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Post by lukethadrifter on Jul 3, 2011 10:28:07 GMT -6
BLB, great topic! I am entering my 22nd year of coaching. "Easy and simple" is a term I hear used a lot...and sometimes loosely. In my humble opinion:
1) To me the ART OF COMMUNICATION is easily #1 in having the ability to make something seem "easy and simple". Some teachers and coaches have a knack of explaining or demonstrating things in such a way as to make them simple to learn for kids. On the other hand, I've coached with some coaches over the years who had great x's and o's knowledge on the white board, but did not have the people skills to be able to teach what they knew to their kids on the field. So because of that, they were sub-par coaches who had kids who didn't perform very well.
2) ORGANIZATION AND REPS - To make something easy and simple, one has to be very organized in their use of time, and then try to get tons and tons of reps. People get good at something by doing it over and over. Its hard as an athlete to master something to where it seems "easy and simple" unless you have done it hundreds of times.
3) KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE - Unless a coach has great knowledge and experience teaching or coaching some sort of material, then it will be hard to make something seem "easy and simple".
4) THE SHOW GAME - The trick IMO is that whatever you do offensively, defensivelly, etc..., you must make it seem "easy and simple" for your athletes to understand; but seem non-predictable and difficult to understand for your opponents.
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Post by blb on Jul 4, 2011 7:50:19 GMT -6
At the risk of beating a dead horse:
Sonny Lubick was a HS coach for ten years before coaching Defense at Miami under Dennis Erickson and then was highly-successful head coach at Colorado State.
He said: "I'm convinced on one thing. The sounder you are and the more repetitions you can get, the better your players will feel about themselves. It has to be simple, also. I'm convinced you can win by doing that."
(He was referring specifically to Defense but statement could be applied to Offense as well, I suppose).
Again - what is simple? Or easy?
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Post by blb on Jul 4, 2011 7:56:06 GMT -6
Lombardi was supposed to have a simple offense. "Distilled" may be a better word. They took out the fat and got very, very good at a few things. If you look at blocking rules it was anything but simple. Every play had options: If they do this, we do that. Having been born in Green Bay and growing up on Lombardi Packers this is kind of where I came from philosophically, fantom. I wonder as times have changed and see what a lot of guys are doing successfully if I have not evolved sufficiently. On flip side, I have talked to coaches who think what we do (Triple Option, Multiple 4-3 Defense) is too much for them to coach at HS level.
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z
Junior Member
Posts: 332
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Post by z on Jul 4, 2011 8:34:03 GMT -6
Wow! This is a great thread. A number of coaches responded with a number of good points. Fantom said "distilled", and he was correct! Right now, we are running 6 plays, and are repping the hell out of them. When we've made formation changes, we've kept the same thing for the O-line (the key to any successful offense). I am an offensive coach that want words to mean a whole lot-for each position- a word means something specific. The key is: using few words to say alot (for example-sweep is snake-if we want to run the jet sweep- its 2 Snake-the slot receiver is #2). The play doesn't change for the line-it changes for the RB and the receiver. Simple, at least IMO. The key is: the kids have picked it up quickly, and they execute it better each day. Repetition: physical and mental! Both sides of the ball! Don't try to teach the whole thing at one time! Kids will not learn if they are overwhelmed with too much information. Give them the basics-make sure that they know it-then build on that! GET GOOD AT WHAT WE DO!
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