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Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 5, 2007 9:50:08 GMT -6
VT, Rutgers and a host of other schools have symbols for work ethic, philosophies, etc.
What other tangible symbols do you use or know of that you can point to from the practice field and sideline and say that represents what we're all about?
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Post by brophy on Dec 5, 2007 9:51:50 GMT -6
time clock (punch it before & after practice)
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Post by superpower on Dec 5, 2007 9:52:56 GMT -6
We used an 18-wheeler for our symbol this year with the motto WE DELIVER! The kids and parents really bought in, and we had our team photo taken with a semi-truck and trailer.
Also used to keep a big hammer in the lockerroom and talk about being the hammer and not the nail. The players would all touch the hammer on the way out of the lockerroom before games.
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Post by brophy on Dec 5, 2007 10:13:14 GMT -6
doesn't some school use a sledgehammer they carry around somewhere?
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Post by brophy on Dec 5, 2007 10:15:02 GMT -6
we used a shovel one time.
(we buried a game tape after getting blazed by a spread team ...it was indicative of our worst embarassment)
The shovel was a metaphor that we would dig up that tape (a few years later) and destroy the tape after vindicating ourselves.
I can't remember if we won the game, but I know that one kid actually got hit with the shovel...then later, some kid ended up stealing the shovel.....
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Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 5, 2007 10:32:27 GMT -6
A kid stole something??? Hard to believe
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Post by bulldogoption on Dec 5, 2007 10:49:05 GMT -6
we used a shovel one time. (we buried a game tape after getting blazed by a spread team ...it was indicative of our worst embarassment) The shovel was a metaphor that we would dig up that tape (a few years later) and destroy the tape after vindicating ourselves. I can't remember if we won the game, but I know that one kid actually got hit with the shovel...then later, some kid ended up stealing the shovel..... I love it when a plan comes together.............
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Post by coachjd on Dec 5, 2007 10:50:05 GMT -6
UTEP uses a miners pick Mike Price comes out of the locker room with the team and puts it in the ground as the team runs onto the field.
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Post by amikell on Dec 5, 2007 11:22:36 GMT -6
we scrimmaged a team from West VA that uses a sledge hammer. they place the sledge at midfield to symbolize them owning the field. Backfired. Really ticked our kids off. we scored 7 or 8 times on 5-6 possessions (10 plays each) and they scored once or twice.
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Post by wingt74 on Dec 5, 2007 11:25:56 GMT -6
I went through a stage of wanting to do something like this..hammer, nail, axe to chop wood, pick'axe, saw, shovel...
Everytime I came to my senses when I picture a kick getting his finger chopped off, a gash to his leg, or smashed in the head.
Think I'll stick to a lunchbox or a picture of B.A. Barracus.
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Post by amikell on Dec 5, 2007 12:00:59 GMT -6
as a motivational tool or rallying point, I love these objects as symbols, but I think it give opponents too much fuel if you do something to their field. take the hammer out with you, fine, but don't plant it at mid field. to me it's kind of like stomping on the logo.
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Post by knighter on Dec 5, 2007 12:38:03 GMT -6
amikell
agree with you 100%
had an opposing team plant the flag at midfield against us
our kids were out for BLOOD. felt disrespected (I had a small hand in that) held them (much better athletes) to 2 first downs and under 100 yards of offense...we had over 400 yards (all rushing) and scored 21 points...most physical game on our part I had ever seen. we were making every tackle/block with something extra on it all 48 minutes of the game.
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Post by theprez98 on Dec 5, 2007 12:38:39 GMT -6
I agree, stomping on the logo is just all in all a bad idea. I would be embarrassed if my team did it.
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Post by coachbdud on Dec 5, 2007 12:44:27 GMT -6
UTEP uses a miners pick Mike Price comes out of the locker room with the team and puts it in the ground as the team runs onto the field. my senior year one of our coaches had played at UTEP and knew about the pick thing, so he wanted to do it for our team. We are the devils and he tried to find a trident but couldnt find one anywhere so we ended up using a pitchfork that he painted red
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Post by CoachJohnsonMN on Dec 5, 2007 13:34:06 GMT -6
We use a "victory flag". We have it on our sideline during our home games. If we win, we go raise the flag on the game field. We will raise the flag on the practice field before Sunday night film. Both fly over the fields until the end of practice on Wednesday--they come down and we have to earn the next one.
We also hand out hammer awards ($2.00 hammers with a faceplate engraved with the opponent and date) on film night.
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Post by Coach Goodnight on Dec 5, 2007 14:07:04 GMT -6
we scrimmaged a team from West VA that uses a sledge hammer. they place the sledge at midfield to symbolize them owning the field. Backfired. Really ticked our kids off. we scored 7 or 8 times on 5-6 possessions (10 plays each) and they scored once or twice. how is it possible to score 7-8 times on 5-6 possessions? Unless there were some defesive touchdowns? Wondered if I was the only one who caught that? ;D
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Post by wingt74 on Dec 5, 2007 15:23:12 GMT -6
we scrimmaged a team from West VA that uses a sledge hammer. they place the sledge at midfield to symbolize them owning the field. Backfired. Really ticked our kids off. we scored 7 or 8 times on 5-6 possessions (10 plays each) and they scored once or twice. how is it possible to score 7-8 times on 5-6 possessions? Unless there were some defesive touchdowns? Wondered if I was the only one who caught that? ;D I just chalked it up to good 'ol coaching exaggerations
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Post by phantom on Dec 5, 2007 15:27:53 GMT -6
how is it possible to score 7-8 times on 5-6 possessions? Unless there were some defesive touchdowns? Wondered if I was the only one who caught that? ;D I just chalked it up to good 'ol coaching exaggerations My guess would be that it was a controlled scrimmage in which a score doesn't change possession.
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Post by amikell on Dec 5, 2007 20:13:42 GMT -6
yeah, i thought about that after I made the post. it was a controlled scrimmage where each set had 10 plays on offense regardless of if you scored or not.
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Post by larrymoe on Dec 5, 2007 20:31:13 GMT -6
Not a football story, but we once wrestled a school from Indiana in a summer tournament in Florida and right before the meet started they had this big can looking thing they all opened as they did a cheer. After they opened it we noticed the can said "Whoop Ass" on the side of it. It was hillarious to watch them close the can after we pinned them in the first 9 weights straight.
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Post by coachmoore42 on Dec 5, 2007 21:57:24 GMT -6
had an opposing team plant the flag at midfield against us our kids were out for BLOOD. felt disrespected (I had a small hand in that) Been there before, other team stomped on our midfield logo. I made sure our players knew that WE didn't like that and that WE would take care of it. It's like the other team is doing part of your job for you.
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Post by teachcoachwm on Dec 5, 2007 23:32:11 GMT -6
We actually use a sledgehammer that is painted in the school colors as a symbol for our defense....during the defensive meeting before each game, I pick one player who we really need to play well and he gets to "swing the hammer".....I will buy a pumpkin or a watermelon and paint it the opponent's colors, then the designated player gets to smash it....I tell the kids that from then on the"switch" is on...everything is about getting ready to play......only problem is we played this season into Dec. and you can't find pumpkins or watermelons that time of year....I ended up buying one of those "cubes" or cases of sodas, covered it in construction paper and painted it and let the kids hit that with the hammer...talk about a mess but the kids loved it!
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Post by senatorblutarsky on Dec 6, 2007 11:01:28 GMT -6
Since no one mentioned this yet, I'll share ours. We have a wheelbarrow. We haven't brought it to games, but we do have it at practice. The accompanying story is on our LR bulletin board:
A man came into Bloomfield and declared that in one week he was going to walk a high wire across the Missouri river while pushing a wheelbarrow. Everyone scoffed except one farmer who went out to the edge of town to watch him practice.
The farmer saw the man walking on a wire about five feet off the ground, and sure enough, he was pushing that wheelbarrow with ease. One week went by and the big day was at hand. The farmer tried telling all his friends that this guy might be for real. He said, "I've been watching him and I BELIEVE he can do it." They continued to scoff so he said, "I believe so strongly that he can do it, that I will bet $20 with anyone who thinks he can't."
Just before the feat began, the stranger came down to talk to the crowd. The farmer told him he believed he could do it. The man replied, "Do you REALLY think I can do it?"
"Yep," said the farmer.
The man continued to press, "I mean are you CONVINCED I can do it?"
The farmer said, "Look, I'm so sure that I even bet $20 with anyone who would listen to me. THAT's how sure I am."
The performer looked him in the eye and said, "If you really believe, then get in the wheelbarrow!"
We talk about "getting in the wheelbarrow"; trusting our teammates.
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Post by superpower on Dec 6, 2007 11:34:32 GMT -6
Since no one mentioned this yet, I'll share ours. We have a wheelbarrow. We haven't brought it to games, but we do have it at practice. The accompanying story is on our LR bulletin board: A man came into Bloomfield and declared that in one week he was going to walk a high wire across the Missouri river while pushing a wheelbarrow. Everyone scoffed except one farmer who went out to the edge of town to watch him practice.
The farmer saw the man walking on a wire about five feet off the ground, and sure enough, he was pushing that wheelbarrow with ease. One week went by and the big day was at hand. The farmer tried telling all his friends that this guy might be for real. He said, "I've been watching him and I BELIEVE he can do it." They continued to scoff so he said, "I believe so strongly that he can do it, that I will bet $20 with anyone who thinks he can't."
Just before the feat began, the stranger came down to talk to the crowd. The farmer told him he believed he could do it. The man replied, "Do you REALLY think I can do it?"
"Yep," said the farmer.
The man continued to press, "I mean are you CONVINCED I can do it?"
The farmer said, "Look, I'm so sure that I even bet $20 with anyone who would listen to me. THAT's how sure I am."
The performer looked him in the eye and said, "If you really believe, then get in the wheelbarrow!"We talk about "getting in the wheelbarrow"; trusting our teammates. That is very good. Thanks for sharing it.
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Post by cc on Dec 8, 2007 13:07:47 GMT -6
Didn't the Panthers have a stump with an ax in their locker room and someone cut their leg the year they went to the super bowl? something like that?
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Post by CoachJohnsonMN on Dec 8, 2007 14:12:31 GMT -6
Didn't the Panthers have a stump with an ax in their locker room and someone cut their leg the year they went to the super bowl? something like that? I believe that was the Jaguars in Del Rio's first season.
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Post by Yash on Dec 8, 2007 15:04:45 GMT -6
LSU has one of those really thick chains and everyone signs a link of the chain the slogan being don't break the chain.
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Post by phantom on Dec 8, 2007 15:34:12 GMT -6
Didn't the Panthers have a stump with an ax in their locker room and someone cut their leg the year they went to the super bowl? something like that? I believe that was the Jaguars in Del Rio's first season. I think that's right. Their motto was "Just keep chopping". They had a log and an axe in the locker. The kicker swung the axe, missed, and gashed his leg. Missed the rest of the year. It demonstrated the fact that you have to be careful about symbolic stuff. In HS a lawsuit would not be out of the question.
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Post by cmow5 on Dec 8, 2007 19:34:34 GMT -6
I believe that was the Jaguars in Del Rio's first season. I think that's right. Their motto was "Just keep chopping". They had a log and an axe in the locker. The kicker swung the axe, missed, and gashed his leg. Missed the rest of the year. It demonstrated the fact that you have to be careful about symbolic stuff. In HS a lawsuit would not be out of the question. Is that where Schiano got from?
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Post by cjamerson on Dec 12, 2007 12:24:51 GMT -6
A school in our district has a head stone for a former player near the end zone. He was killed in a car accident after they won their district title last year. Before every home game the team says a prayer and touches the stone before they head out to the field...very inspiring, was very emotional for several members of the team this year...
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