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Post by poundit52 on Jul 19, 2015 13:11:43 GMT -6
I am in my 5th year of coaching at the high school level, and I love it! But down the line I could see myself coaching youth ball once I get married, have kids, and the amount of time I have shrinks. As far as I know the time commitment to coach at the youth level is somewhat smaller than HS I.e. weight room duties, skill camps, 7 on 7's, two a days (please tell me if this is a misconception). But I know that I would like to coach on some level for as long as I could. So what are some of the differences between coaching at the HA level and coaching at the youth level?
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Post by bobgoodman on Jul 19, 2015 13:30:12 GMT -6
If it's not a school team, player attendance at practice & games is more of a concern.
Most youth football teams guarantee a certain amount of play to each player, & don't let you cut players.
In some organiz'ns you have pre-season evaluation & a draft of players. In house ball there's not only that, but in addition to scouting opponent's games they may make it easy to scout their practices.
In addition to age classes, teams may have weight limits, & in some cases position eligibility based on weight.
Since for the most part it'll be the parents paying for their own child to participate, there's more of a "customer service" concern than in scholastic play.
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Post by coachdoug on Jul 20, 2015 8:16:51 GMT -6
Some of the biggest differences:
- Practice Time. High school is typically strength & conditioning & chalk talk all off-season & summer (plus 7-on-7), then 2-a-days and daily practices until school starts. Once in season, HS typically gets about 20 hours per week with the kids (practice, weight room, film study, meetings, etc.). In youth, it's typically 10 hours per week from around Aug 1, then 6 hours per week after Labor Day.
- Game Time. HS is 12 minute quarters, most Youth is 10 minute quarters, with some only 8 minute quarters.
- Minimum Plays. No such thing in HS. Major issue to plan/strategize for - how to get those weakest players into the game, adding value and not hurting the team.
- Physical ability of the players. HS players are young men and can perform accordingly. You have to completely change your mindset with youth (especially younger ages), who may only be physically capable of throwing the ball 15 yards, or making a catch if it's throw right to him and there's no defender, or may even not have the muscle development to get into a proper stance.
- The size of the field. The actual size of the field is the same, but especially for the younger guys, it plays much bigger. At the HS level, you can string plays out to the sideline, but at the youth level, if their stud RB breaks contain and he's as fast or faster than your guys (good chance, since it's usually the other team's fastest guy), all he has to do is win a 30-yard or so dash to the sideline, then turn it up and outrace everyone to the endzone. Imagine HS playing on a 100+ yard wide field, or the NFL playing on a 150 yard wide field, and it will give you an idea of the dynamics of an 8u game.
- Parental input. I think this is about the same from what a lot of my HS coaching friends tell me, but it's worse at the youth level, if simply because the parents are paying directly for Junior to play, so they feel they have the right to interfere and tell the coaches what position he should be playing and such.
- Player commitment. In HS the kids just go to practice after class is over. In youth, they need rides from the parents, and the parents can and will keep kids out of practice to do homework, for family functions, etc.
There's more, I'm sure, but those are the biggest things just off the top of my head.
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Post by coachd5085 on Jul 21, 2015 11:19:33 GMT -6
coachdoug has put up a pretty good list here. One thing that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that as crazy as it sounds, youth football is probably much more important to the adults than it is to the kids. This is probably the case in most youth sports in the US..where crazed wild eyed blood thirsty parents and coaches make fools of themselves and the kids are only worried about where they are eating after the game. Another issue is that depending on the ages, you could have some mature maturation differences. As a 7th grade coach (in a K-12 school with a very solid varsity) one time we played a school with a joke of a varsity program. However, this particular year one of their 7th graders was a 5'9 185lb early maturer. Muscular, had facial hair etc. This allowed them to play very unsound ball and whip us because he was so vastly more mature
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Post by bobgoodman on Jul 21, 2015 19:53:48 GMT -6
coachdoug has put up a pretty good list here. One thing that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that as crazy as it sounds, youth football is probably much more important to the adults than it is to the kids. This is probably the case in most youth sports in the US..where crazed wild eyed blood thirsty parents and coaches make fools of themselves and the kids are only worried about where they are eating after the game. YMMV. Where I am there are a few parents like that -- many of them are coaching -- but for the most part, the parents "could care less" (couldn't care less). In fact many of the parents are hardly even aware of American football, period. |
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Post by tothehouse on Jul 24, 2015 22:51:51 GMT -6
I am currently in year 3 of coaching the 8th grade team and being the varsity DC (call me friggin crazy). I'm only doing it because my son's are going through (yes...call me selfish). Though...I will have some kind of fingers in the 8th grade team in the future years...but nothing like now.
As far as the OP. Not much. Our youth coaches have the opportunity to go to clinics and such and some do. Other than that they aren't asked to do much in the offseason. It'd be great if they did...but we're lucky to find people to coach the teams.
As far as what I do in season...we practice like normal and I'll mix in about 30 minutes of film with the 8th graders. It's a great introduction to actually watching film...and what the coaches look for etc.
I'm in year 24 as a coach. I can and will put in any and all hours if need be. Having kids did not slow me down as a coach. And I consider myself a good parent to my two sons. Be efficient with your time and you can give a ton of time.
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