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Post by touchdowng on Mar 1, 2008 17:18:52 GMT -6
From what I understand Texas (and few other states) have had a long tradition of emphasizing their H.S. football programs at the expense of other sports offered at the high school level. I know this isn't news and I will get to my question.
I believe that many states take a more equitable stance on how sports are emphasized from the standpoint of requirements of their athletes (in season and out of season.) We do in Washington and the state association spells policies out fairly clear.
I heard a former HC from Permian Odessa (Panthers) speak at a clinic probably 15 years ago. He spoke about how during the off-season his football players would go to their strength/conditioning program before they ever set foot on the basketball court, baseball diamond, or other arenas.
I listened to a HC from the Houston area who talked about his only class he had to teach was a football skills class. They have 50 students enrolled in this class and they basically work on their stuff year around.
Anyway I'll get to my question......
In your opinion, "WHAT IS BETTER FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ATHLETE. A MORE GLOBAL APPROACH OR ONE THAT IS MORE FOCUSED TOWARDS FOOTBALL?"
I see positive and negatives in all approaches but would love to hear from the many experts out there. Please define what you mean by "better" from your viewpoint.
Thanks
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Post by coachd5085 on Mar 1, 2008 17:25:07 GMT -6
Hate to be picky here..but...I think it depends on what you mean by "high school football athlete". As currently written, the obvious answer is that it is better for the high school FOOTBALL ATHLETE to concentrate year round on football.
Now if your question was " What is better for the HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT"...the answer would probably be much different from me
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Post by touchdowng on Mar 1, 2008 17:27:55 GMT -6
agreed.
Let coaches differentiate their responses. We can attach the word "better" to different situations.
This could get good.
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Post by tog on Mar 1, 2008 17:46:54 GMT -6
We build athletes year round and adjust this according to the season in place. Some places do a better job of this than others.
I know this. I love competing in ANY sport against the schools that have their basketball players or baseball players not lift weights and work on getting faster year round.
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Post by brophy on Mar 1, 2008 18:30:28 GMT -6
There are a multitude of variables.
However, the main issue is the expectations. The higher the expectations, the more that is expected in preparation.
If your school is known for having the best marching band, guess what?....the members of the marching band aren't 'part-timing' it.
If I was a in the junior-nuclear-scientists-of-America program, I wouldn't be just studying neutrons March - May.......it would be a year-round thing.
Texas HS football probably is more thorough, intense, and advanced than most Northern DIII colleges.
I think we WANT to believe that all sports are equal (title IX).....all students are equal (NCLB)....heck, we're still trying to believe that all people believe in the same thing and should be treated equal (meddling in Iraq).
This is nice, and gives us the warm fuzzy feeling, but when you get down to brass tacks - IN AMERICA....football is king. Nobody is filling stadiums the way football does on Friday night. Not volleyball, not baseball, not wrestling, not golf, not bowling, not swimming, not track, not even basketball.
I'm just saying - follow the money. At least Texas isn't ashamed of just letting it be what it truly IS..
NOW, in regards to ATHLETIC development - I think we should take a more "european" approach to building functional athletes (olympic style lifting). Build an ATHLETE, with core development, COD / coordination, and that ATHLETE can be the best at whatever he/she chooses.
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Post by tim914790 on Mar 1, 2008 20:21:39 GMT -6
In my school we are the only athletic program that does anything in weight training or conditioning out of season. I would love to have my athletes lift weights no matter what sport they are in but I do develop an in season workout for my basketball guys to do but they never do it. It gets frustrating at times but it is what it is and does not make it easy to convince a kid to lift when football has been unsuccessful record wise, I just took over last year so its a long road.
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Post by thakatalyst on Mar 1, 2008 21:17:08 GMT -6
Touchdowng...where in Washington are you? I also coach in Washington.
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Post by senatorblutarsky on Mar 1, 2008 22:06:22 GMT -6
I heard a former HC from Permian Odessa (Panthers) speak at a clinic probably 15 years ago. He spoke about how during the off-season his football players would go to their strength/conditioning program before they ever set foot on the basketball court, baseball diamond, or other arenas. We do the same thing here (Nebraska), but I will admit: we are not Permian, athletic weights class is purely district by district here (not the same as athletic period; our athletic period is for JH sports only. We are a small 7-12 school... HS coaches work with JH for an hour before going to Varsity practice). I do get all football players in to lift/condition during the first two periods of the day, but the class is split (those in classes like physics, band... certain classes only offered 2nd hour are with me first, all others are second). We build athletes year round and adjust this according to the season in place. Some places do a better job of this than others.Like Tog said, we do this too... for ex, we might not do heavy squats on the days we play BB games, but we will the day before or after. What I have seen is benefit across the board for our athletes. We have as close to a Texas structure as we can here... except for the coaches pay 
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Post by coach79 on Mar 1, 2008 22:54:56 GMT -6
Touchdowng...where in Washington are you? I also coach in Washington. Where in Washington? I am in Vancouver. -CB |
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