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Post by zach1416 on Jan 21, 2012 8:12:17 GMT -6
We have a group of freshmen that are deciding that having to go to practice everyday (Monday-Thursday) is too much. Some of the people in this group are influencing others & I am seeing this having the possibility of exploding into a major issue with this class. First, I don't understand someone making this decision 8 months from the start of the season. Second, we don't do anything out of the ordinary. We try to stick to 2 hr practices, film on Saturday mornings, and roughly about 3 hours of strength & conditioning during the week in the offseason. If anyone has any ideas on how to approach this situation, the advice would greatly appreciated.
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Post by 42falcon on Jan 21, 2012 9:29:46 GMT -6
How much do your freshman play?
We try to get some of our better guys in on specials they then take ownership of that spot. If someone missed a practice / meeting they dont play we have a roster of 50. This = our solution to not being at practice.
Not sure it works for all.
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Post by Chris Clement on Jan 21, 2012 12:20:44 GMT -6
It's also important to get all your young guys in during blowouts, so they feel included.
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Post by fantom on Jan 21, 2012 12:37:50 GMT -6
We have a group of freshmen that are deciding that having to go to practice everyday (Monday-Thursday) is too much. Some of the people in this group are influencing others & I am seeing this having the possibility of exploding into a major issue with this class. First, I don't understand someone making this decision 8 months from the start of the season. Second, we don't do anything out of the ordinary. We try to stick to 2 hr practices, film on Saturday mornings, and roughly about 3 hours of strength & conditioning during the week in the offseason. If anyone has any ideas on how to approach this situation, the advice would greatly appreciated. I'm confused (not unusual). Are your freshmen missing offseason workouts now or are they talking about missing it in the future, when the season starts? That practice schedule that you posted-2 hour practices, film, and weights- is that what you're doing now, in the offseason? |
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Post by zach1416 on Jan 21, 2012 15:56:38 GMT -6
Sorry about the confusion.
Our kids are talking about next fall. Our schedule right now is 3 days a week, roughly an hour a day for weights &/or speed training. During the season we practice roughly 2 hours a day & our varsity players have film & weights on Saturday morning. Again, the complaint is they have to do too much, i guess in reference to practice. Our freshmen play an 8-10 game schedule, including "b" games, so the 40 or so freshmen we have play a lot. We usually do not have many issues with retaining players, so I'm interested if anyone else has dealt with something like this & if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks
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Post by mrjvi on Jan 21, 2012 16:14:58 GMT -6
At different times during my years we have had a group like you describe. I feel that it is pobably just a few with others who are impressionable just going along with it. I'll probably catch hell for saying this but I do go out of my way to work hard trying to get freshmen excited but by sophomore and definitely junior year, I don't. I can't let that attitude become a cancer. As a result I have had some senior classes of only 5-8 players. They were studs, though. Luckily I haven't had 2 classes in a row with that problem. Probably doesn't help you, though, but give them some time, then cut your losses. I always tell my players that not everyone can play football-it's too hard. Even put it on shirts one year.
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Post by fantom on Jan 21, 2012 16:24:52 GMT -6
I don't think you have a real problem. The kids are complaining? Kids'll do that, especially the younger kids. Will some quit? Almost definitely. The higher the level the stronger the commitment and fewer and fewer kids will want to make that commitment. You have 40 freshmen. Did you really expect that you'll have 40 seniors in three years? I wouldn't worry about it.
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Post by italianstallion on Jan 21, 2012 16:59:34 GMT -6
We are two years into a new policy that I demand out of my frosh coaches. No frosh football player may start both ways. 22 starters every game. I implemented this because our JV numbers were falling. We were going undefeated every year at the Frosh level and getting half the kids to come out the following year. I changed coaches and told the new coach that I wanted a positive experience and at least 45 JV players the next year. I don't care if they are 10-0 or 0-10, I want numbers and kids who love football. Last year we had 51 JV players. This year it appears our numbers will be similar. Our Frosh numbers are usually around 65. Although, players may only start one way they all learn a position on the other side of the ball and at times may play that in the game as long as they don't start or play more than the starter.
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Post by blb on Jan 21, 2012 17:14:55 GMT -6
You have 40 freshmen. Did you really expect that you'll have 40 seniors in three years? Do you really want 40 seniors three years from now? Numbers are over-rated. |
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Post by jgordon1 on Jan 21, 2012 17:27:14 GMT -6
There will be some attrition...no doubt..a couple of questions...do you have a jv program? Are you in the school? IMO, is that you need to recruit your own kids...sell them everyday....family , brothers, team.etc....Have an influential soph speak to them telling them what its like...peer pressure always works best...it's weird for me now...I just "resigned" last week yet the kids still come to my room for lunch to hang out
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Post by rebelfootballcoach on Jan 21, 2012 17:55:22 GMT -6
Reward hard work during the off season. Make sure to make it fun. Kids these days don't know about commitment as we live in the age of immediate gratification. Our staff figures that we will wind up with somewhere between 20-30 Seniors each year. This year we had 32 Seniors. 17 of them spent 4 years in the program and out of the entire group of Seniors 13 of them were starters this season. All of them were great kids and we had sensational leadership. We had 2 Seniors that played QB, were in the program for 4 years and did not start at Varsity. They understood their roles. I know I'm rambling but we made sure to reward players and acknowledge work ethic, leadership, etc. Kids can grab a hold of that. A great book I recently read was called Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future. I would strongly suggest it for any coach, teacher or business owner who works with young people.
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Post by 19delta on Jan 21, 2012 18:21:15 GMT -6
We are two years into a new policy that I demand out of my frosh coaches. No frosh football player may start both ways. 22 starters every game. I implemented this because our JV numbers were falling. We were going undefeated every year at the Frosh level and getting half the kids to come out the following year. I changed coaches and told the new coach that I wanted a positive experience and at least 45 JV players the next year. I don't care if they are 10-0 or 0-10, I want numbers and kids who love football. Last year we had 51 JV players. This year it appears our numbers will be similar. Our Frosh numbers are usually around 65. Although, players may only start one way they all learn a position on the other side of the ball and at times may play that in the game as long as they don't start or play more than the starter. Good stuff, coach! Great idea! |
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Post by superpower on Jan 21, 2012 18:48:48 GMT -6
A great book I recently read was called Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future. I would strongly suggest it for any coach, teacher or business owner who works with young people. I'll be looking for it. Thanks for the recommendation. |
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Post by coachorr on Jan 22, 2012 14:53:48 GMT -6
I use this statement from time to time and it comes with different results: "If you don't want to be here....then get the HELL out of here!" and make a motion with my thumb to the nearest exit. At least that way, then you know you will be working with the kids who will "want" to be there.
And, in the future when some gives a poor effort simply inform them that they don't "have" to be there.
I think that solves the problem. Why the in the world do you want to molly caudle a bunch of lazy kids. Because in the end trying to bend over backwards for all these kids and do a little dance for them is going to do one thing....it is just going to encourage the behavior.
Call every kid, tell them you want them there. Treat them with love and respect. Don't play them in games if they are not there for practice or if they do not perform in practice and play as many kids as possible at the younger levels, run very few plays and formations and coach the crap out of fundamentals so that on a team of 50 players at least 30 to 40 kids are gettting reps and are being coached....that right there will keep them coming back.
But as far as little Johnny "I don't want to practice 4 days a week" and his friends? Well they can "Get the HELL outta here" because we are gonna do what we do and we are going to get our work done. Cause at the end of the day ME the head coach is responsible for the product that is on the field and if you are saying you need 2 hours a day to get it done in practice then that is what is what it is gonna be.
And in the end your team will be better for it.
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Post by realdawg on Jan 22, 2012 15:12:02 GMT -6
Sometimes you have to do addition by subtraction. I would rather have 25 nail eaters than a bunch of nancy boys cause those nancies will become cancers
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Post by fantom on Jan 22, 2012 15:16:21 GMT -6
Let's not overreact here. Some 14 year old kids were griping. It happens. If you've never griped to your fellow coaches about the weight room or practice you're a better man than I am.
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Post by superpower on Jan 22, 2012 15:40:43 GMT -6
I use this statement from time to time and it comes with different results: "If you don't want to be here....then get the HELL out of here!" and make a motion with my thumb to the nearest exit. At least that way, then you know you will be working with the kids who will "want" to be there. And, in the future when some gives a poor effort simply inform them that they don't "have" to be here. I think that solves the problem. Why the _ you want to molly caudle a bunch of lazy kids. Because in the end trying to bend over backwards for all these kids and do a little dance for them is going to do one thing....it is just going to encourage the behavior. Call every kid, tell them you want them there. Treat them with love and respect. Don't play them if they are not there for practice if they do not perform in practice. Play as many kids as possible at the younger levels, run very few plays and formations and coach the crap out of fundamentals so that on a team of 50, 30 to 40 kids are gettting reps. But as far as little Johnny "I don't want to practice 4 days a week" and his friends? Get the heck outta because we are gonna do what we do. And in the end your team will be better for it. WORD! |
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Post by coachmoore42 on Jan 22, 2012 19:51:59 GMT -6
Sometimes you have to do addition by subtraction. I would rather have 25 nail eaters than a bunch of nancy boys cause those nancies will become cancers ...or their MOMS will become cancers... |
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Post by coachorr on Jan 22, 2012 23:33:13 GMT -6
Sometimes you have to do addition by subtraction. I would rather have 25 nail eaters than a bunch of nancy boys cause those nancies will become cancers ...or their MOMS will become cancers... True that!!! |
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Post by holmesbend on Jan 29, 2012 11:09:57 GMT -6
We are two years into a new policy that I demand out of my frosh coaches. No frosh football player may start both ways. 22 starters every game. I implemented this because our JV numbers were falling. We were going undefeated every year at the Frosh level and getting half the kids to come out the following year. I changed coaches and told the new coach that I wanted a positive experience and at least 45 JV players the next year. I don't care if they are 10-0 or 0-10, I want numbers and kids who love football. Last year we had 51 JV players. This year it appears our numbers will be similar. Our Frosh numbers are usually around 65. Although, players may only start one way they all learn a position on the other side of the ball and at times may play that in the game as long as they don't start or play more than the starter. I'm a first year HFC. But we only had 14 freshman come out for football this year (in a 1000 kid school). So I did the exact same thing with our middle school. I demanded that both the 7th and 8th grade teams be 2 platoon. 22 kids start. It's simple - the more kids get to play, the more kids will stay to play. The head of one of my youth programs is a principal here and he carried it on down to the 4th, 5th and 6th graders as well. Same here DC....I just took over our head job over Christmas break, and I am almost positive that I'm going to demand our MS two platoon. One of my big selling points to these middle school and freshmen who don't play, yet play basketball and baseball (which I highly encourage) is the fact that there are only 5 positions on a roundbal team, 9 in baseball and 22 in football....so, tell me which one you have a better chance getting to play? Like some other posters, I also truly believe that too many seniors can be a huge negative if most and/or all aren't either starting or playing quality minutes. Numbers can definitely be over-rated. |
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