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Post by groundchuck on Feb 23, 2011 14:43:53 GMT -6
We found out today that we will be having to attend parent/teacher conference after school from 3:30-7:30 during the latter part of the regular season. We will also be having a full day of school that day. For various reasons this has never been an issue before but it is now.
It is a Tuesday, and Tuesday is our heaviest work day.
We are faced with three options.
1. Hold an early morning practice with all the coaches and varsity players. This practice would have to be on the game field with the lights on and would last 90 minutes before school.
2. Hold practice after conferences from 7:30-9:00 at night. Again under the lights on the game field for the varsity with all the coaches present.
3. Let the non-teaching staff run practice after school at the usual practice time. We have three members on our staff would could do that.
What's your experience with this? We think we have developed a pretty good list of pros and cons to each but would like to generate some thoughts from the board.
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Post by leighty on Feb 23, 2011 14:52:20 GMT -6
I have zero experience with this. That said, my vote is to hold practice at night.
I assume this parent/teacher conference is like an open house. If that's the case, is it possible you could tie practice in with the open house and turn it into some kind of fundraiser? Having all the football mommies and daddies in one place at the same time is a prime opportunity to get them to fork over some cash.
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Post by CoachCP on Feb 23, 2011 15:02:15 GMT -6
I've been one of the coaches during option 3 before. Went well enough, but it depends on the amount of kids, and what coaches are there.
If it was me, I'd do the night practice. May get the kids excited. Add some competition aspects to it. Just let them know way in advance (some kids have jobs and such).
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Post by playsmart on Feb 23, 2011 15:05:39 GMT -6
Depending on the three coaches that could run the practice, you could make in an indy and special teams practice. Do all of your special team on that day and maybe have a couple of INDY periods to break it up. This could be the case if one of those three coaches is the special teams coach. Also it could free up some time during the rest of the week to work more on D and O.
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Post by superpower on Feb 23, 2011 18:44:45 GMT -6
Running a practice under the lights has been great for us. We have done it for the past 4 years, not because of a conflict with P/T conferences but with several of our players being gone for another school activity. Getting out of our regular routine once in a while can be a good thing.
I would also add that we gave our kids a day off on P/T conferences this past year. The fact that it was a Thursday (day before the game) and that we felt pretty confident about this game allowed me to give the kids the day off. It didn't hurt us a bit, and the kids really enjoyed a day off late in the season. They were very fresh for that game, and we made a deep playoff run as well.
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Post by k on Feb 23, 2011 20:48:25 GMT -6
Have players parents block out the last few blocks and have practice as early as you can. Also have your non staff coaches handle all the warmups so that when the staff coaches get out of meetings and run to the field you can start individual or whatever you do.
This has been a problem for us the last couple years. Parent teacher conferences happen to fall the week of the semi-final playoff game...
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Post by brian94 on Feb 23, 2011 21:26:25 GMT -6
We practice at night every Wednesday, we play on Friday and this is our Heavy day...we do the most hitting on this day (right or wrong). This was my first year to the program and I was skeptical about it.
I can only say this one way, it was the best 9 practices of the year and the best 9 practices that I have been involved in in 13 years of coaching. We are the only ones there, we have the lights on, we are hitting. We run all group and team, special teams and 15 minutes of Offensive indy. I could not believe how fast practice was we scripted to practice until 9 but by the end of the season we were done around 8:30.
At one point we ran 42 plays versus the defense in 22 minutes.
The downfall....Thursday prep practice was not very good, wasn't too sharp I think because they were a little tired.
Try it, could be awesome....plus we all went out after as a staff and finalized the game plan after over some pops...
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Post by CoachFetty on Feb 24, 2011 1:35:07 GMT -6
Why do some of your schools have Parent/Teacher Conferences every week?
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Post by groundchuck on Feb 24, 2011 4:32:38 GMT -6
Why do some of your schools have Parent/Teacher Conferences every week? I don't think anyone does. We have P/T conferences ONCE during the latter part of our season at a time when it effects practice. |
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Post by CoachFetty on Feb 24, 2011 6:15:19 GMT -6
Why do some of your schools have Parent/Teacher Conferences every week? I don't think anyone does. We have P/T conferences ONCE during the latter part of our season at a time when it effects practice. OK.. I WAS LOST! |
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Post by coachwoodall on Feb 24, 2011 7:34:22 GMT -6
In the past we have given kids a day off late in the season. Partly due to the opponent, but mainly because we wanted to give the kids a chance to rest their legs. Usually was a Monday and we just compressed the rest of the week into what we usually do.
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Post by Chris Clement on Feb 24, 2011 7:53:32 GMT -6
We held a ridiculously early morning rugby practice once, and it was actually one of the best practices we ever had. It went from about 5-7. It was a fun break from our usual routine and there were no distractions (traffic, people walking past, etc.) I wouldn't have liked it as part of the regular schedule, but it was a lot of fun once.
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fred
Freshmen Member
Posts: 34
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Post by fred on Feb 24, 2011 11:11:21 GMT -6
Had this same situation last year and chose to go in the am. I really liked it and our players handled it real well. The players liked having some time after school to get some things done and I felt it made us fresher on Friday night because between Wed am at 8:00 and Kickoff all we had was our Thursday practice. basically we got 12 extra hours of recovery between our 2 heavy practices and the game. We have meetings at our school every other week on Wed afternoon (kids get out of school 1hr early) and we are considering having am practices at these times to eliminate our players going home and having to come back to practice.
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Post by gooddart on Feb 24, 2011 12:28:31 GMT -6
1st: a 3 hr parent meeting is CRAZY! Our open house is an hour and 30 minutes with 6 classes, 1 homeroom, and a welcome video that last 15 minutes at the start.
2nd: The problem with nigh practices is that kids are sloppy the next day. Your Wednesday practice will not be great.
3rd: After having done both AM and PM "lighted" practices I think that the morning practices are hands down the best. We have had our Thursday walk-through/prep-day/run-through/whatever practice at 6 am for the past 3 years and I never want to go back to the other way. Prior to that I was in a situation where we had to go before school during two-a-days and on a few early week days during the season. Being under the lights is a plus, but I have found that our kids are really focused in the morning. You have to be smart about what you do. Be more efficient than usual - because you can't run long. Just talk to them the night before about getting to bed. We would close the "big" morning practices by providing breakfast for the players. Always a hit.
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Post by coachwoodall on Feb 24, 2011 12:34:32 GMT -6
I know it isn't the same thing, but several year ago, we had a midnight madness practice to kick off the year. It was pretty cool, had lots of fans there. We had a 'mini-camp' and slept overnight and had an early breakfast and started 2-a-days
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Post by teddymac44 on Jul 19, 2011 14:04:45 GMT -6
Gooddart you really love the early morning practice? We are practicing from 5 30-7 am on Thurs morning the day before the game this yr and I am just not a big fan of that. I would rather kids get good rest the couple days before a game. But glad to hear there is a coach that likes it cause I am skeptical.
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Post by Coach Huey on Jul 19, 2011 14:12:37 GMT -6
we have this situation . . . somewhat. it starts later (6:00? i think) so we just shorten practice a little to accommodate.
i suggest speaking to your admin about possibly allowing the student-athletes to continue to be serviced through a shortened practice and have the coaches arrive an hour or so later. see if they go for that. however, keep the focus of the request squarely on the benefits of the student-athlete NOT the needs of the coaches.
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Post by kcbazooka on Jul 19, 2011 14:15:53 GMT -6
have done all three at various times. If you're the head coach I'd take a personal day and have practice at the regular time with the non-teaching coaches.
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Post by fantom on Jul 19, 2011 16:28:56 GMT -6
In the interest of full disclosure I have to start by mentioning that I HATE early mornings. A few years ago because of a conflict with summer school we had to do 2-a-days at 5:30 AM. Most miserable two weeks of my life.
I think the night practice is the least disruptive. None of your guys are in bed by 9 PM. Nobody's missing any sleep if you practice late. If you bring them in at 5 AM some won't feel right for days.
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Post by teddymac44 on Jul 20, 2011 1:18:18 GMT -6
Here's another angle why I hate the 5 30AM practice. Are the kids there for football or an education? If you get kids up at 4 45 AM to eat a decent breakfast and get to practice how well are they focussed in the classroom with little sleep and coming off a 2 hour practice? I can tell you these kids will be falling asleep in class guaranteed!!!
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