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Post by fballcoachg on Apr 16, 2012 19:31:48 GMT -6
May be an odd question but what would you rather do, play football or coach football? A coach on our staff made the comment today that we have all heard or made several times that he would give anything to play again, so on and so forth. I never really thought about it before, and while playing was a great experience that can never be duplicated, I genuinely believe I enjoy coaching more and wouldn't change/trade my role.
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Post by Chris Clement on Apr 16, 2012 19:42:46 GMT -6
I'd love to be able to play if I had the physical capacity to be competitive. I don't, so I'll coach. I'll say this, our family backyard games are taken more seriously than most HS games.
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Post by coachhart on Apr 17, 2012 11:41:49 GMT -6
I'm with you, coachg. I enjoy coaching more than I enjoyed playing - I like having the ability to influence: a) what's going on in the game plan; b) the student-athletes. That's not to say I didn't love playing - I did and I would still give anything for one more rep - but what I do coaching has a much more profound impact than what I did as a football player.
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Post by jgordon1 on Apr 17, 2012 11:56:59 GMT -6
I also enjoy coaching more than I did playing....Played HS and 5 years of college (redshirted)..I was ready for my playing career to end....It was ALOT of hard work and don't know if I could put myself through that again...plus I was an offensive lineman, i played in a couple of alumni games but man I forgot how sore i got.....I find it interesting that in my coaching career, I started out just wanting to be around football, then I fell in love w/ X and O's and recruiting..yea, I actually liked it...now as I am older, I enjoy the kids probably more than the X;s and O's
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Post by veerman on Apr 17, 2012 13:16:54 GMT -6
Defiantly playing!! There is NO comparison to the feeling of playing under the lights, being able to have an impact on the game. As much as we coaches want to think we play a big part in the outcomes of games our role is in reality very small compared to what the kids play. Played high school and college, and I would love to go back to it in a second. Coaching is great, but it can't hold a candle to being actually on that field playing.
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Post by tango on Apr 17, 2012 13:34:52 GMT -6
I'm to old to remember playing. I miss my dad questioning the coach. Thinngs really have not changed that much. I asked my wife if anyone was giving me the blues after a game and she asked if my dad, brother, mom, or sister counted.
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Post by gdoggwr on Apr 17, 2012 13:36:37 GMT -6
I started coaching to stay around the game, but as I get older I don't know... I LOVE being a coach, the relationships, the X's and O's, seeing kids improve each year, all of it.
Now if I could have frozen time and stayed in college (AANNNNDD stayed 22 years old) then sure, but to go back and try to play now? NOBODY wants to see that.
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Post by olcoach53 on Apr 17, 2012 13:39:49 GMT -6
I actually still do play, semi-pro (I played 4 years of D3 too), and by the time our semi-pro season starts, I am so burnt out from playing that I find coaching a great reward. We had another coach on staff who used to play semi-pro and he would always try to liken HS football to semi-pro and tell the kids plays and techniques that he THOUGHT would work. I found this pretty ignorant of him and I never talk about my semi-pro career with the HS kids at all.
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Post by groundchuck on Apr 17, 2012 14:18:59 GMT -6
All things being equal I would rather play.
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Post by coachfd on Apr 17, 2012 15:18:24 GMT -6
I don't think any of us dream of Heaven as a place where we can roam the sidelines...
If there is a Heaven, and there's a football up there... Then hopefully there's a pair of shoulder pads and some cleats ... "Put me in, COACH, I'm ready to play!"
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wvcoach
Junior Member
[F4:@coach_wellman]
Posts: 288
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Post by wvcoach on Apr 17, 2012 16:35:10 GMT -6
I've already coached more years than I've played, but I think I'll take coaching...or playing...or.....
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Post by jackington on Apr 17, 2012 17:11:30 GMT -6
Lucky me Im only 23 and I play mens league in the Spring/Summer, coach in the Fall. If i could only do one i think it would be coach but its really a tough call considering I'm still able to play.
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Post by fantom on Apr 17, 2012 18:07:06 GMT -6
I'd love to be able to play again. Maybe I could get it right this time.
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Post by airman on Apr 17, 2012 18:59:22 GMT -6
I still suit up in a semi pro league. they let me play a bit but I do a lot of coaching. I would say playing was more fun but coaching is more gratifying
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Post by k on Apr 17, 2012 19:07:49 GMT -6
Play. No doubt.
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Post by carookie on Apr 17, 2012 23:40:14 GMT -6
Ill take the other side of this......
I went to college in San Diego, it was incredible, best seven years of my life (as evident by the time spent). But you know every time I go back to visit it just isn't the same; my wife wants to move back but Im wary that it would somehow tarnish the image it has in my head.
I kinda think of my playing days as the same way; they were great and I wouldn't trade em. But those days are behind me, and even if my knees, back, and wife let me go play in some men's league I'd rather not tarnish my memories of playing football. Instead, I'll try to pass on those enjoyable situations to a new generation to make memories.
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Post by Chris Clement on Apr 18, 2012 7:34:50 GMT -6
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Post by davishfc on Apr 18, 2012 8:28:49 GMT -6
I think when I envision being able to go back I always think about going back to how I was physically during that time both during high school and college. I think this way and I'll turn 30 in June, so I'm not up there in age yet. But I will be sooner than I think. I believe I could still hang but let's face it, I don't want to hang...I want to compete.
But I just think about the emphasis put on developing physically all of the time during high school and college. Strength, speed, agility, and conditioning were all much more of a focus back then. Not anywhere close to as much now as a teacher and coach. All of my responsibilities have limited the focus I can put on those areas.
So I say, play, if I could have that to live one more time...that would be neat. But I can't so it's gotten much easier to let go over the years. I guess when I think about it, I also hope that I'd be able to take with me all of the knowledge that I've gained as a coach and put it to use as well. But that definitely can't happen so I've moved on.
Playing at both the high school and college level were each the experience of a lifetime which is why I coach. I want to create the experience of a lifetime for the kids I am responsible over. Kind of like paying the football experience forward through coaching...that's the way I look at it.
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Post by coachwilliams2 on Apr 18, 2012 8:33:18 GMT -6
Could I go back and play with all the knowledge I have gained?
I was not a tough kid. I didn't learn how to use leverage and be physical until college and then my athletic ability was far inferior to those around me and it didn't matter.
I would love to go back and play more like to coach my kids to play.
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Post by coachwoodall on Apr 18, 2012 8:35:21 GMT -6
Now do you mean go back and play, knowing what I know now or hitting the reset button and doing it again?
No thanks, I wouldn't relish being young and ignorant again.
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Post by davishfc on Apr 18, 2012 8:50:13 GMT -6
Now do you mean go back and play, knowing what I know now or hitting the reset button and doing it again? No thanks, I wouldn't relish being young and ignorant again. LOL! |
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Post by jgordon1 on Apr 18, 2012 9:00:47 GMT -6
I'd love to be able to play again. Maybe I could get it right this time. you would still be weak and slow...just like me |
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Post by fantom on Apr 18, 2012 9:03:37 GMT -6
I'd love to be able to play again. Maybe I could get it right this time. you would still be weak and slow...just like me LOL. That's right, Stupid genetics! |
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Post by jgordon1 on Apr 18, 2012 10:15:03 GMT -6
What i really miss about playing is the friendships and the FUN times..HS was great and I mean college was unreal (UMass or ZooMass)..Right now I have 2 guys that I played w/ in HS visiting me..The live in MA, and are on spring break and wanted to bring their kids to visit DC...So now we are telling their kids our stupid stories..one of the Dads started a story and one of his kids finished it because he has told it so many times. LOL
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Post by tye2021 on Apr 21, 2012 3:57:11 GMT -6
2 totally different animals. I started coaching for the same reason I played. I love the game. But coaching and playing is way different for me.
As a player I played for the fun of it. I loved the individual success as much as the team success. I remember being kid as young as 5 and 6 playing with my older brother and his friends. They would always let me run the ball and because I was so young and small they always let me score at least 1 touchdown. I remember giggling with excitement the entire time I ran the ball. After that I was hooked.
From Saturday youth games to Friday nights under the lights, there was nothing like the excitement of the game just before kickoff. The butterflies in your stomach as you waited for that first contact. The comradery and friendships with teammates. The trash talks on the field with players, some friends and family, that played for other schools. The competition. The desire to be the best. While I can't duplicate what you've done in the past. I'd play again a 100 different ways.
Coaching is about teaching, leading, molding and orchestrating a group of young individuals to perform as one entity. It’s a different gratification. I feel proud not for myself and what I've accomplished but for what my kids accomplished together and individually. Too see a kid that never played the game go from being told what to do on every single play his first year out, to being the MVP of your team the next. To see a kid sacrifice his time and efforts for the good of the team. To watch them go from not caring about much of anything to believing in something greater than themselves. To see them go from "clowns" to Cap and Gowns. And at the end of it all to hear at least one of them say... "Thanks coach". Is a feeling you can never get as a player. For me.... it’s the same feeling I get as a parent watching my daughter succeed in school. And show creativity I never had. I no longer coach because I love the game. I coach because of the differences we make in some of these kids lives.
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Post by TMGPG on Apr 21, 2012 7:31:44 GMT -6
This is a tough question. At first I would have said playing but coaching has brought a lot of joy to my life and I feel pretty fortunate to have done both.
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Post by peacock1915 on Apr 21, 2012 8:10:12 GMT -6
I love both, I would love to go back and play my senior of high school again (with the knowledge of the game I have now). But I love coaching just as much.
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bighit65
Junior Member
Make a statement without saying a word.
Posts: 397
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Post by bighit65 on Apr 21, 2012 16:10:58 GMT -6
Funny that this is brought up because it seems like I have talked to players about this quite a bit. I remember watching film with our DC in high school. After watching a big hit on film during my senior year I commented about how much I was going to miss it. He told me there's nothing better than watching a gameplan executed. He was right. That doesn't keep me from telling our guys to relish it though.
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Post by julien on Apr 22, 2012 7:45:59 GMT -6
Coaching. Definitely.
I can make a difference with my coaching.
During my playing time, I was D captain but just a good player, not a great one... ;D
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Post by CoachCP on Apr 22, 2012 8:46:36 GMT -6
I'd rather coach myself. I coached and played during my senior year in HS (coached my OL's coach's 8th grade team that his son played on. They started practice when we ended...), and I even knew then that I preferred coaching. I didn't know crap, but I liked it better. I had my best year of football then (playoffs, all-conference, blah blah) and I still preferred coaching to playing, and I sucked at coaching.
I did love playing HS football. Occasionally I wish I could go back and suit up. But I miss the smell of fresh cut grass during summer camp and preseason practice pretty quickly after the season ends.
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