last thunderbolt. But really we have no shelter in the park, so there's nothing else to do for it.
BTW, I have been on fields ringed by tall light towers, and I would very confidently stand in the middle of such a field during an electric storm, because there's no way lightning could hit me or a ground current pass thru the ring, inasmuch as the equal-height towers would keep the entire area within at the same potential. But ours is not such a field (lights only off just one end for baseball), and I don't expect to convince people even on such a field.
I think our HC overdoes contact drills. As an example, last Fri. we did more angle tackling, which I think is fine, but he set the players up so the ballcarriers had to run 10, and later 15 yards forward (plus the angle) to get to the hit area! Not surprising one player got a little shoulder stinger. As usual, just one pair of players at a time, everyone else waiting in line.
Wed. (yesterday) we did some 3-on-3, and as usual our HC insisted on seeing everything, so even though we (uncharacteristically) had all 4 coaches there, instead of 2 stations doing the same thing (or something different), we had half the players waiting their turn. It was strictly run to daylight between the cones, which is fine for developing that skill, but not for the skill of opening a hole in a particular place and running thru it. Anyway, I did get to take some players aside to correct their form, but I noticed that at least once after I did so, our HC immediately took the same player to show & tell him the same thing I just had. Good news: I'm not detecting anyone back stepping on our go signal -- but that's a cinch because many of them are hardly stepping at all.
Our HC got upset that he heard me yell "Stop!" before he was ready to whistle one dead, and that's true. The previous rep, we had one of the line players push the opponent's face mask, and I told him not to do that, and this time he was putting his hand in the guy's mask again, and I meant, "Stop that!" After I talked to that player again, our HC asked why I said stop while the play was still going, so I explained, and he took the same player aside and talked to him. It's as if I was superfluous except as a distraction!
Then we scrimmaged with everyone, about 8 on 7. I decided this time to huddle with our offense, where our HC was calling the plays and giving instructions, and to let our other 2 assistants (one of whom really knows defense anyway) to stay with the defense. I discovered that our regular QB was wearing a wrist coach, and that the offense was running thru the plays in sequence.
What I'd like to learn is what plays we're putting in beyond the Warriors core offense, so I can know what type of blocking skills to teach them. Our HC has acknowledged that he'd like me (maybe some day) to help with blocking form. However, it looks like the blocking he's having them do is your basic block-whoever's-in-front-of-you in the opposite direction from the play's direction. Unfortunately this time I was the one who had to leave early (to act as sec'y at an unrelated meeting), so I didn't quite get to see everything we supposedly have.
I learned from another assistant that that one player we had who was great at the cross-body block did not learn that skill from any Warriors coach, but from his father, who is varsity HC at SUNY Maritime College.
Since our scrimmage, I haven't seen the good player who mysteriously appeared on our team that day. I'm going to assume he was a ringer the organiz'n sent!
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Post by daveinsarasota on Sept 16, 2010 21:55:32 GMT -6
bob,
No offense, but you would have to be bounced from my coaching staff. You are coming across as if you are going out of your way to discover ineptitude on the part of your HC.
To be honest...you would be considered a cancer in our league. No other way to put it.
I am not the greatest coach in the world...but I have been around long enough to know trouble a brewin'....
Sorry...but that is really how you are coming across here. Simply put...a malcontent, and one has to wonder what the value add is, both for you and them...
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Post by coachd5085 on Sept 16, 2010 22:33:19 GMT -6
Davein sarasota
I am going to stick up for bob in this case. I don't see it much as bob being a malcontent. Rather I see him as someone who wants to help with football, and keeps running into inept leadership. Someone who is volunteering his time.. and apparently is just standing around. No practice plan..no organization etc. NOTHING is more frustrating than just standing around.
My reply might be shaped a bit by the fact that I am basically doing the same thing this year...with the exception that I have been coaching over 15 years at the jr high, high school and 1AA collegiate levels. Header has been coaching for..maybe 4 years total. I absolutely dread the decision I made to help out at the particular school I helping... so much in fact that I look forward to faculty meetings at MY school so i get to miss practice. Just a case where a guy doesn't know how to utilize people...
Bob..i feel your pain on this one.
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 17, 2010 2:14:55 GMT -6
No offense, but you would have to be bounced from my coaching staff. You are coming across as if you are going out of your way to discover ineptitude on the part of your HC. It's not just ineptitude, but "eptitude" or really anything I'm trying to discover! I feel like I'm scouting my own team as an outsider. But I don't complain at the practice sessions, so I don't see how I could be considered a cancer. My attendance has been the best of our entire staff of 4, and it doesn't seem like I'm discouraging any of the others. However, one of them who due to police work has had little attendance doesn't seem to mind being out of the loop anyway. I'm the only one without a family member on the team, so I think they would be there anyway. I don't know exactly how I got assigned to this team. The organiz'n advertises for volunteer coaches, and they want each team to have 4. We were told assistants would be assigned taking under advisement the preferences of, but not according to the absolute say-so of, the head coaches. So it may be that I was the lowest in the "draft" and got plugged into the last vacancy, or just some random decision based on indifference. So I can't blame the HC, who may have had no desire for me in particular, or for any non-parent coach, or even a 3rd ass't at all for that matter. At least I don't think he has anything against me! The players seem to give me more respect than did the players where I've coached previously. |
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Post by coachmsl on Sept 18, 2010 20:51:30 GMT -6
Bob,
Who do you want to be as a coach? Why do you want to coach?
Ask those questions about coaching youth football and use the answers as your mission statement.
Regardless of the situation you are in.
my 02
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 18, 2010 21:53:37 GMT -6
Who do you want to be as a coach? Why do you want to coach? My primary reason is to implement my ideas. If I could sit back and have other people test and probably improve on them, I'd be fine with that. Tied for second-third: I love children, love making them happy, and I love football. Seems many of the things I tend to like to do & make are kid stuff: fireworks (see goodmaro on YouTube), soapsuds (see below & other thread), and games. Fourth: I've gotten to enjoy teaching over the past decade plus, learners of any age. As to reason #1, see what I wrote in the other thread about the bubble bath. A friend of mine named Phil Clark explained to me many years ago that the way things are set up in the world in general -- someone gaining experience and eventually getting to direct things -- frequently doesn't produce the best results. What if the outsider just is good at innovation, not at mgmt.? Lots of good ideas then never get tried because the person who would pay att'n to them isn't in position to do so, and it won't do any good to put the person in that position because other people are better at managing affairs. And the people who manage frequently aren't necessarily good at evaluating new things. Phil was hoping in his own small way to improve on that situation. However, since this does seem to be the existing path, I was encouraged (almost dared) by coaches in another forum to try it with kids. I'd've started in 2006, but put it off after I had a heart attack. That's also a reason I have a sense of urgency about it -- the knowledge that I could drop dead any time. It's also why I'm doing this when I could be using that time to look for ways to make money -- I'm broke. But frustrating as it has been, when it's good (as it was today, I'll make another post), it's very enjoyable. What could give more joy than giving joy to a group of 10-11 YOs? It's literally fun & games. And my main hope of making money is mostly out of my own hands anyway, and I don't think extra time looking for work is going to help much. I should add a fifth benefit I'm getting: the exercise from the coaching itself, plus biking to & from, along with being out in the fresh air. |
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 18, 2010 22:47:00 GMT -6
HC Dave had seemed enthusiastic about having a practice session on our bye day, so I thought he'd have arranged it with the players before he left Wed. However...
Fri. as the players were warming up (all Warriors together), Brutus got a call on his cell phone from Dave saying he couldn't be there that day, and also that he couldn't be there Sat., so we would not have that practice, and that assistants should just scout the games in our div. that day. Eric arrived a little late. So I directed the first part of practice, working on blocking form, and Brutus directed the second part, defense, and then had the players run thru their plays on air. Brutus doesn't know the offense that well, so we were relying on them to remember what plays they had. Our center's twin brother wanted very badly to snap the ball too, but we didn't have time, although I promised to try to get him a chance if I could.
At the end of practice, I asked how many knew for sure that their parents would get them there if we had a session on Sat. at 11:30, and got 8 hands once, 6 hands when I asked the 2nd time. So I said, OK, that's enough to make it worthwhile. I was the only one of the coaches who could be there to scout the games at 1 & 2:30 anyway, so it was to be my 2nd solo Sat. with the kids. Meanwhile I left a msg. with Dave asking for a practice plan for next week.
I projected that 5 Blue Devil players would actually show up Sat., and hit it on the nose -- but not exactly the 5 I'd expected. #5 was...the girl! Wearing another team's colors because not only had she not practiced with us since we drafted her, she hadn't even gotten her shirt. Afterward she explained that she hadn't been around because her parents are overextended with her sports-involved brother(s) and sister(s), including one who was playing fall baseball at Stepinac HS. It was only later that I wondered how she'd found out about this extra practice session!
We actually had 6 players briefly, but one missed almost all the action due to some problem with the helmet padding that seemed trivial to me, but I'm not an expert in those fittings.
So we did some sumo (which they'd never done before), more blocking form, and got our would-be snapper his reps at center, at which he seemed to be about as good as his brother against a nose or A gap defender. Dave had mentioned that he usually put in some wildcat plays, so I figured somebody had better have some reps with a tossed snap, and it might as well be this player. Brutus hasn't paid att'n to the blocking schemes Dave has used in the past, but we think he just tends to base block everything, but we don't know for sure, and two of the core Warriors plays are diagrammed with the T & TE cross-blocking or wrapping. If the defense is in gaps, I don't know whether Dave wants them to reach play side or to block man away and account for the overhang somehow, so I tried to briefly practice them against various contingencies. I also retroactively justified the crab walk they did in all-Warriors warmups this past Wed. by teaching them to crab to the outside and cross-body block.
Not knowing what type of wildcat plays Dave might be putting in, I put them thru a skeleton series against air (actually against me) of the kind I'd want for my offense, except that instead of having the QB sidesaddle, we snapped thru his legs, using the base Warriors formation, which happens to fit my idea fairly closely. I coached the snapper up to snapping blind down the middle for one of the deep backs to step into and the other one to fake, cross-bucking, and got the QB to be a blocker, kicking out or double teaming. Who knows if any of them will play any of those positions, though?
We had plenty of fun for an hour and a half, and I got almost all of them moving almost all the time, unlike our usual practices. I like to get lots of reps in a hurry. Then I scouted the 2 Pee-Wee games. ACs Brutus & Eric both showed up toward the end of the last game.
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 21, 2010 11:15:26 GMT -6
At practice Mon. we had another player show up for the 1st time since we drafted him. I'm the one who takes attendance, and I asked his mother or minder why we hadn't seen him in all these weeks, and she said he's just been irresponsible, ask him. He just said he'd forgotten. Maybe some story they don't want to talk about, or maybe just as he said. Anyway, I told them that unfortunately we've no way to punish him for that, because the rules are that if they paid his dues, we must play him, although it's going to be hard considering he hasn't practiced since tryouts.
After I talked with the Warriors prez following a post-practice meeting (announcing that we wound up priced out of indoor practice this year, the public school asking too much), he mused with his other admins. that maybe they should have a rule about players who miss so much practice, like the rule they have for showing up late pre-game. We, the Blue Devils, looked like we were in better shape when we thought the players who weren't attending would stay away entirely.
Dave started practice with 3-on-3s, the rest of us just helping as usual to try to correct players' form after reps (having never taught them before reps). One question I asked several players on both offense and defense was which foot they'd moved first -- and the answer was that they didn't know, because they never got in their heads to step off quickly. See, they were taught their 3 pt. stances, but other than in my Sat. session, nobody taught them steps and staying low, so even though in most cases (not all) their stance was good, they do the perfectly natural thing on the go signal of first moving upward rather than stepping forward.
Dave saw me talking to them and had me pull Mr. I-Forgot-About-Practice and the girl aside for independent work. I think Dave figured them to be inconsequential and could form better 3-on-3 groups without them, so he disposed of me & them by this means! Actually I like nothing better than coaching up poor players on form, but Brutus and I have noticed that the girl gets a good initial push but then tends to look around at the play or for what to do next rather than finishing. Mr. I-Forgot during this indy work several times looked at other teams practicing, so I don't know if his head's really in it, but it's hard to tell after one practice. After a water break, we did kickoff coverage & returns, so that ended the indy work.
In my Sat. session I'd lined up double A gap defenders (shoulder to shoulder, splitting our center's shoulders) against the player who'd wanted so badly to be the snapper, and he asked me which one he should block. I asked him to pick one, and he reached to the play side, which is a reasonable response. After that I had him block man away. So after practice Mon. I asked Dave for the 3rd time whether he wants them to reach play side or block man away if they're in the gaps. This is a reasonable enough question, considering that Brutus is going to have our defense in the gaps! We play with 0 splits, but you could have someone on each shoulder. For the 3rd time, Dave responded:
"I want simple blocking. Some of these kids don't know their left from right. Just have them block their man away from the play."
Fine, but who is "their man"? After a little back-and-forth, I "understood" the rule as "man on, man away", although I'm not sure Dave really gets this. Also for at least the 2nd time Dave said that cut blocking was legal in the Warriors (the prez affirmed that weeks earlier, helps to know because some youth football doesn't allow it; white hat at a game Sat. said they use Fed rules), and that therefore he wants me to teach them cut blocking. Fine, if he'd ever give me the time to do so! And the time to explain which situations in which to cut block.
Dave looked at my scouting report from Sat.'s games, then didn't even want to keep the paper!
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Post by mahonz on Sept 21, 2010 17:12:33 GMT -6
Bob
I have not yet figured out why you are telling us all of this? OK so the Header is a control freak that needs to bone up on time managment / practice skills. We all have that problem to some degree.
So whats the real story here? Dare I ask....
Coach Mike
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 21, 2010 23:04:05 GMT -6
Bob I have not yet figured out why you are telling us all of this? OK so the Header is a control freak that needs to bone up on time managment / practice skills. We all have that problem to some degree. So whats the real story here? Dare I ask.... Coach Mike I'm not making it up, if that's what you're asking. I'm just chronicling my season, setting it in the course of my coaching "career", heh. When I first posted I thought there might be someone who had some magic way to improve such situations, now I'm just following up as to how things go -- the ups, the downs, the funny stuff, the "funny" business. |
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Post by mahonz on Sept 22, 2010 10:04:44 GMT -6
Bob I have not yet figured out why you are telling us all of this? OK so the Header is a control freak that needs to bone up on time managment / practice skills. We all have that problem to some degree. So whats the real story here? Dare I ask.... Coach Mike I'm not making it up, if that's what you're asking. I'm just chronicling my season, setting it in the course of my coaching "career", heh. When I first posted I thought there might be someone who had some magic way to improve such situations, now I'm just following up as to how things go -- the ups, the downs, the funny stuff, the "funny" business. Bob...no not at all. When it comes to youth coaching experiences you cant make this stuff up. ;D Cool...just thought maybe there was more to the situation. Carry on...I'll keep reading. Coach Mike |
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Post by mhcoach on Sept 22, 2010 10:41:18 GMT -6
Mike
We all have wondered why Bob makes these posts. I'm really not sure why, but I think he's attempting to show us he can coach. It reminds me of what my mother would say, " You can sit there quiet & let people think what they want. You can open your mouth & prove you are a fool!". While I don't fully agree with D I S, & others who think Bob is being a cancer, I do see their perspective.
I hope your season is going well!
Bob
Once again you are showing how you can be a problem. If Popeye & Brutus tell you to coach the player who is going to retrieve the Tee after kickoffs. Keep your mouth shut & go do it. Make that player the best Tee retriever anyone has ever seen.
It is very clear that Popeye & Brutus do not respect you. Coaching respect & trust need to be earned. So far you haven't shown them any reason to respect you. If anything you have done the opposite. Please understand, I am trying to help you. You need to fit in. I know that maybe asking alot from you, but it is the only way to become a coach. Bob, I have been an assistant to some horrid coaches. It killed me at times, yet I kept my mouth shut & was a good solider. Do what you need to do to finish the season, then find a good team. Stop being divisive, rather work in the framework that is there. Only when you have gained some respect & proven that you can coach will people give you respect. Other wise you doom yourself to always being the oddball with the strange idea's that no one wants to coach with.
Joe
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 22, 2010 13:55:31 GMT -6
Once again you are showing how you can be a problem. If Popeye & Brutus tell you to coach the player who is going to retrieve the Tee after kickoffs. Keep your mouth shut & go do it. Make that player the best Tee retriever anyone has ever seen. Why? I mean if it were ever really that bad as in the extreme case you give? Why should I even bother to show up then? No, Brutus respects me just fine. It's "Popeye" who treats me, Brutus, and Eric almost as if we weren't there, except when we're accidentally in the way. Eric attends so little that it hardly matters, he's basically a cheerleader. "Popeye" and Brutus have coached together before, and Brutus has a cell phone, so "Popeye" knows he can reach Brutus to tell him (with little or no warning) he isn't coming. "Popeye" also lets Brutus huddle the defense when we scrimmage in practice, so he can huddle with the offense himself, but I think if he saw me or Eric huddling the defense instead of Brutus he wouldn't care. |
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