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Post by tog on Jan 19, 2007 20:58:59 GMT -6
 how do you deal with the non athletes in school that ridicule your player's? how do you teach your players to deal with it? |
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Post by airman on Jan 19, 2007 21:12:24 GMT -6
wow football players getting picked on. hum never thought I would see that day.
I guess I am used to the fb players being the top dogs.
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Post by aznando on Jan 19, 2007 22:17:40 GMT -6
This is a good question. I don't have the answer, but this was a big problem at our school. Our school had a long tradition of being terrible. Kids would make fun of our kids for going out and getting beat down every week. We had one of the biggest 5A schools in the state, had some athletes at our school especially in track and couldn't get any of those athletes to come out and play. I can't count the amount of times people would respond to a player saying that he was playing football with "Why? you guys suck." It always bothered me and I felt like saying, maybe we wouldn't suck if you came out for the team hotshot. Seems like a lot of kids wanted to be a part of something that was already successful and not do any of the work to make it successful.
Aznando
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Post by cc on Jan 19, 2007 22:22:16 GMT -6
Yeah Winning is the cure all...
You can arm your players with comebacks...
Pep rallies would be a good place.
Make highlight films and have them shown over the school monitors. Everyone looks like a winner on their highlight film...
Yeah I was surprized to see this topic...
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Post by saintrad on Jan 19, 2007 23:55:20 GMT -6
We had one of the biggest 5A schools in the state, had some athletes at our school especially in track and couldn't get any of those athletes to come out and play. I can't count the amount of times people would respond to a player saying that he was playing football with "Why? you guys suck." Aznando aahhh tell them that track is a girls sport...  , or at least a metrosexual sport |
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Post by CVBears on Jan 20, 2007 0:16:18 GMT -6
build the program, have buy in with the kids in it, commit to the team, carry the perception that you are exclusive as a team (only certain people can get in), develop your kids as leaders,
and of course winning doesn't hurt
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kdcoach
Sophomore Member
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Post by kdcoach on Jan 20, 2007 1:11:59 GMT -6
Funny, I thought that we were the only program that ever dealt with this. When we started here 5 years ago we had the exact same issues. No tradition of winning, athletes that wouldn't play, kids ridiculing those that did play. It took about 3 years to turn it around, and the truth is that it didn't turn until we started winning and being competitive in the games we lost. 3 Years ago we finished the season with 19 kids on the roster and 13 healthy enough to play. 8 Sophomore starters. We told some of the older kids that weren't buying into what we were doing that if they didn't want to be part of it doing it our way than they could stay home in August. Some did stay home but the next year we won 4 games (same as the total for the previous 3 years combined) this past year we won 6 and should have won at least one more. Missed the playoffs by only 20 points. (would have been the first time in school history if we had made it) Now we're getting 28-30 kids in the weight room every day and will probably put pads on 50-55 kids this year.
We told the kids all the same things, not everyone can play football. Most of them wouldn't last out here etc.... But in today's politically correct world of No Bullying and No Confrontations, it was hard for our kids to stand up for themselves. We told them that it didn't matter what the other kids thought, you can't control what they say or think, you can only control your own behaviors to get better. Anyway, we got bigger and stronger and more competitive and started winning. Now it's a big deal to play football here. Tell your kids to stick with it, it will be worth it in the end.
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Post by groundchuck on Jan 20, 2007 7:52:39 GMT -6
The school I work at now, that never/seldom happens. Like someone said winning cures all. But at my last stop. Holy #$%^ was this a problem. We did not win enough and those "playa hatas" were all over. Really there were 2 punk kids that would ridicule my players relentlessly.
Finally one day when I was supervising lunch I just flat told him he was nothing but a punk, would always be a punk, and if he had a pair he would come out for football. We never had a problem with him again. Another kid used to ask how much we were gonna lose by.
Thing is when I was in HS there was one kid in our class who gave us crap sometimes. I took care of him. My coaches did not have to. But the school I was at the kids were so used to losing that taking crap from classmates was just part of the culture. Those kids got so used to it that they just lived with the constant ridicule.
I was hoping that me showing a little passion (however innapropriate it may have been to get into with the kid) would ignite some of the football kids to stop taking it and decide to do something about it (win). You know like a coach getting a tech in hoops. I guess it didn't really work.
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Post by coachcalande on Jan 20, 2007 12:34:09 GMT -6
how do you deal with the non athletes in school that ridicule your player's? how do you teach your players to deal with it? WINNING SOLVES A WHOLE LOT OF PROBLEMS. |
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Post by fbdoc on Jan 20, 2007 13:14:08 GMT -6
It's easy to say winning solves the problem. The immediate challenge is to make sure your guys (and you!) feel good about what you're doing. If winning on the scoreboard is going to be a future goal then make sure your immediate goal is based upon something besides winning. Playing hard, getting bstronger in the weight room, getting faster, eliminating mistakes, and staying together as a team. Even after you start winning games I would suggest setting goals that don't include the final score. Most coaches who have had to build a program from the ground up have been in your shoes. Anyone can come in and be care-taker of talent, and win games. It takes a true COACH to develop his own kids talents, create a true team, and then help them become winners. Hang in there.
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Post by phantom on Jan 20, 2007 14:14:01 GMT -6
Use the ridicule as a unifying factor. A lot of teams who have gone from the outhouse to the penthouse have done it by bringing the team together by using stuff like this. Schnellenberger's "Us against the world" approach is one example. A more positive example would be a "We're a family" approach.
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Post by coachdawhip on Jan 20, 2007 15:02:53 GMT -6
We have sold our players on a family atomsphere, not everyone has the heart top belong to this family. We go ahead and tell them once you leave this locker room, the only ones who believe in us is us and remember that. We didn't win this year, but the culture of the school has started to change to be positive.
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Post by fbdoc on Jan 20, 2007 15:20:20 GMT -6
Exactly - the culture of the team and the school usually begins to change before winning takes place. Often times getting an influential kid, who is not on the team, to come out and buy into the program will help accelerate the process. However don't compromise your family concept for the sake of one talented, but disruptive kid.
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Post by CoachJohnsonMN on Jan 21, 2007 10:24:32 GMT -6
We deal with the same problem. I coach at a very small school with a long tradition of losing. My first two years we were getting better with every game, won the first conference game in 4 years, and were changing the culture of the team. Then....it happened. We had two grades of kids that were just sh-t heads. Everyone. Athletes, band kids, non-athletes, their parents, probably even grandma. I had several kids that I refused to issue equipment to because they were trying on helmets and commenting on how embarrassing that season will be. The constant bombardment that my players faced for those two years was ridiculous. Those two years in which we made progress were for not--at least that was what I had thought. I agree that you can not change the attitudes of the older students in your school. You do have some control over the elementary and jr. high students. During those first two years, we had youth camps that were well-attended. We had our varsity players help with the camps. We also had youth nights and invited all members of the youth camp. We made football important to those kids at a very impressionable age. We had our "role model" players display leadership and many younger kids looked up to those guys. We had to weather the storm for two years, but it was like putting money in the bank when we emphasized the importance of football to the youth. The seniors I had this past season were eighth graders when I arrived. They were by far the best group I have had. I honestly belief it had to do with the role models that we constantly displayed in front of them in eighth grade. The best part, though, is the negativity from the student body has virtually vanished. Of the boys that attended the youth camps, about half didn't play football their senior year. They kept their mouths shut (at least in public eye) because they still understood the importance of what we were trying to do. Our boy's basketball team is 1-12 at this point and I have not heard one smart-as*ed comment. That would not have been the case last year or two years ago. Give it time, reach out to the youth, and stick to your beliefs.
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Post by tothehouse on Jan 21, 2007 10:50:39 GMT -6
I like that Coach Johnson.
In 2005 we had one kid who was as cancerous as cancer could be. He went to our school his frosh and soph years. Left as a junior (which was a relief), but came back as a senior. We gave him a shot on the team. Good player, but wasn't buying in at all. During our intersquad scrimmage he blows up and does the "take off the pads right there and walk away" thing. Basically ending his career. A few weeks later he comes back and tries to reconcile. Our HC doesn't let him back.
During the whole time he was playing and then when he cut himself he rips his teammates and then former teammates about how "they sucked" and that "he was the best player on the team" etc. He started gathering a group of former wannabe players and talked s--t about players and coaches the whole season.
We kept winning.........and winning.......and winning.....and winning.....and all the while he would try to pop off saying, "_______ team is going to smoke you guys" blah blah blah.
Well, we going on to win a section championship (equivolant to a state title - CA doesn't have a state championship). Our players turned the tables on this punk when our rings arrived. They walked around proud and simply asked this guy, "do you have one of these? Oh, I didn't think so."
It is funny where the culture is almost 100% pro football how a few people can ruin it. The bottomline is what everyone has said so far. Football is a family. Keep things inside the family and don't let anyone inside that isn't a part of what is happening.
Push the heck out of your players. Football is hard to do. Not just playing, but the time commitment. If you push hard right now, by the summer you'll weed guys out who are on the fence. Turn up the heat in the summer and the last remaining guys will go by the wayside. When the season starts you should know who is part of the brotherhood.
Not one single team on our campus works harder than the football program. NOT ONE! To us, if someone wants to knock that and our success (152-37-2 since 1990) it is almost okay.......because we know what we are doing is right.
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tedseay
Sophomore Member
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Post by tedseay on Jan 23, 2007 7:19:03 GMT -6
In 2005 we had one kid who was as cancerous as cancer could be.  |
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Post by youngcoach54 on Jan 23, 2007 19:06:53 GMT -6
I am currently at a school that has had very little to be proud of during the course of the last 15 years.
I faced some of what is being discussed here during my first season as the HC (this year). I am not in the school, so I was unaware of what it was truly like for my athletes.
The one thing I always told my older players was to challenge anyone who thought that "they sucked" to come to a practice or workout and see the amount of dedication it takes. Then invite them to participate. When they say they don't want to, it's very easy to scough at them. They don't have what it takes, nor enough belief in themselves, to contribute anything to the cause.
In any event, coming from a group of coaches who are building a program we are focused intently on exposing our youngest football players to the "right" attitude. We are training a couple of members of each class on Leadership skills. We are showing our captains and others the things that we need to do to build our "Family". And we are holding each other responsible for developing ourselves athletically and academcially during the course of the Winter and Spring.
Our young kids are bought in and are excited about football.
When we do begin to see the fruits of our labor in the W/L column, it will make it that much more satisfying for our athletes.
Someone also suggested setting goals that are unrelated to Wins and Losses. I believe in this holeheartedly in any circumstance. You will not do everything right when you Win, just like you will not do everything wrong when you Lose.
We try to challenge each of our athletes to find out just how great they can become. Conversely, if we are all doing this we will find out how great of a TEAM we can be. Are you attending all the workouts? Are you pushing yourself in the classroom? Are you representing this program with class?
All things that ideally will get each athlete to constantly push themselves to see what they can achieve.
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Post by dubber on Jan 23, 2007 21:16:26 GMT -6
I think phantom has the best solution to the problem. "Us against the world" Use that 'cancer' as fuel fro your team. No one likes to be doubted.
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Post by senatorblutarsky on Jan 26, 2007 0:52:31 GMT -6
We’ve been successful and still have some of that (non-athlete’s ridicule) here. Every season, I tell our guys that 98% of the people in this town/school will support you, will do anything for you and look up to you. 2% are jealous and look for ways to bring you down. Now I figure that if it happened at a school like ours, with the longest playoff streak in the state, with more football trophies and plaques than all other sports combined… it will happen anywhere. We don’t get the extreme of what some of you guys get, but we do get the few guys who don’t play asking our guys “why do you do all that sh** for football; why wake up at 6:30 in the summer to lift?”. And of course, we get the girls volleyball team saying “I hope you lose… then you will know what it feels like” (they are not very good). I just tell our guys to expect it- they are in the paper, they have all the notoriety, all the pep rallies are for them- they are the top dogs. But with that celebrity comes a price… definitely worth it, but they need to know there will always be those people who criticize because they can’t… or at least are not willing to DO.
It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. Theodore Roosevelt
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Post by donaldduck on Jan 26, 2007 7:33:25 GMT -6
Our cheerleaders tell our kids we suck.  |
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, or at least a metrosexual sport
