Question about motivating your players

Read books by and about successful coaches (not just football). Post excerpts on your locker room bulletin board or give them to your kids.

Talk to them about current examples of successful athletes that they can model themselves after.

Go to other school activities that your players are participating in - basketball games, wrestling matches, plays, concerts. They will know you're there and it will matter.

When you see kids giving great effort or improving in off-season program, compliment them.

In short, individual attention goes a long way. Remember, too, that football season is eight months off - you don't need to be as intense now as then. It is possible to burn out yourself and them - too much of a good thing, even football, is still too much!

I agree with brophy, it is all about communication and realtionships.

2 good books on sport psychology: Coaching the Mental Game by Harvey Dorfman; The Mental Edge by Ken Baum. Both give very practical advice on motivation and sport psychology. I think it is important to have a working knowledge of psychology and human behavior. After that I think you do what works best for you. Don't try to be someone you are not. Be simple in presentation but when it comes from your heart the kids feed off of that - especially the HC.

Not sure if this will work with the "big guys" or even if you would have the time for it, but it has worked for me, and I'll offer it up.

Brophy has already said that it is about communication and relationships, and that you have to squeeze them to find out about each one of them, and I concur.

What I have done, and continue to do, is write a letter to each kid I have. Now I only coach "little guys" (7th & 8th graders) but IMO, I think this still works. I write to each kid, tell them something a little something about our relationship, so it is unique to each kid, and if he is coming back, I tell them what I envision for them in the upcoming year. I challenge them to spend time at my off season conditioning camp, or to raise money and attend a college football camp.

For my 8th graders, I thank them in one letter and let them know how much they mean to me, and how I appreciated their hard work for two years. Again, each letter is unique - no chain letters, the kids would see through that.

The 8th graders also get a second letter, on their graduation day, (if the Chicago Post Office does their job - Not always the case here) In this letter I again thank them, again invite them to come back, and then I wish them well at whatever school they go to. Where I am at, I feed about 5 or 6 schools, and some of them have over 100 kids on the Freshman teams - so I also try to encourage my guys. When they leave from a team of 30 to a team of 100, they can get discouraged. They no longer are "the man" on the team and that can be hard on some of them.

I'm not sure if it will work with the "big guys" that you have but my little guys seem to like it. I have been told by many parents that their sons have kept my letter in a drawer, or they have hung it on the wall - things like that. I just think back to when I was their age - the only letters I got where from aunts, uncles, family. How often do they get a letter from a coach? Or from a friend? Especially at their age.

I think the thing that the kids see is that I care, and I do. I do care about them and I'm sure you do too. Why would you be coaching if you did not care? Sometimes, they do not know that people care for them and I think they appreciate the gesture, and in return, they give you their best. ;D

Hope this helps...

Reading books by successful coaches is a good idea, but also those by successful businessmen, motivational speakers, and some times books on faith. The key is to tie it to the kids in your program. If you're doing it year-round, make sure it is applicable to what is going on at the time, and do some research. Kids like to know more about who they, are where they live, people who came before them and how they can effect the world by what they do now.

Some great books I have read recently tht have helped me out in this area are:
Patton on Leadership
Wooden on Leadership