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Post by poundit52 on Aug 9, 2012 18:21:55 GMT -6
So I need some advice guys, and maybe some encouragement. It's the first week of practice and numbers are pretty low on our freshman team (24-26) for our school's size (over 1500). We knew that we would have number problems. We also heard that this group didn't have a lot of talent, but we didn't really care listen to that because we wanted to keep an open mind. So far we look pretty darn rough, I mean real BAD. We don't have more than 3 decent athletes and maybe only 4-5 FOOTBALL players in total, if you catch my drift. The coaching staff is trying to stay positive, enthusiastic, and keep the energy high during practice, but sometimes that just doesn't seem to cut it. It's like some of the kids are there just to fill time during their day.
I know its still very early in the season but it feels like its gonna be a long one already. Any words of wisdom? Anything else we can try?
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Post by tbelding on Aug 9, 2012 19:33:23 GMT -6
So I need some advice guys, and maybe some encouragement. It's the first week of practice and numbers are pretty low on our freshman team (24-26) for our school's size (over 1500). We knew that we would have number problems. We also heard that this group didn't have a lot of talent, but we didn't really care listen to that because we wanted to keep an open mind. So far we look pretty darn rough, I mean real BAD. We don't have more than 3 decent athletes and maybe only 4-5 FOOTBALL players in total, if you catch my drift. The coaching staff is trying to stay positive, enthusiastic, and keep the energy high during practice, but sometimes that just doesn't seem to cut it. It's like some of the kids are there just to fill time during their day. I know its still very early in the season but it feels like its gonna be a long one already. Any words of wisdom? Anything else we can try? Honestly, cry me a river you get to coach football. If you can only get excited when you think the team has a lot of talent then coaching is not for you. |
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wvcoach
Junior Member
[F4:@coach_wellman]
Posts: 288
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Post by wvcoach on Aug 9, 2012 20:20:51 GMT -6
In four years of coaching, we probably have the least or next o least amount of talent that we've had yet. I'm stoked, because it means we get to do so much actual teaching this year.
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Post by bluedevil4 on Aug 9, 2012 20:54:14 GMT -6
You have 24-26 freshmen! That is an awesome number! Please, can we get that? We average maybe 20. We've had less than 20 on our JV the past few years.
Of course they aren't football players. They're kids. It's your job to turn them into football players. '
Yea talent helps, but coaching helps more. If you carry this current mentality onto the field, then yea, the season will be long.
You have nothing to complain about right now. Get out there and coach them.
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Post by coachcastleman on Aug 9, 2012 22:27:44 GMT -6
We have 20 kids 9-12. So what is the issue?
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Post by 19delta on Aug 9, 2012 22:47:20 GMT -6
Are they at least good kids? Likeable? Hard workers?
If they are, then coach 'em up...give them your best effort. You might be pleasantly surprised with the result.
If you just aren't very talented, here's a couple things you can do:
1) Run the ball. If you run the ball, even if you don't get a first down, the clock will continue to run. Avoid throwing the ball if you aren't any good. If you throw a bunch of passes, you are going to to end up with a lot of incompletions (clock stops) and interceptions (other team gets another chance to score). If you are going to be bad, you want to speed up the game...keep that clock running and limit your opponent's possessions!
2) Don't gamble on defense. Don't run exotic fronts and coverages and don't blitz. Stay in your base front and if you are going to give up TDs, make the offense earn them after long drives (again...keep that clock running)
3) Play a lot of kids. If you aren't going to be any good anyways, there is no reason to NOT play a lot of kids. If you play a lot of kids, they will gain valuable experience and that might encourage them to get in the weightroom this winter and improve themselves. If you aren't going to win at all but you don't get a lot of kids playing, those kids are going to quit and you are also going to have parents all over your a$$.
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Post by coachbuck on Aug 10, 2012 1:03:11 GMT -6
So I need some advice guys, and maybe some encouragement. It's the first week of practice and numbers are pretty low on our freshman team (24-26) for our school's size (over 1500). We knew that we would have number problems. We also heard that this group didn't have a lot of talent, but we didn't really care listen to that because we wanted to keep an open mind. So far we look pretty darn rough, I mean real BAD. We don't have more than 3 decent athletes and maybe only 4-5 FOOTBALL players in total, if you catch my drift. The coaching staff is trying to stay positive, enthusiastic, and keep the energy high during practice, but sometimes that just doesn't seem to cut it. It's like some of the kids are there just to fill time during their day. I know its still very early in the season but it feels like its gonna be a long one already. Any words of wisdom? Anything else we can try? Honestly, cry me a river you get to coach football. If you can only get excited when you think the team has a lot of talent then coaching is not for you. I think that is a dumb statement. He didnt say he didnt get excited because he didnt have talent, it sounds like he doesnt have any. I have never met a coach that looks forward to a year when they know they are going to get smashed because lack of talent. Ive never had a coach say we may go 0 an 10 but heck I get to teach these kids. Football is a competitive sport, yes you want to teach but why do you want to teach? To win the game. The best teachers/coaches with decent to above average talent win. Ive been on both sides, I would rather teach talent than teach a kid that has two left feet. Sorry I know not politically correct. Those numbers may sound good to some of you but it depends on where you are coaching. I have 40 freshman on my team decent numbers and decent talent, not great by know means. Coach my team is also very young. Trying to focus on basic plays and being really good at them. We are teaching ball control, no mistakes/fumbles/penalties. I consistently preach to the kids that we have to be the most disciplined team in the league. My goal this year is to try and keep the games close. Play mistake free football, as much as possible. Let the other team beat itself. I know it sounds like what every coach says but we are going to do that. We will bore you to death this year on offense. 4 yards and a cloud of dust, and happy when we get that. 19delta, Im not playing kids that dont show the interest in getting better. I dont care what the parents say. My mantra this last week has been tap yourself in to scout o and d. Let me see what you got. Literally 15 kids will not tap in. I tell them, Im not going to force you to play football but when your mom or dad ask me "why you are not playing" Im simply going to tell them you will not participate at practice. These type of kids are a drain on the coaching staff and the other players. I simply will not care anymore than they do about their playing time. |
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Post by ramcoachdc on Aug 10, 2012 7:52:09 GMT -6
i think your doing all the right things...do whatever you can to stay positive with the kids to make a tough situation best it can be. Most programs go through these cycles. At the school I am at now, when we came in we inherited a senior class that had never won a game as freshman or JV. We ended up winning two games that year. It was painful at times, but it was more success than those kids had had.
I always try to remember that I am there to coach the kids that want to be football players. There will be some players out that you might question if thats true, but if your numbers are low they already had every reason to quit but didn't.
Try to get them to be successful every day in practice, match them up in 1 on 1's with equal talent so they become confident in their techniques.
Be fair...get after them when you should (poor effort), be consturctive when they need it (technique). Kids thrive under dicsipline as long as it is fair. Don't ask them to do something they can't.
Have a solid plan and direction so the kids understand what is going on. So they know what is going to happen tomorrow. Ask yourself everyday if you did enough to help them.
Never blame the kids for a loss. We all know talent wins, so do they.
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Post by 19delta on Aug 10, 2012 7:54:46 GMT -6
19delta, Im not playing kids that dont show the interest in getting better. I dont care what the parents say. My mantra this last week has been tap yourself in to scout o and d. Let me see what you got. Literally 15 kids will not tap in. I tell them, Im not going to force you to play football but when your mom or dad ask me "why you are not playing" Im simply going to tell them you will not participate at practice. These type of kids are a drain on the coaching staff and the other players. I simply will not care anymore than they do about their playing time. That's why I prefaced my comments by asking the OP if the kids were likeable and hard workers. |
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Post by coachbuck on Aug 10, 2012 7:57:00 GMT -6
Gotcha, good point, I missed it.
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Post by olinecoach61 on Aug 10, 2012 8:15:06 GMT -6
I wish we had 20 freshmen come out for football
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Post by wybulldogs on Aug 10, 2012 9:55:36 GMT -6
I usually average around 25-30 kids each year for my freshman team. This year I had 23 kids come out, and I'm expecting that number to drop under 20 after camp. The talent is not there. I have 6 good athletes, and 3 solid offensive lineman. It is going to be a tough year if our OL struggles.
Last season was the complete opposite, as I had a loaded team that ran the table.
That's freshman football, one year you're up, the next year you are down.
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Post by jhanawa on Aug 10, 2012 10:09:32 GMT -6
Focus on the little things, stances & starts, stepping correctly, pad level, fundamentals....
I've been in your shoes before, had a team once that had 23 kids, 3 of whom had experience, we started out slow but ended up pretty good by the end of the season....daily improvement is the goal....
Things have gotten better over time, this year we have over 60 freshmen cleared so far.....build towards the future with the kids you have now.....
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1/11th
Sophomore Member
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Post by 1/11th on Aug 10, 2012 10:16:37 GMT -6
Coach em up! 24-26 kids is great numbers for a freshman team. Sometimes lower numbers can equal less issues with playing time as well. Enjoy the experience....
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Post by dblwngr on Aug 10, 2012 11:10:46 GMT -6
At least you will have a freshman team. Our program has officially pulled the plug on our JV team due to lack of numbers. Talent or no talent, we'd take 20 kids from the chess club, yugioh club, or pokemon club if it ment we would have a team  |
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Aug 10, 2012 11:24:11 GMT -6
Pokeman club, hahaha ;D Coach, practice fundmentals until YOU are sick of it. Make his year worthwhile for the future. It serves several purposes, first, it's WHAT you actually need to do, then it helps the future, and lastly it covers YOU. Dedicate yourself to making this the soundest, best trained most unathletic bunch you've ever had. This will make the head man happy and THAT means you get to coach next year. See how that works?  |
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Post by bluedevil4 on Aug 10, 2012 11:26:54 GMT -6
Remember too, the freshman/JV team isn't there to go undefeated or wow the crowds. They're there to prepare the kids for varsity and get everyone playing time. We couldn't care less what record our freshmen team gets. What we care about is how developed, or how improved the players get.
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Post by poundit52 on Aug 10, 2012 11:43:57 GMT -6
Hey guys I kno that our program is in better shape than others, and a lot of programs dont have a JV team, much less a Freshman team. In response to those who have pointed out the obvious, like "Coach'em up" and "Be thankful you have a coaching position/freshman team", I know that coaching football is a privilege and a CHOICE that me and the rest of the coaching staff made. We know we have a job to do.
I was looking more for ideas on how keep things light when our kids get discouraged and what to focus on (i.e. fundamentals, effort), and a lot of your responses hit the nail on the head. It just reassured me that we are gonna have to keep pushing these our guys to get better every day and really focus on the little things.
We love to simplifiy the game of football as much as we can (KISS rule). Not just from an X's and O's standpoint, but a philosophical point of view as well. We believe that football is as simple as WHAT is your job on this play/scheme. HOW are you supposed to do your job (technique). The coaching staff is reponsible for the WHAT and HOW. But maybe the biggest factor is pure EFFORT, and thats supplied by the players. Thats what we are starting to preach while keeping the atmosphere positive and full of energy.
Thanks for the input everybody!
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Post by wybulldogs on Aug 10, 2012 13:17:44 GMT -6
Remember too, the freshman/JV team isn't there to go undefeated or wow the crowds. They're there to prepare the kids for varsity and get everyone playing time. We couldn't care less what record our freshmen team gets. What we care about is how developed, or how improved the players get. Agreed to a point. You still need to win games. You might not win them all, but you need to be competitive and win a few. Otherwise, the players will get discouraged. The last thing you need is an entire team of discouraged kids. Either the wheels fall off during the season, or some of those kids end up finding another sport and leaving football for good after the season. Like most coaches, I absolutely hate losing. I had a hard time early on reminding myself that it is my job to prepare the kids for the Varsity program, not go out and win Freshman Championships each season. I've learned to understand and learn from a loss, however one thing I will not tolerate is losing because the kids quit. |
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Post by 19delta on Aug 10, 2012 13:23:28 GMT -6
Remember too, the freshman/JV team isn't there to go undefeated or wow the crowds. They're there to prepare the kids for varsity and get everyone playing time. We couldn't care less what record our freshmen team gets. What we care about is how developed, or how improved the players get. Agreed to a point. You still need to win games. You might not win them all, but you need to be competitive and win a few. Otherwise, the players will get discouraged. The last thing you need is an entire team of discouraged kids. Either the wheels fall off during the season, or some of those kids end up finding another sport and leaving football for good after the season. Like most coaches, I absolutely hate losing. I had a hard time early on reminding myself that it is my job to prepare the kids for the Varsity program, not go out and win Freshman Championships each season. I've learned to understand and learn from a loss, however one thing I will not tolerate is losing because the kids quit. But sometimes you just aren't going to win. Most of us have been there before...you get that perfect storm of a small class with no athletes...in those cases, you sometimes have to accept "morale" victories. For example, if you are going to lose, try to lose 21-7 instead of 42-0. When you get a group of kids who really haven't ever had success before at all on any level in any sport, often, you can't teach those kids to win. Because they have never done it before, "winning" is a foreign concept to them. First and foremost, you have to teach them how to compete. Those things I posted above...those are all things coaches can do to help kids (who have never been successful before) learn how to compete. Once you learn how to compete, you can learn how to win. |
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Post by gschwender on Aug 10, 2012 13:33:02 GMT -6
We have 8 dude
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kyle
Sophomore Member
Posts: 200
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Post by kyle on Aug 10, 2012 14:33:27 GMT -6
So I need some advice guys, and maybe some encouragement. It's the first week of practice and numbers are pretty low on our freshman team (24-26) for our school's size (over 1500). We knew that we would have number problems. We also heard that this group didn't have a lot of talent, but we didn't really care listen to that because we wanted to keep an open mind. So far we look pretty darn rough, I mean real BAD. We don't have more than 3 decent athletes and maybe only 4-5 FOOTBALL players in total, if you catch my drift. The coaching staff is trying to stay positive, enthusiastic, and keep the energy high during practice, but sometimes that just doesn't seem to cut it. It's like some of the kids are there just to fill time during their day. I know its still very early in the season but it feels like its gonna be a long one already. Any words of wisdom? Anything else we can try? Welcome to my world. I coach 8 and 9 year olds. We get no "FOOTBALL" players, and kids are usually very out of shape. If you get 3 athletes you're pretty lucky. I know it's a bad comparison since all of the youth teams are in the same boat... but you might want to treat it like a youth program. Maximize individual time so that you develop talent. Limit your playbook to very few plays... like maybe 6 to 12. Make sure they're effective series. Make drills extremely repetitive and make sure they focus on what's really important. If you an manage to work your players out harder than your opponents while still teaching them football fundamentals, you're going to have a strong team. |
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kyle
Sophomore Member
Posts: 200
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Post by kyle on Aug 10, 2012 14:43:35 GMT -6
I had a hard time early on reminding myself that it is my job to prepare the kids for the Varsity program, not go out and win Freshman Championships each season. What the heck are you talking about? It's your job to go out there and win the Freshman Championship each season and prepare the kids for the Varsity program. Don't make the excuse that they gutted your talent and forced you to run their offense/defense. Every high school team does that. |
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Post by fantom on Aug 10, 2012 20:54:17 GMT -6
I had a hard time early on reminding myself that it is my job to prepare the kids for the Varsity program, not go out and win Freshman Championships each season. What the heck are you talking about? It's your job to go out there and win the Freshman Championship each season and prepare the kids for the Varsity program. Don't make the excuse that they gutted your talent and forced you to run their offense/defense. Every high school team does that. I didn't see him make any excuses. The Freshman Championship? |
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Post by coachbuck on Aug 11, 2012 0:56:19 GMT -6
Im a freshman coach. Its my responsibility to teach what the varsity is doing and prepare them for the up coming years. Part of the preperation is teaching them how to win. Winning is important to the kids and my staff. Do you think a 9th grader likes to lose anymore than a 12th grader? I dont think so, and if they do then its my job to change their mindset. Oh yeah fantom going to win that freshman championship. I do a mythilogical playoff bracket, each year we win it. LOL
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Post by brophy on Aug 11, 2012 3:23:24 GMT -6
not to dogpile, but all these complaints sound self-inflicted.
You don't have the numbers? What did you guys do to prevent it? Did y'all make the effort to visit their games as 7th and 8th graders the past few seasons? Did you visit with their PE teacher in the spring of last year? Waiting for kids to come to you seems like a recipe for heartbreak.
Don't have the athletes and no "football players"? Get to work - Make them. Teach these kids how to play for each other and build them up. It isn't about YOU and YOUR RECORD, its about giving the kids who want to play football (the guys you have now) the tools and confidence to compete.
You may not have the BEST athletes, but you can still have the best TEAM. It doesn't help the scoreboard, but as a coach, I'd rather have a group of kids who will learn and improve than a bunch of guys that just roll the ball out for the annual studs to do what they want with it.
You're out-gunned? Yeah, well, we've all been there and losing sucks, but if you're resigned to losing the season already it sounds like you've given up. Maybe you ought to put all your chips on the table and go all-in with the kids you have and find the "WINS" each play at a time.
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Post by coachbuck on Aug 11, 2012 3:57:30 GMT -6
Brophy, thats what I do. I coach youth also, so I will talk to the 7th 8th graders. When we have freshman orientation kids will sign up for sports. I will call the kids and introduce myself. Once the summer workouts begin Im constantly calling the kids and holding them accountable. Alot of them have summer vacations to attend, which is all good but the kids know I care and that Im holding them accountable. We scrimmage JV today, should be interesting.
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