TOO MANY going both ways

Use the blocking sled as your conditioning for the big sexy's. It will help them in the 4th quarter more than walking the last stretch of a gasser. Start with 5 second blocking intervals and work up to eleven. Do it for about 10 or 15 minutes, maybe even twice during practice. Once before team O and once at the end of practice.

How long does that take??? What rest intervals do you use? I can't see how anyone could have any type of explosive speed after a 2 hour practice running 100 # 13.


I understand talent differentials, and the need to play your best players. However, I do think something to consider is that if you didn't do THIS
.....

You might not have THIS:

Lines are four deep when the last person in the first line gets halfway the next group goes. It is pretty quick.



No doubt the kids are dragging by the end of practice. That is the point. But it lets us have the best three players in the conference go both ways nearly the entire game.



You're right. If we weren't as dedicated as we are now (expecting off season attendance, hard conditioning, 6 days a week commitment in season, dedication to academics, and being a good representative of the team) we would have a handful more kids but I'm not sure we would have anyone who would start for us who isn't already out and starting for us. The best athletes in the school with two exceptions play football. Definately get players out at a level much higher than was done before us when they ran 6x100s as daily conditioning.

But don't get me wrong the first year when this level of conditioning was introduced the upperclassmen who we inherited did not like it and would "fake injuries" on almost a daily basis right before conditioning and by the end of the year we were starting mostly freshmen. Those freshmen created a culture where not only did you think of conditioning as a positive price to pay for victories but created an atmosphere where you didn't slack doing them.



We do more football specific conditioning earlier in the practice. Linemen do agilities at a high tempo, while receivers run routes in rapid succession. That said our individual and team periods are not very up tempo compared to some as we have two offenses running and lots of subs work in on defense. Then again hard to go up tempo here if you're coaching up kids in between plays.

OK. When we showed up four years ago the program hadn't won a game in like two years. Last year we went to the state semis after going undefeated until thanksgiving. We're undefeated this year atm. In my mind the proof is in the pudding. We only start five seniors. (OL/DL, OL/DL, DE, HB, QB).

Not a single kid will ever complain about conditioning. It is the norm for them to be expected to lift and run all year around. In the last three years our motors never stopped in a game. I'm sold on having them work as hard as they are. Every team quits before we do.



Best players play. If you're down to 70% in the 4th quarter and you're still better than your backup you're going to play and your backup isn't. There are probably two kids in the school who would get play time even on special teams who are not already there. They are both all state soccer players who as seniors got involved in soccer before we had a youth football program. Yeah if we didn't expect as much from our kids I think we definitely would have more people out for football. Maybe 30% of boys in the school out instead of 20% but I wouldn't trade teaching dedication and hard work that we do to those 20% for another 10% of people to yell Pass/Ball/Sweep/Middle during games...

OTHER than conditioning thoughts, any ideas?

i hate just running them. seems like a waste of good practice time but extra sled work or position specific conditioning seems like a good idea if it makes them better fundamentally.went to the ND clinic this year and the tempo of their practices seemed to be conditioning in itself.

looked at the film again and not so sure our #1's at 70% are actually better than our #2's at 100% as suggested above..always used to think that though..getting intrigued by the "flip Oline" type of philosophy but hate moving guys around too much.....

Obviously offense is meant by it but that is fine. And it isn't "our manhood" is it is how big the player's manhoods are since they're the ones working their tails off. I just blow a whistle.



Well I can assure you that being able to play the best player in our conference two ways plus half special teams helps the matter. His replacement isn't half the player he is. To say that their outstanding conditioning doesn't help us win games is very silly.

[/quote]Say you changed attitude, say you changed accountability, say you changed work ethic and expectations...but TRUST me..you aren't winning because you are running 25 hundreds after practice. Heck, trust me, your guys aren't RUNNING 25 hundreds after practice.[/quote]

Maybe you're unable to give everything you have but they aren't and I wasn't when I was a player. Was my 100% on #25 the same as my 100% was at #1? Nope but it was closer than it would have been if we did 6x100 at the end of practice.



I just don't see teams whose players are going like ours are at the end of a game even when they are one way players and ours are two way.



I'd rather develop the ones who aren't afraid to work. If a little conditioning keeps you on the couch you should stay there and let those who want to work hard and win do so.



I'll play the monsters who work their tails off play and let the kids who are too lazy to work hard pay their entrance fee on Friday nights.

Appreciate your sharing your opinion on the matter but I'll continue to support working hard and benefiting in returns. When I see teams that I deem lacking conditioning coming back against us in the 4th Quarter I'll revisit the issue.

Anyway other than conditioning I'd take advantage of subbing them at appropriate or needed times. I don't need my beast of a tackle passblocking on 3 step drops. His backup can do that. I dont need my big ole nose guard pash rushing ten times in a row at the end of the first half. Get him out get some liquids and be ready for when we need you. I've got the waterboys trained pretty well in that as soon as a player comes off the field they get some liquids. Running away from players is a valid solution but not for extended periods of time and certainly not for more than a single game at a time. Its something most teams are going to pick up pretty easy on film.

Have one less guy go both ways.

Rotate your good players in that DLine....give each 1 series off on D a game.

td4tc,

I think the fast tempo at the Notre Dame practices is significantly facilitated by the fact that they are a hurry-up, no-huddle team. If you have the same issue next season with low numbers or two-way players you may want to consider intalling a no-huddle offense in training camp just to help increase the pace of practice. I think that it's critical that you install the no-huddle system at the beginning of the season (i.e. training camp) to help establish routines for a rapid tempo.

I was at this cross-roads this season. I had a great deal of success last season with a large roster and we were a permanent hurry-up, no-huddle team. This year I got bumped to a new school with much less talent and lower numbers. I decided to implement a no-huddle system anyway just to increase the pace of practice. I has worked very well and the group has exceeded my expectations by actually going no-huddle in our first game. We don't always move at a super fast pace in the game, but using the no-huddle still provides many advantages for play calling.

We rarely line up our team on the goal line for traditional "conditioning" drills during practice. Just about everything we do is system specific...I think this is a more productive means of conditiong. I think if your staff is organized and you establish tempo routines / expectations during training camp you can do just about all your conditioning with system specific drills.

Bottom line, I'm a huge believer in the no-huddle system for the increased practice tempo and reps alone. Even if I decide to be a traditional huddle team in the future, I will still use the "no-huddle template" for our practices to increase reps and improve conditioning. Kids learn by doing...the more times they can repeat a movement skill the better they get at it.