|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Oct 28, 2010 20:18:10 GMT -6
Turns out the Warriors club made an arrangement after all (as in previous years) to practice under the lights -- in Lehman HS's gym. Maybe they got the price down, or decided we could afford it for the remaining weeks) No more outdoor practice for the remainder of the season, except whatever we can do in the hour before a game. Our entire division (5 teams) on one gym floor (AFAIK) from 7 to 8:45 PM one night a week, which happens to be Mon., i.e. 5 days pre-games. Maybe we'll get some mats to lay down. I've heard it's hell, and our HC at least would've rather we practiced outdoors in the dark.
Any idea what we can work on in such conditions?
This Sat. morning our game, Blue Devils vs. Ramblers, is featured as the under card at SUNY Maritime before their varsity game. It helps that one of our players' father is their HC.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chris Clement on Oct 29, 2010 6:51:57 GMT -6
We practied in a tiny gym, and space is a key factor. Forget the passing game, nothing with an offensive and a defensive component. Run game timing and tackling a dummy are good, run fits, without the safety. It'll be noisy as heck in there, so use stuff that is familiar so you don't have to explain.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhcoach on Oct 29, 2010 9:44:25 GMT -6
Bob
This has all the makings of a total circus. I think Popeye may have a valid point in wanting to continue outside. Anytime I have been forced to indoor practice it usually turns to circus. There are 2 notable exceptions to this. We had gotten permission to practice in an old Airplane Hanger at Floyd Bennent Field in Brooklyn in the early 80's. That was awesome, it had a dirt floor and lots of room. We could have full practices in there. When the Feds took over they knocked the old hangers down. We then found a Tennis bubble that would let us practice. That was great except for the floor surface. We could do almost everything but tackle.
I do understand the problems with practice at this time of year, & being in NYC complicates things. Good Luck.
Joe
|
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Oct 29, 2010 10:29:49 GMT -6
This has all the makings of a total circus. I think [Dave] may have a valid point in wanting to continue outside. I can't say I disagree. Even though I really can't say much about form in the dark, at least there's space and a soft surface. Let the players get it by feel if we can't see! I'm just hoping they have more floor space, i.e. more than one basketball court, in there. At first I thought they were splitting the division up timewise instead of spacewise. Still don't think I can trust what's on the Warriors Web site, because there are still some obvious errors like listing practices & game days thru Dec. 4, even going so far as to say practice is off for Thanksgiving, when we know the last games are Nov. 20! Did you know that that's now Aviator Sports & Recreation Complex? Semi-privatized. A nice field with stands & lights, modern artificial surface, scoreboard, press booth, indoor space the teams can dress in, plus a well kept grass field in back of the stands on one side. Get lots of club use, sometimes both fields at once. For instance, I was at a women's football game and the grass field had Australian Rules football at the same time. Free parking. I forgot what the ownership arrangement is re the land. Plus, the hangars are not all gone. At least one of them is an aviation museum. Another houses those dressing rooms. |
|
|
|
Post by mhcoach on Oct 29, 2010 11:05:29 GMT -6
Bob
I think the one we would use maybe the new one now. It's many too many years ago, but it was a great place to practice. It was bathed in this strange yellow light, but we really could do everything in there.
Joe
|
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Oct 30, 2010 12:05:26 GMT -6
Good news: I heard we will be sharing a basketball court with just 1 other team. 2 similar gym spaces in the school will be in use by the other teams. I guess Lehman HS's bigger than it looks; it was built partly on the air rights over the Hutchinson R. Pkwy.
Bad news: no mats.
|
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Nov 3, 2010 13:08:42 GMT -6
Turns out they have a single huge gym floor with partitions that effectively make it 3 rooms. First we had to wait a few mins. while they unpacked from a Lehman HS volleyball game. Meanwhile it seemed our cheerleaders were being shuffled between a couple of the smaller gyms. When we got to use the biggest space after the fairly extensive stands were rolled back, it was all the teams in it for a group warmup similar to the ones we'd had thru about mid Sept. The coach-admin. conducting it tried for the last rep of a don't-go-offside drill a variant that just illustrates that kids that age can't just be told in words how to do something, they need to be shown. Instead of having the front player in each line just run on the simulated snap, he wanted a simulated end-tackle loop by the 1st pair in each line. I tried to clarify for our players, but in that echo chamber, forget it; it was chaos for all teams. I guess he thought he'd try to teach them a little more about the game.
HC Dave wasn't there, and neither was Chris, so I was there with Brutus. When the warmup broke up we got the smaller space next door, a minimal basketball court, to share with another team. The cheerleaders got their own, and the big gym was shared by 3 teams. The Ramblers brought and started wearing their helmets & pads, but I doubt they were allowed to continue in them. We apparently were not allowed to use the fold-up mats.
Our program was a compromise between me & Brutus. I wanted to do a full progression of blocking steps, and we had hanging over them the incentive of, we do it until you get it right and if we finish early you get to play touch. My progression would've ended with low bridge, but I gave in to Brutus after we'd gotten all the steps right by everyone with no att'n paid to staying low. He wanted to work on ball skills, and he's right that we do need them too.
We had one football, so we next did a handoff drill with lines at opposite ends running past the other who remained stationary until taking the handoff. After a while of that, we worked on left & right dives with our #2 QB, our star player snapping, and everyone else lining up to get the handoff. We had just a few mins. left for their touch football game. I also used up my final 2 times of the 3 I estimate I do every season of reversing left & right in my instructions as a result of my getting on the other side of the players and turning around; my more astute players caught my error each time.
OK, but I broke their concentr'n at one point during the blocking steps: I farted. (A problem I've had since I was a baby.) Silent and small but very potent. Who knows how many times I'd done that outdoors, but it'd blown away? But in this case there was practically no air circul'n; the gym is in the basement in a portion of the bldg. that I think is on land rather than on the overpass. So the players closest to me nearly gagged.
Next morning I was working as an elections inspector at the polls, and we smelled something like burning rubber. I thought I must've gotten worse overnight! But then we found out they were pouring hot asphalt outside, so I was off the hook.
|
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Nov 20, 2010 7:09:43 GMT -6
This past Mon. night was..."interesting". Our director of football has been mysteriously ill, being tested for exhaustion. Dennis (I think...I get those admin. guys mixed up a lot) after leading the group warmup called the coaches together and explained to some who still hadn't gotten the word about the Friendship Game. He explained that the Warriors refuse to call it an all star game because the players are all stars. Awwww. Anyway, he said he wanted the HCs of the teams present for practice for the Pee Wee div. in the gym on Mon. & Thurs. night. I could hardly believe it that of all of us present, I was the only one who then piped up that the Thurs. before the game was Thanksgiving Day. "Oh, it is? Never mind then, you'll only have the Monday practice."
Since one Pee Wee team finishes the season with a bye, they gave us only the single big gym for the 4 remaining teams. I guess the cheerleaders got their own. So it was even more crowded than before. HC Dave was once again missing as was AC Chris, so Brutus & I wound up supervising some touch football in our quarter of the floor.
I brought up one idea for us to work on: kicking extra points. In the Pee Wees they give 2 points for an XP by kick. If you declare it, the defense can rush only 4, all between the TEs, and I'm sure the Fed rule against charging the snapper directly is in force too. Still, nobody tries it, and we have the only kicker I think could make them except by occasional fluke. But we had nobody at practice experienced in long snapping. We wound up repping everyone snapping holding, and kicking to make it fun, which was unfortunate because I would've liked to do it more systematically to find talent for the snap & hold positions. The Girl was the only one I saw snap 3 in a row consistently. I asked if anyone had a drop kick but the one who claimed he did was pretty bad even off the wood floor.
Last night I phoned HC Dave and he said we could try it today. We'll see if we have a little time to work on it in our run-thru before the game. Our opponent, the Redskins, are cellar dwellers and we'll have to do something to make it interesting.
|
|
