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Post by mkopachy on Nov 18, 2010 7:00:13 GMT -6
...getting over the hump.
I inherited a program that was 3-27 in the three previous years. We've been fortunate enough to be 17-6 with two playoff appearances (the school's first two ever).
In our three losses this year, however, we were blown out of the water after slow starts against teams that were good, but not 31-14, 21-0, or 41-13 good. In all three losses we had awful second quarters.
Our kids practice well and they are good kids. We prepared for those teams like any of the others and we beat some very good teams, teams with better records....
In my postseason survey I asked what the deal was with those games and if we didnt believe we could win going in and astonishing enough there were kids that talked about having that "here we go again" mentality, or buying in to the mystique.
We talk about mental toughness and go through routines like how to get ready before a game, what do we do after a failure, but how else could I practice mental toughness? It drives me crazy how our guys will go balls out against some teams, like I said good teams (but teams they maybe beat in the past) and then lay an egg against some others.
Thoughts, ideas? I want to make my practices full of overcoming adversity next year so that we could develop that toughness!!!! Any ideas?
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Post by Coach Huey on Nov 18, 2010 10:30:37 GMT -6
...getting over the hump. Thoughts, ideas? I want to make my practices full of overcoming adversity next year so that we could develop that toughness!!!! Any ideas? It's not so much during the season. It's the off-season where that is developed to it's fullest. Takes time and almost sole focus. Off-season best suited for laying that foundation.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2010 10:41:42 GMT -6
One of the easiest ways to present the concept of mental toughness is by telling kids not to show weakness and bad body language.
Do not allow kids to bend over when they are tired. Make them stand tall. Do not allow them to have their hands on their hips. These are all signs of weakness. Predators prey on weakness.
Your coaching staff has to do this as well. During practice do not cross your arms or have your hands on your hips or in your pockets. It's tough, but it has worked for us this year.
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Post by mkopachy on Nov 18, 2010 10:46:57 GMT -6
huey, a lot of our kids play other sports -- they participate in offseason program but we are a small school so we share most if not all of our athletes. i don't get them full time until june...what are your ideas on this toughness?
blaw - whats your penalty for the kids showing bad body language?
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Post by calkayne on Nov 18, 2010 11:28:29 GMT -6
Get them strong.
Sounds a little vague perhaps, but imo, this is the key. Banging heads and yelling only gets you so far. At the end of the day, its their Job to keep each other motivated on field. They need to be doing that off of it too.
This is something that I find personally terribly hard to adress. Our guys tend to play at the level of the opponent. If the opponent is good, they start well, if the opponent is poor they start poor. Problem is on close games, towards the end of the 3rd we are getting too many players with mental blocks. I have not seen this uncertanty in players that lift. (Exept for one, but hes a special case...)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2010 13:56:18 GMT -6
There is no penalty really, we just correct it immediately and explain why we are correcting it. Normally the kids that cannot correct bad body language do not have the mental toughness to survive the program anyways. We just really emphasize standing tall. When someone makes a bad play we correct the issue and that's it. "Play the next play" is a popular phrase around our practices. We harp on having the mental toughness to forget the last play and prepare yourself for the next play.
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coachriley
Junior Member
"Tough times don't last; Tough people do."
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Post by coachriley on Nov 18, 2010 21:10:02 GMT -6
I am in agreement with Coach Huey here, you have to develop mental toughness in the offseason, and most notably the weight room. When I played, one thing that I think helped a lot of our mental toughness was something we did at the beginning of about half of our workouts in the weight room.
Everyone would grab a forty five pound plate, unless they were an undersized sophomore, then they got to use 35's. We would grab the plates and hold them overhead. Once everyone got them overhead, the clock would start. We would transition from standing in place holding them overhead to trotting around the weight room in a circle to standing again while bouncing our legs. That 45 pounds starts getting real heavy real fast, and it helped teach us to not give in to the pain and fatigue we thought we were feeling.
Just a little something we did when i was in High school.
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Post by coachcreme on Nov 19, 2010 14:07:43 GMT -6
Mental toughness has to be one of the major bones of the body of your program and preach I.E. let it be part of everthing you do is to build mental toughness...Drills/running/weight room/ 7on7's/team camps ect....And let them know this
I came to a school that had won 1 game in like 4/5 years We told them one thing that no other team with have is are will to win no matter what...We will not break under pressure thats where we will shine...So thats means we will work hard...But when game times comes we have fun...
We went 9-2 and a league tittle and make it a way of life with the program
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Post by Coach Huey on Nov 19, 2010 14:16:06 GMT -6
do drills where they have to think while they are tired. running drills (5-10-5 type stuff) where you are giving verbal commands that require immediate action. drills (running, mats) that require immediate reaction to a verbal or audible cue. make immediate penalties for mistakes - then repeat the drill.
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Post by wingt74 on Nov 19, 2010 14:17:43 GMT -6
do drills where they have to think while they are tired. running drills (5-10-5 type stuff) where you are giving verbal commands that require immediate action. drills (running, mats) that require immediate reaction to a verbal or audible cue. make immediate penalties for mistakes - then repeat the drill. Exactly. We run our 2 minute offense immediately after conditioning.
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Post by mkopachy on Nov 23, 2010 7:50:48 GMT -6
Maybe - I don't think that is the case though...it's more like a snowball effect...in three games (two of which - maybe we weren't the better team) we started off well but one bad play led to somewhat of an emotional letdown and I know that we were capable of better because we played that way against some other very good teams.
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Post by phantom on Nov 24, 2010 11:49:20 GMT -6
One thing that I think that you have to look at is the coaches. When something bad happens during a game are there coaches giving off a "Now we're screwed" vibe?
Also, during practice I think it's possible to oversell the idea that you have to play a perfect game to win. It's a fine line because of course you want to minimize mistakes. But if you've been telling them all week that you can't win if you make mistakes what happens mentally when you do have a couple penalties or a turnover or blow a coverage? Mistake= losing, right?
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