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Post by wingt74 on Aug 21, 2006 9:03:31 GMT -6
Hey Coaches,
I'm a youth coach, 12-13 year olds. I have two kids on my team, who are very good football players, but have bad attitutes.
Kid #1. Tall, fast, big kid, good arm, good hitter. Started him at Center. He has NO interest. Does not want to play line, especially center. In general, he dogs drills, and goofs around with Kid #2 a lot.
I gave him a chance at QB and Linebacker. He excelled at both. Best LB on team with no close 2nd. But his goofing around has gotten worse and worse. At our scrimmage this Saturday, I didn't play him one down.
Kid #2. Fast, hard nosed good football player. Played him at Nosetackle last season and at times he dominated. Other times he did not. It was hot and cold. I gave him a shot at RB and he did ok.
This year, Kid #2 has gone WAY down hill. He refuses to play NT and only wants to play LB. He goofs around a lot, and dogs drills. He too did not get in on a single play Saturday.
Today is our first practice since the scrimmage. I'm running out of options.
Thoughts?
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Post by brophy on Aug 21, 2006 9:09:03 GMT -6
If the team is goofing off (even if it's just one kid), stop practice and make everyone run. If it happens again, start running. If it continues or they aren't ready for a drill (you have to wait) - SEND THEM HOME.
These guys get humbled real quick when their peers start working against them (and their PEERS are the whole reason they are out there, believe it or not). Don't turn this into a power struggle between YOU and some kid.
What positions will these kids be playing when they are 17?
What positions COULD these kids play?
If they can play, why switch their position?
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Post by bulldog on Aug 21, 2006 10:43:07 GMT -6
Brophy makes a good point. The kids need to learn that the weak link impacts the whole team. And if you have 2 kids that are having an attitude problem, then they are negatively impacting their teammates. I used to take a chair and have the team form a circle around the chair. Then I would have the kids who were slackers sit in the chair one at a time. I would tell the team that we are only only as good as our effort and since we had one player with a bad effort (of course they had heard this throughout practice as well), the rest of the team was going to have to work extra hard to make-up for the one player's effort. Then the team would do 'reminders' (Bends and Thrusts) - everyone except the kid in the chair. After several days of this, the kids usually took care of the problem on their own. Peer pressure, or the slackers had a decision to make.
But before I resorted to the peer pressure, I would have a talk with the player. No coddling. They either do what is best for the team, or they should decide to do something else. I am a firm believer that talent alone does not win games. And quite honestly, I don't really focus on winning. I focus on competing. So, I am fine with losing players of great talent who cannot/will not contribute to the team. I would rather play a lesser player who gives great effort and has a great attitude. I know this makes me different than a lot of coaches, but I am OK with that too. So, if the kid does not understand - and many 12-13 year olds do not have the maturity to understand sacrifice - they need to get it somehow.
You may need to have a meeting with the parents. Explain to them the situation and the way their kid's behavior is impacting the team. Explain to them that football is a team sport and that no player can put his desire's above the team's needs. See if they can help you. If they are typical of today's parents and watch your lips to see when you stop talking so they can immediately start whining about playing time and the way that you are screwing their kid . . . well, you might want to suggest to them that tennis or golf or wrestling might be more appropriate for their kid since they have less of a team structure and require less sacrifice to the team.
Like brophy says, I like peer pressure. It takes you out of the bad guy position and shifts the attention to the kid's behavior. You don't need the chair. Just have him sit on the ground. Or, I have also had the kid call out the cadence for their teammate's exercises. I have stopped them and had them restart if he wasn't loug enough or had a slow pace. You could also have them do 4 extra 100's per player for their conditioning (one per quarter).
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Post by wildcat on Aug 21, 2006 10:47:29 GMT -6
Brophy always has good thoughts on this kind of stuff...agreed that if these two kids are screwing around, make the whole team run...as my drill seargents used to say, "Peer pressure is a b*tch!"
My guess is that these two ding-dongs are acting the way they are because, so far, the other kids on the team perceive what is going on as a power struggle between you and these two kids. The other kids don't see how this behavior can negatively effect the team as a whole. By disciplining the entire team when time is being wasted or when individual players are being disruptive, the majority of the kids, who have been doing the "right" thing will eventually grow tired of it and start pressuring the noncomformists to toe the line.
And, good God! 12-13 year-old kids already acting this way??? Where does their sense of entitlement come from? Are these egos being fed by parents? Teammates? I would try to find out why these two kids think that they are entitled to tell the coach what positions they will or won't play.
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Post by coachcalande on Aug 21, 2006 11:02:25 GMT -6
ah this is why they call it "head football coach" and not "everyones best friend"...
first mistake is even listening when a kid says hes not interested in doing what is best for the team...test the daylights out of the kids on day one and two and then you can have all positions solidified by day three...parents and kids that complain about where they are put can simply look at the test scores here, i post them right on my office door...youi wont see lousy test scores at skill positions., in addition i post attendance too...kids can see, miss practice and you move down the depth chart. this year imtaking that a step further, they get practice grades now. 1-5 points. 5 is a great job, 4 is a good practice, nothing special but doing everything you are suppossed to do, 3 means you did something to draw attention in a negative way (loafing, fooling around, talking etc), 2 is bad, fights, bad attitude , laziness, missing drills etc...1 is you were there...about it. 0 is a missed practice, any reason.
anyhow, we did about 6 different tests today and lots of conditioning as we have too many kids and need to weed em out early.i can say right now that we can have two complete offenses and not lose much from one to the next...these kids dont have a chance to ask oir complain about where they are put, its based on test results and whats best for the team. those kids youhave that dont want to put out best effort need to know now, talent doesnt mean squat, its effort, attitude and work ethic. show em the way coach. discipline them for their own sake. good luck man.
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Post by wingt74 on Aug 21, 2006 11:06:51 GMT -6
One part I did forget to mention was the one on one talk with each of the players. I had that talk, and they just kept shaking their heads and said, "yes, yes, I understand". Obviously in one ear, out the other.
I'm was hesitant about punishing the whole team for their actions. But you guys are convincing me now.
Has anyone had negative experiences with the "punishing the team for a player's actions" strategy?
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Post by brophy on Aug 21, 2006 11:08:19 GMT -6
ah this is why they call it "head football coach" and not "everyones best friend"...
first mistake is even listening when a kid ... ;D good one....lol!!! Has anyone had negative experiences with the "punishing the team for a player's actions" strategy? I haven't. They get the message real quick. Now, I don't think I'm a prick....I goof along with them sometimes, but when it's time to go to work, ITS TIME TO GO TO WORK....no SDing around. When drills aren't being conducted, or we are not repping plays, a coach can ham it up with the players - I think it allows them to feel confident that they can be themselves and relax, just so long as you can turn it back on and compose yourself and refocus when the 'green light' goes on. I cannot stay on task for three straight hours and I really cannot expect these teenagers to do it either, so I have to allow some levity during practices. Now with that, I have found it a lot EASIER to amp them up when the lax part is over (breaks) and it is time to SHOW AND PROVE (pay attention in practice). We want EFFORT and FOCUS....if you can't do that, you are killing us. The second thing is....if you are not HUSTLING on these runs, we are doing it over until you get it right...this ain't no punishment jog. When you punish the whole team for bad habits, it FORCES them to be accountable for not just their own actions, but EACH's others as well. I've sent kids home before too. Lost some really great talent (because they never returned), but the team was a lot better because they weren't reinforcing destructive / lazy / bad attitudes |
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Post by coachcb on Aug 21, 2006 15:26:03 GMT -6
Here's one of the tactics I devised for this kinds of situations-
When I do my practice schedule I leave the last 10 minutes open. I inform the team that if everyone works hard and stays focused, then I'll extend special team into the open ten minutes. However, if I catch even one of them screwing around, we condition for those ten minutes. I run very high tempo practices and tend to use special teams as conditioning- so this fit quite well.
If one of the kids is screwing off, I don't point it out right there and then- I wait until ten minutes before the end of practice. Then I explain to the team that lil Johnny didn't want to go hard during tackling drills and lil Billy missed his blocks because he wasn't paying attention, so the entire team gets to condition.
Now, I must tell you, that ten minutes isn't typical conditioning- it 10 minutes of almost non-stop anaerobic fun. My favorite is to put 5 guys on one end of a 7 man sled, I'll stand at the opposite end, and make them push it in circles.
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Post by coachcalande on Aug 21, 2006 15:59:52 GMT -6
i do the same thing...call it "flex time" and teach the kids about "investing in the proper banks"
the bank of hard work
the bank of horse play
the bank of idiotic behavior
the bank of bad attitudes
the bank of conditioning and discipline
i teach them that if they invest in anything other than "the bank of hard work" that im forced to invest in the "bank of conditioning and discipline"...but in a 2.5 hr practice we keep a full 30 minutes of "flex time" to be used for whatever we need work on...
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Post by CoachJohnsonMN on Aug 21, 2006 17:08:54 GMT -6
Addition by subtraction--its that simple. We had the same problem last year--a couple of players upset about playing time, jacking around, or mentally not into practice. We punished the team so many times it seemed like a scripted portion of practice. All of those boys did not come out this year (three seniors, one junior, and two sophomores). I am left with 26 players in grades 9-12 this season. This is my fifth year at this school (1 winning season in 18 seasons as a co-op), we have had the best camp thus far. Not by a small portion--the atmosphere is 500 times better. You have to stick with your philosophy, enforce your expectations daily, and give it time. My players now demand the same expectations out of each other (not because of punishment but the elimination of bad apples has allowed the others to concentrate on success). I can't wait to lead this group of men onto the field.
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Post by jhanawa on Aug 21, 2006 17:24:52 GMT -6
We've done it a couple of ways, starting with peer pressure as mentioned above and also with individual pressure, such as making them run sprints against the team and giving the team a 5 yard head start (making the offender do updowns if he isn't first), but when it needs to, it comes down to, "do it our way or leave our equipment at the gate on your way out", Period, no matter how good of an athlete the kid is. We did this a few years ago, kid was skipping practice and goofing off, made him leave his stuff at the gate and sent him packing, next day he comes back with his dad, who asks that we give him another chance and guarantees that the boy won't screw around anymore. We took him back and he turned out to be our best WR/FS to date (this year we may have better  ), turned into a great worker and student of the game and one of my all time favorite kids. I have no doubt had we not given him a serious dose of reality, he wouldn't have amounted to anything. |
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Post by coachcalande on Aug 21, 2006 18:17:43 GMT -6
Addition by subtraction--its that simple. We had the same problem last year--a couple of players upset about playing time, jacking around, or mentally not into practice. We punished the team so many times it seemed like a scripted portion of practice. All of those boys did not come out this year (three seniors, one junior, and two sophomores). I am left with 26 players in grades 9-12 this season. This is my fifth year at this school (1 winning season in 18 seasons as a co-op), we have had the best camp thus far. Not by a small portion--the atmosphere is 500 times better. You have to stick with your philosophy, enforce your expectations daily, and give it time. My players now demand the same expectations out of each other (not because of punishment but the elimination of bad apples has allowed the others to concentrate on success). I can't wait to lead this group of men onto the field. I rate that post 5 stars out of 5. nice post. |
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), turned into a great worker and student of the game and one of my all time favorite kids. I have no doubt had we not given him a serious dose of reality, he wouldn't have amounted to anything.