Stretching in Practice

We do ours in a group (8 minutes of dynamic and agility + 8 minutes of partner stretch) for that very reason - I want it done right and it starts practice off as a TEAM activity. Not saying its the best way but it works and thats why we do it.

We do a 5 minute warm-up in position groups to work on specific movements as get the blood flowing. We will then move to a 10 minute dynamic period as a team. We will end practice with a 5-10 minute cool-down static stretch in position groups. There are two reasons we do it as a position group. The first is to give the position group coach the chance to sum up the practice, make announcements, and to provide feedback as to what needs to improve with the next practice. This helps to save some time. The second reason is to develop position group leaders. The players in their position group elect two players to lead stretch and other position group activities.

We do 5 min of agilities
5 minutes of token stretch - main to get hips loose

Then we go straight to indo

We do, however, go to a flex period after practice is over where we do about 7 minutes of static stretch (goal is to improve flexibility) and this is when we do our partner necks.

We did a great deal of indy stretch in JC. Have done it sparingly with HS because of number of coaches able to be there at end of school. I liked it because you could do more position specific things.

I would love to see someone say to Mumme that "sure, but my dog cannot catch passes for me." Whats the point of that analogy??? They are young men, not dogs.

I think stretching is a good thing. We do patterns vs air, dynamic stretch, then stretching. Then a circuit for various techniques.

We cut out stretching one year and asked them to do it on their own and pulls went up.

And yes dogs can sprain / pull. Our dog sprained his knee once!

We have OL/DL types on the agility ladders A LOT. We are a very small school and players play both ways. We alternate warm-up periods between defensive and offensive position groups: Monday--O, Tues--D, Wed--O, & Thu--D. They will go through the ladders once on a defensive day and once on an offensive day. On the non-ladder day, the OL will work on their daily steps (i.e. inside zone right, ISZ left, OSZ right/left, trap right/left, etc.) on the boards. They are always required to jog an additional 15 yards past the board. We will increase the intensity from 50% speed at the start and work to 80-90% by the end of the session.
For DL, we will do a lot of change of direction drills to develop hip flexibility. One of the common warm-ups involves creating a box with cones (about 10 yards between cones). We have the players execute about as many combinations of movements you can think of (carioca, shuffles, sprints) in both diagonal movements between cones and around the box. Players are also required to jog 15 yards out of the last cone. We will increase the speed of these types of drills from 50% to 80-90% as well.

We dont stretch anymore either. Here is what we do for DL and LB

DL:
a. Take Offs w/change of direction
b. Stunt courses vs. flat bags
c. Movement redirection Drill
d. Footwork grid drill

LB:
a. Pass Drops
b. 45's(Working Downhill)
c. Leverage Drill

Hopefully this helps

In addition to our warmup routine we also stretch as a team before practice. It gets them together as a team, we feel, and we also have the issue with coaches who don't coach at the school. Does stretching help? I don't know. I do know this- I'm not going to be the guy who convinces the boss to cut stretching then have our TB pull a hammy.

I have definately adopted the attitude that there is a difference between warming up and stretching. The only time we stretch is a post-stretch after practice. However, we do about a 10 minute warm up everyday. Once we get into the season, all warm-ups will be done in position groups.

we do the full Mumme deal with the skill kids and jump rope with the line. No problems yet.

My dog could kick your dogs ace!!! LOL

Here is my post from above:

I believe we have been through this in another thread last year. Let me tell you my experience.

We had our normal share of muscle pulls when we were stretching.

The baseketball coach and I decided to go without stretching and try it. We heard all the Air Raid guys and read some articles. We also figured that the kids don't stretch before pick up basketball games or flag football and nobody pulls anything.

So here is what we did: Football would warm-up by going 10 yards down and back of high knees, butt kick, and carioca, then go right at it full speed if that was on the schedule. It took 1 minute. The basketball team would just do some layups before practice, then go full speed. No stretching at all for either team.

No joke, we did not have one muscle pull in football or basketball for three straight years! Baseball continued to stretch and continued to have muscle pulls and strains.

This past season we got a new strength and conditioning coordinator (completely certified, even taught at major unversity, great guy). We implemented 10 minute dynamic warm-up and tons of stretching. We had so many muscle pulls and TEARS that I went back to my way after the second game. Yep, you guessed it, not one after that.

By the way, we have had some real burners in the past even without stretching.

I think that if you are going to stretch, you should do so after practice. I do completely believe in some type of warm-up, but I think 1 minute is plenty. Just someting to get the heart rate up, start a little sweat, and get the muscles ready.

I was in on the discussion last year also. I'm one of the "traditionalists" with regard to static stretching in that we do it before practice, along with a dynamic routine. One of the great challenges of coaching, it seems to me, is filtering through the scientific claims and putting them into practical application. The other day I read an article by a well respected physiologist that lactic acid is not the culprit in distance runner fatigue, a concept that flies in the face of what we have been told for years. So with static stretching; there doesn't seem to be a consensus, though at this point in time the balance seems to be definitely tipped in favor of some sort of dynamic prep, at least in current literature. Where the rubber meets the road, though, we have had good success with using static stretching. The one thing that sells me a bit, and seems to make some sense, is that the tensile strength of the muscle is compromised as much as 30% when stretched; ie, if you take a rubber band and stretch it out, it will not have the same velocity if you shoot it as when you leave it alone. Give it a decade or two and the experts will probably come around the other way. The challenge is to do the best we can with available knowledge and existing time constraints and put it into action; that's part of the art of coaching.

I still think that there is merit to the way we warm up and will continue until convinced otherwise; our injury situation has been good in football and track with the same basic regimen - total of 3 hammies in 19 years and no quads.