being physical

what's that quote from Parcells? "if they don't bite as puppies, they won't bite when they're grown."


I find the easiest way to get guys "tough" is to call them out on their greatest fear.....as a teen the BIGGEST TRIGGER is their sexuality. We start from day one, in the weight room or teaching tackling...explosiveness comes from the hips. If you've got no "hip explosion" you can't make plays....and, well, you're not going to "keep the ladies happy"....This may be crude, but this is MY personality - may not fit for some. I've found you can just make one comment to correct this...such as (after a poor form tackle or weak hang clean) "Hey, Billy..you're going to lose your girlfriend to (so-and-so who is 'exploding')....you're boring her to death!"....they get the message real quick. If they don't, they aren't the "Alpha male" types that will be worth a lick.

I've found that once a kid identifies himself as a "football players" he takes on those qualities and starts thinking of himself as such. A kid's identity and self-perception is EVERYTHING - football is the total package.

I think I've been guilty of saying, "You guys are running around here like a bunch of Kansas City Faggots" once or twice before

I can't believe what I just read. Questioning a kid's "sexuality" and calling him a "{censored}" is an acceptable method of trying to get a player to become more physical. At the High School level! Give me a break, fella. I don't care about your "personality"! That is wrong. About the only thing I can see about the young man becoming more physical would be to deck you for saying it. That's right, though, you have a career outside the school, so you do the coaching for fun. Totally unacceptable. You can call be an old fogey, but then I coach with some very young "old fogeys" who would totally agree with me.

Wow

Can't believe you'd actually make either of those posts in this day and age...hope it doesn't get back to your school administrator or any of your parents...i'm sure only one or two of them are lawyers....

A lot of it has to do with proper technique in hitting. The biggest fear of a non physical player is injury, granted even with proper technique injury can still happen but less likely. Most of the time a non physical players' biggest problem is they do not know that they are not finishing the blow. They get to the point of contact and they stop ultimately resulting in them getting the blow delivered on them.

thanks - I do see your viewpoints, coaches.

After I reread what I wrote, I can see how that SOUNDS. I didn't mean for it to come out as "questioning their sexuality"....never would do that. I mean, kids are in such an awkward state as it is--- I meant it in the sense of "empowering" them -- to BE explosive through their hips (into a one-man sled, etc), "If you can do THAT....you'll have no problems getting a girlfriend...they'll be all over you...yada yada". Because, I know, that they kids aren't nearly as passionate about football or pleasing a coach, as they are at being "socially acceptable / popular" - which is by-and-large WHY they are playing football. I know when I was 13 - 18, I wasn't playing because I "loved the game" , but mainly to get girls....

The KC ---- reference was directed at my avatar.....from Blazing Saddles I said it twice to get the kids laughing (hustling).

Hey Brophy,

Coach I think you mean the best for the kids on your team but it crosses the line when any form of sex is talked about to kids in general unless they are your own, too many times has a Coach been accused of inappropriate behavior watch what you say,how you say it, and who you say it too. Just a thought it may be taken the wrong way...........

some don't have switches

[quote author=jr235 board=general
***Weight Room is the key to playing phyical!!! jr235[/quote]

always thought that too

just got a problem kid this year.
wasn't physical last year due to not having played before
got in the weightroom, now fairly strong 400+squat and all, not real strong yet but you could see his confidence start to rise and the swagger throughout the summer
still won't hit a soul, guess some kids just don't have it in them

um

yeah peg

they need to put mustard on them biscuits

uhmmm huhh




say that in slingblade voice

fish

i really think some people just don't have a switch

a few years back, I had this giant of a kid (looked like the master blaster from Mad Max beyond Thunderdome, with his helmet off, where the little person riding him says "no, he's got the mind of a chillld" ) anyhow, this kid absolutely would not get mad

we tried everything you can think of (except sexual talk like brophy ) he would not get mad at anything

I said one day
"What would you do if someone came into your house to try and hurt your family"

he said

"I would throw my toys at them"

this from a 17 year old kid

Fish, don't pretend you haven't coached kids like Tog is talking about. Most will not stick with playing football, but I am positive you have more than a few on your team right now. Oh, and by the way the parents bringing snacks has ended, we think it might be a UIL violation.

I bet him like "girl", though....ha ha - j/k.

But, seriously....We can piss kids off all we want, but to find the real trigger for them is to promote confidence in their "identity" coupled with the attitude to be a competitor.

If I am a competitor, I may not be nuts or play like a raging bull, but I have a drive...a passion to be the best. THESE are the kids we wish we had 11 of. I could take 22 kids that are backyard brawlers and still go 0-9, but give me those scrappy-don't-count-me-out kids, and I'll rule the world.

How do you develop that? Of course, in the weight room. How do you get a kid in the weight room?

Challenging the younger kids and nuturing creativity, self-expression.... Kids aren't looking for "friends" or "nice guys" as much as they are looking for masculine role models. Now, granted, I for one, am not a great role model, I know, and I'm trying to get better. But nothing turns a kid's microphone off faster than a guy they cannot relate to or a guy that doesn't want to relate to them - just some guy screaming and yelling at them about how they "don't measure up".

Make football Pavlovian. Rewards aggressive / violent actions on the field....Lord knows they are rewarded and stroked off the field for being soft.

We want to develop leaders, assertive, alpha male kids - not thugs. If a kid is "driven" to make himself better, then he will see his opponent as the roadblock toward his success, and run him over. If he is not driven, he will try to find someone, even if it's his opponent, that will offer him shelter from his coaches (negative stimuli).

All kids that go out for football, IMO, are nuts. They all crave the violence, the action....if it was just to 'belong', they'd join the chess club - Lord knows, I wouldn't have endured 3-a-days, just for a "friend"....it's a 'sickness / obsession' to want something better for yourself. Kindle that flame in each kid....

The peer group is the strongest influence on these kids. If they are not being physical enough - turn it back on them. Create an environment where if you're not "physical enough - you're not one of us".

I've heard Iowa DC, Norm Parker, talk on several occassions and he talks about this all the time. He brings up his LBs, Greenway and Hodge, and how they are completely different.....but they respect each other's toughness - which goes for the entire defense. You may not go hang out with one another, you may not like one another, but you better be able see the toughness in your team mate and respect it. If it's not there, your teammates won't respect you and THEY will be the one's running you off the team.....


This is an age-old topic, though....we all struggle with it every year.

I dont know if it is the key or kids just turn on the switch sometime in HS, but we do two things every time we have indiviual. We get on our knees and work hands inside. Kids learn the proper hand placement, helps them focus on gettiong hands inside, and toughens their hands so when they do hit DL with their hands the pain isnt there. The other most inportant thing we do is one on one blocking form August through december everytime we have individual we one on one block. Both sides on offense go to someone is on his back. It teaches finishing block and also if you are getting pancaked everyday you either get better or quit. I had a 6'5 275 pound senior that was a very weak minded kid. The kind that gets you fired for standing on the sideline. He always got beat in one on one blocking, but it was always by our best lineman. One day I put him up against a freshmen He freshmen drove him for 30 seconds about fifty yards and finnaly the senior laid down on his back to end the embarrasment. He quit the next day. The freshmen eyes opened up and turned into one of my best blockers. Theu either get tough or quit, I've only had one quit, and he made or program better by quiting and people stopped wandering why that big guy was on the sideline not playing.

"You can't live soft and fight hard. You have to program yourself. It just doesn't happen; it ain't a switch you can turn on or off as you walk through the door of the complex. I mean, I live, read, eat, sleep, *** football.That's me. That's what I do. And if you don't do that, then this game is going to eat you up and devour you." - Warren Sapp