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Post by coachd5085 on Jul 13, 2016 14:50:38 GMT -6
Excessive PITCHING is causing a small percentage of kids to have some troubles. Kids playing year round Centerfield or Short, or 2nd base etc are they having elbow issues? I have read a few of your posts where you reference "the real world". Coach, this is just a real world situation. Your organization is not offering the kids a better experience so that they choose football over fall baseball. All situations are not equal, and your organization is probably facing a tougher battle on this front then say youth football in Louisiana, Texas, etc. Culture makes it tougher for sure, but you still need to focus on overcoming the primary issue if you want to have a program next year. the problem is there is no way to compete. baseball offers: -- minimal practices -- everyone bats -- low cost -- out of state tournaments football as a whole cant compete with that.... there is nothing on that list that football can beat. So then some overarching governing body should simply not "allow" baseball? As far as some of those things on your list, I would argue that is not the experience most of my friends/coworkers with kids who are playing year round baseball have. TONS of practices, ultra competitive only the best play, very expensive. Again, I get it, and I feel for you. But I just disagree that because something seems to be outperforming youth football, it is a "cancer" or "nonsense". Were word processors and later home computers "cancers" to the typewriter industry?
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Post by natenator on Jul 13, 2016 16:02:49 GMT -6
its nonsense because of all the data showing that 1 sport is injuring more kids then playing multiple - 15 year olds are getting tommy johns surgery because baseball coaches have decided to sacrifice some for the hopes of getting kids who are baseball studs.
they do the equivalent of a youth football coach "banging heads" year round for multiple years in hopes that the HS will have better players - nonsense.
also, yes those numbers are accurate - 85% dropped, 15% returned 10% new. probably should have clarified. Excessive PITCHING is causing a small percentage of kids to have some troubles. Kids playing year round Centerfield or Short, or 2nd base etc are they having elbow issues? I have read a few of your posts where you reference "the real world". Coach, this is just a real world situation. Your organization is not offering the kids a better experience so that they choose football over fall baseball. All situations are not equal, and your organization is probably facing a tougher battle on this front then say youth football in Louisiana, Texas, etc. Culture makes it tougher for sure, but you still need to focus on overcoming the primary issue if you want to have a program next year. And I have hockey kids who skate year round that are starting to need significant athletic therapy from overuse injuries. Some things the body was not meant to do repeatedly. They aren't playing hockey year round simply because they think it's fun. They (parents most likely) are playing hockey year round because they think it will lead somewhere.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 13, 2016 17:54:13 GMT -6
i guess it angers me more, because according to parents - its nothing we did. but they are pretty much locked into baseball. i got alot of "we would come back out, but we already signed up for baseball (in F'ng January).
I have a much lower respect for year round sport coaches...they know the harm they are doing, and dont care.
meanwhile - if we have 1 contact practice a week people freak and say we are injuring players.
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Post by coachd5085 on Jul 13, 2016 18:17:44 GMT -6
i guess it angers me more, because according to parents - its nothing we did. but they are pretty much locked into baseball. i got alot of "we would come back out, but we already signed up for baseball (in F'ng January). I have a much lower respect for year round sport coaches...they know the harm they are doing, and dont care. meanwhile - if we have 1 contact practice a week people freak and say we are injuring players. Will have to agree to disagree with the automatic bestowing of the word "harm" on year round baseball players. Again, pitchers, if they are not being managed properly perhaps but not others. As far as your current situation--sounds like the baseball guys are getting them to commit to spring and fall? Perhaps you could start advertising and contacting parents in Dec/January (bowl season, NFL Playoffs, College football playoffs) and remind them that after spring /summer baseball..comes fall football and if they are interested in playing football to keep that free and only sign up for spring/summer baseball.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 13, 2016 18:20:43 GMT -6
i guess it angers me more, because according to parents - its nothing we did. but they are pretty much locked into baseball. i got alot of "we would come back out, but we already signed up for baseball (in F'ng January). I have a much lower respect for year round sport coaches...they know the harm they are doing, and dont care. meanwhile - if we have 1 contact practice a week people freak and say we are injuring players. Will have to agree to disagree with the automatic bestowing of the word "harm" on year round baseball players. Again, pitchers, if they are not being managed properly perhaps but not others. As far as your current situation--sounds like the baseball guys are getting them to commit to spring and fall? Perhaps you could start advertising and contacting parents in Dec/January (bowl season, NFL Playoffs, College football playoffs) and remind them that after spring /summer baseball..comes fall football and if they are interested in playing football to keep that free and only sign up for spring/summer baseball. thats the thing, we do - we start getting parents to commit in december, but we arnt allowed to work with them until July (rules). i need to do some competitive analysis, but it almost feels like the baseball guys make parents pay for a full year or something up front instead of it being just one season... trap them into it, because thats the feeling i get from parents ive talked to "we have already committed" - probably translates to "we shelled out tons of money up front".
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Post by coachd5085 on Jul 13, 2016 18:27:11 GMT -6
Will have to agree to disagree with the automatic bestowing of the word "harm" on year round baseball players. Again, pitchers, if they are not being managed properly perhaps but not others. As far as your current situation--sounds like the baseball guys are getting them to commit to spring and fall? Perhaps you could start advertising and contacting parents in Dec/January (bowl season, NFL Playoffs, College football playoffs) and remind them that after spring /summer baseball..comes fall football and if they are interested in playing football to keep that free and only sign up for spring/summer baseball. thats the thing, we do - we start getting parents to commit in december, but we arnt allowed to work with them until July (rules). i need to do some competitive analysis, but it almost feels like the baseball guys make parents pay for a full year or something up front instead of it being just one season... trap them into it, because thats the feeling i get from parents ive talked to "we have already committed" - probably translates to "we shelled out tons of money up front". Whose rules?
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Post by silkyice on Jul 13, 2016 18:29:35 GMT -6
Tell them the dangers of athletic specialization. Playing baseball year-round every year harms you more than it helps you. That is my exact point though. Harms you from what? Helps you for what? If a kid enjoys playing baseball more than football, and he is being safe about arm usage (pitchers) what is the problem? Burnout. Overuse injuries no matter what pitching protocols you use, throwing a baseball year round at a young age is not healthy. And I actually believe that you will improve more from time off and playing other sports. Broaden your perspective can be beneficial. Playing other sports and trying other things is just maturing and becoming a more well rounded individual anyways. So what do you say to the kid that says, nah, don't want to play any sport or do any hobbies. I just enjoying playing video games all day.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 13, 2016 18:45:38 GMT -6
thats the thing, we do - we start getting parents to commit in december, but we arnt allowed to work with them until July (rules). i need to do some competitive analysis, but it almost feels like the baseball guys make parents pay for a full year or something up front instead of it being just one season... trap them into it, because thats the feeling i get from parents ive talked to "we have already committed" - probably translates to "we shelled out tons of money up front". Whose rules? The leagues. All 12 teams in our league start the same day.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 13, 2016 18:48:49 GMT -6
That is my exact point though. Harms you from what? Helps you for what? If a kid enjoys playing baseball more than football, and he is being safe about arm usage (pitchers) what is the problem? Burnout. Overuse injuries no matter what pitching protocols you use, throwing a baseball year round at a young age is not healthy. And I actually believe that you will improve more from time off and playing other sports. Broaden your perspective can be beneficial. Playing other sports and trying other things is just maturing and becoming a more well rounded individual anyways. So what do you say to the kid that says, nah, don't want to play any sport or do any hobbies. I just enjoying playing video games all day. I tell that kid he better get good, E-sports is relatively small here in the US but there is tons of money to be made in it. A good counterstrike player can pull in over 150k a year...but you better be at the top of the top.
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Post by silkyice on Jul 13, 2016 18:53:25 GMT -6
I'm just going to cut to the chase.
Baseball has become almost a cult the last few years. This year round stuff is ruining baseball for kids. Notice I didn't say it is ruining football, it is ruining baseball. Have a 4th grader, 5th grader, and 8th grader from our small school all shut down from throwing due to overuse arm injuries.
This is my opinion but it is based on twenty years of watching this stuff, these kids that play Fall ball do not really improve. They would be better from time off and even better playing another sport. Most all of these kids that play Fall ball end up not doing it again. Summer baseball is fun so why not more fun? But then they usually end up not enjoying or injured.
I have coached multiple d1 baseball players and two that got drafted and one that pitched in the major leagues. They all played football and were great athletes.
This year round stuff is NOT about playing more because they enjoy it. Although many do. It is about getting that 10 year old a college scholarship. It is. There is no two ways about it. Many baseball players and parents are absolutely delusional.
Hate to bring race into this, but it is there. How many black kids do you see playing all this travel ball and Fall ball stuff? Sure there are some. But many of these white kids/dads think this is their only chance to compete. Notice I am not agreeing with them. I am just saying what many believe. They see the kid who is taller or bigger or can jump higher or is faster and instead of working to get better at those things, they look at baseball and see a bunch of guys who look like them.
Anyone can have that day where you hit the game winning run in or hit two homeruns or make the great catch. That is what they remember, not the .200 average or 6.43 ERA. Literally delusional.
So these kids get on these expensive teams and travel to play because if you travel 100 miles to play surely that means those teams are better than the ones down the road. They buy the $500 bat. Yes, you read that right. Excuse me, they buy one for the games and one for practice. Except foe some reason the one the bought isn't hot as Johnny's so they buy another one. They get a new $300 glove every year. They get new uniforms, take $1000s of dollars of lessons, get a gear bag. Etc. If there is a sport where dads try to buy there son success, this is it. And again, no one is so bad that they NEVER are the best player on someday.
Maybe I am delusional, but I could literally get on a plane a fly to NY and play for the Yankees and play left field for them and possibly do better than the current left fielder. Over the course of a 162 game season, I promise that on at least one game I will be better. He might strike out four times and make an error. I might walk once and not make that error. You can't even begin to say the same thing about me playing pro football or basketball.
Again, all this is for that almighty juco scholarship that covers their books only.
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Post by utchuckd on Jul 13, 2016 19:33:53 GMT -6
well to update, its pretty much a done deal here. ill be looking for a new place to coach here in a few weeks if 20 kids dont magically show up. 85% of the kids i was expecting to get are doing the fall ball nonsense. the other 25% arn't enough to make a team safely - 15 kids..... That sucks brother. You still have an offer here, but it'd be a hell of a commute. We recently had a meeting with our local parks department to start offering football next year because our current youth league is a {censored} show. Expecting participation to actually increase around here in the future.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 13, 2016 20:17:52 GMT -6
well to update, its pretty much a done deal here. ill be looking for a new place to coach here in a few weeks if 20 kids dont magically show up. 85% of the kids i was expecting to get are doing the fall ball nonsense. the other 25% arn't enough to make a team safely - 15 kids..... That sucks brother. You still have an offer here, but it'd be a hell of a commute. We recently had a meeting with our local parks department to start offering football next year because our current youth league is a {censored} show. Expecting participation to actually increase around here in the future. Hahaha we were out that way and the girl said "hell no" to the humidity and the heat.
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Post by surfcoach on Jul 13, 2016 22:06:10 GMT -6
33 coach,
Sorry about your team. You can always come down here to Thousand Oaks and coach. It's only a few hours from San Louis Obisbo. I really hope some kids show up so you have a team.
Mike
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Post by bobgoodman on Jul 13, 2016 22:26:12 GMT -6
Baseball has become almost a cult the last few years. This year round stuff is ruining baseball for kids. Notice I didn't say it is ruining football, it is ruining baseball. Have a 4th grader, 5th grader, and 8th grader from our small school all shut down from throwing due to overuse arm injuries. This is my opinion but it is based on twenty years of watching this stuff, these kids that play Fall ball do not really improve. They would be better from time off and even better playing another sport. Most all of these kids that play Fall ball end up not doing it again. Summer baseball is fun so why not more fun? But then they usually end up not enjoying or injured. What could account for a game as mature as baseball suddenly developing cultlike features? Then again, who could account for the fad of 6-day indoor bike races, and plenty of other late changes in established sports? Could be baseball's just reclaiming ground it ceded to football in the 19th Century. Thanksgiving was the traditional end of baseball season. Yes, delusional. What seem like big differences to you that result in the variation of major league baseballers' performance from game to game are smaller than the differences that separate them from the middle range of the minor leagues, and much smaller than the differences with amateurs. They go to great lengths to refine their rosters, sending people up and down based on what seem to us to be slim differences. In the field, OK, there are many games where you'd be able to make the same plays at most positions, but batting is a huge separating factor. You'd have a better chance of being competitive in pro football at most positions, or basketball given the right size.
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Post by bobgoodman on Jul 13, 2016 22:34:28 GMT -6
What I can't figure is the project just announced here in New York City to build 50 more soccer fields to serve underserved neighborhoods. The city's brimmed with soccer fields since before it was bought from the Indians, and I've never heard of there being a waiting list for the use of them. The idea according to the p.r. is if they build it, they will come, i.e. they want to encourage more people to play -- which is nuts, I don't think anyone has trouble getting up a game. I'd like to see where they're going to put them -- whether they'll be displacing any other play fields for soccer. Or maybe they're just going to install miniature goals and call existing fields soccer fields, chock-a-block, for pre-schoolers.
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Post by raymul313 on Jul 13, 2016 22:54:45 GMT -6
What I can't figure is the project just announced here in New York City to build 50 more soccer fields to serve underserved neighborhoods. The city's brimmed with soccer fields since before it was bought from the Indians, and I've never heard of there being a waiting list for the use of them. The idea according to the p.r. is if they build it, they will come, i.e. they want to encourage more people to play -- which is nuts, I don't think anyone has trouble getting up a game. I'd like to see where they're going to put them -- whether they'll be displacing any other play fields for soccer. Or maybe they're just going to install miniature goals and call existing fields soccer fields, chock-a-block, for pre-schoolers. In some neighborhoods the soccer field would get some serious usage so long as there isn't a lock on the gates when not in permitted use. NYC has been a basketball city for well over 50+ years as courts are abundant but I don't see how they'll gain interest outside of some parks & rec leagues and HS.
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Post by blb on Jul 14, 2016 5:20:28 GMT -6
I strongly suspect when some kids or parents say Junior isn't going to play Football so he can "concentrate on Baseball (or Basketball or whatever)" it's a way out of telling his friends-coach he is afraid of the contact, doesn't want to do the necessary work, or just doesn't like the game so as to not look bad to them.
Some of them will realize they're not a "Baseball guy" when they start seeing curveballs.
Won't help you 33, but those sports start cutting in HS (not in Summer or Fall - too much $$ to be made off them). So some may come back to Football at some point.
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Post by blb on Jul 14, 2016 5:27:20 GMT -6
Tell them the dangers of athletic specialization. Playing baseball year-round every year harms you more than it helps you.
I don't think a Football coach telling parents who think Junior is the next Bryce Harper anything about dangers of specialization-playing year-round will be effective.
You'd better have literature from both a youth sports expert and a Baseball person such as John Smoltz to give them.
And even then - probably go over like a turd in a punch bowl.
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Post by utchuckd on Jul 14, 2016 6:02:22 GMT -6
Hahaha we were out that way and the girl said "hell no" to the humidity and the heat. It's just now starting to get warm. The heat index is just barely breaking 100 so far. How many kids do you usually have in a given year? We're looking at 55-ish, and that's easily the second largest team I've had here.
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Post by M4 on Jul 14, 2016 8:18:20 GMT -6
Just a thought but, have you considered altering your practice requirements to possibly attract more of those "peripheral" kids to join. Going from every day to 2 days a week practice equal playing time, etc with the hopes that you can get some of those on the fence kids to join, get them hooked and then ramp it back up when the numbers improve?
Not ideal but still a better option then possibly folding?
The youth league in my area is thriving, despite the safety issues that are all over the media. They focus on 3 selling points to battle the 3 biggest competitors, hockey, soccer and doing nothing: Keeping costs lower then the other sports, offering financial aid, practice 2 times a week, offer equal field time, start registration for the following year BEFORE the season ends at a discount (entice players to sign up while its still in their brains and they can get a savings), they also encourage players to play other sports, they tell players all the time "there's 4 sports seasons, we only want you for 1 of them"
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Post by coachd5085 on Jul 14, 2016 8:48:42 GMT -6
What could account for a game as mature as baseball suddenly developing cultlike features? Then again, who could account for the fad of 6-day indoor bike races, and plenty of other late changes in established sports? Could be baseball's just reclaiming ground it ceded to football in the 19th Century. Thanksgiving was the traditional end of baseball season. I think it is more the trappings, not the games, that has certain pockets of youth baseball enticing to kids. Overall, according to the Spots and Fitness Industry Association, 1 million less kids are playing baseball now than in 2007 compared to a drop of about 750,000 in youth football. But the appeal and participation in year round travel "elite" baseball set up appears to be growing (at least anecdotally) I would argue it is definitely the appeal of the trappings (the things silkyice described) as opposed to the actual activity that is spurring this growth. silkyice I completely agree that there appears to be an element of race, but I would argue that is just a result of the true driving force, and not the actual driving force. It is a $$$ thing, but in many if not most places in the USA, financial issues mirror racial issues. I also think silkyice is correct when he attributes parents mistakenly thinking that they will get a leg up on competition with all of the extra work, and that due to physical traits, junior will have the best "chance to make it" in baseball because it is a skill sport rather than a raw athletic attribute sport. bobgoodman you say but I believe that is silkyice 's point. Size/speed are relatively fixed and I think most intuitively know this. Hard as silkyice wants, deep down he knows his children will 'never' look like or move like Von Miller, JJ watt, Luke Kuechly etc. But Brice Harper? Sure. And what is so special about Mike Trout? My kid can hit a ball too. It isn't as visible as to why those guys are the best and that can sometimes fuel the crazy parental push. So the question remains what, if anything, can youth football do to increase the "trappings". Youth baseball has fancy gear, faux elite status, and what I think is the biggest hurdle for football-- a chance at a "championship" (with rings) nearly every weekend.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 14, 2016 8:59:47 GMT -6
What could account for a game as mature as baseball suddenly developing cultlike features? Then again, who could account for the fad of 6-day indoor bike races, and plenty of other late changes in established sports? Could be baseball's just reclaiming ground it ceded to football in the 19th Century. Thanksgiving was the traditional end of baseball season. So the question remains what, if anything, can youth football do to increase the "trappings". Youth baseball has fancy gear, faux elite status, and what I think is the biggest hurdle for football-- a chance at a "championship" (with rings) nearly every weekend. its just a difference in the game, you cant even hold football tournaments... could you imagine the outrage of parents and the "child safety" lawsuits if you played a double header in football? LOL
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Post by coachd5085 on Jul 14, 2016 9:13:03 GMT -6
So the question remains what, if anything, can youth football do to increase the "trappings". Youth baseball has fancy gear, faux elite status, and what I think is the biggest hurdle for football-- a chance at a "championship" (with rings) nearly every weekend. its just a difference in the game, you cant even hold football tournaments... could you imagine the outrage of parents and the "child safety" lawsuits if you played a double header in football? LOL I absolutely agree about that. That is why I said it was the biggest hurdle. Football has never been a tournament sport. So..is the solution to throw up ones hands and hope "somebody" does "something" ?
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Post by blb on Jul 14, 2016 9:23:02 GMT -6
Well "something" that "somebody" can do is make sure we're not doing anything to run kids off.
I never coached youth Football (it's 5th-8th grades here) so maybe I'm way off base, but if I did -
I'd start practice no more than two weeks before first game.
I would practice twice, maybe three times a week max.
Practices would be no longer than two hours.
There would be no calisthenics or conditioning.
Emphasis would be on learning the game and teamwork. "Systems" would be mind-numbingly simple.
Coaching would be positive and enthusiastic.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 14, 2016 9:35:03 GMT -6
Well "something" that "somebody" can do is make sure we're not doing anything to run kids off. I never coached youth Football (it's 5th-8th grades here) so maybe I'm way off base, but if I did - I'd start practice no more than two weeks before first game. I would practice twice, maybe three times a week max. Practices would be no longer than two hours. There would be no calisthenics or conditioning. Emphasis would be on learning the game and teamwork. "Systems" would be mind-numbingly simple. Coaching would be positive and enthusiastic. at the low levels, thats good, follows a lot of what Dave C does. and our lower groups follow that pretty much - 3 days a week, 2 hours a day, simple systems (except for one oddball who thinks 5 wide spread works with 7 year olds....and then somehow pulls it off) we have a minimum amount of non-contact practices before you can even get pads (acclimation rules) - 20 hours (10 days). our layout follows this: -- July 25th start date -- -- 2 weeks no contact practice -- -- 2 weeks normal practice -- -- Scrimmage that weekend -- -- 1 week normal practice - prep for first game -- -- First game until the first game, we are going 5 days a week, after that we go to 4 days a week (friday off, usually do some sort of team bonding; dinner and then go to a local HS game..... etc) games are on Saturday (3PM) - typically after the game we will take whoever wants to go to the Cal Poly game if they are home that night.
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Post by jrk5150 on Jul 14, 2016 9:44:03 GMT -6
I lost two kids to hockey this year - and with a roster of 20 to begin with that's big.
We tend not to lose kids to soccer, even though travel soccer requires a one year commitment. Soccer practices once a week and plays on Saturday while we play on Sunday. And frankly, most of our travel soccer kids are kids that the soccer coaches want, so they're good with the kids missing practice time for us. And we cut the kids some slack - soccer fields aren't lit, so a kid can get to soccer and then come to us and only miss half of our practice. For half a practice a week, we're good.
Baseball isn't a big deal. We have to be patient with summer baseball kids as they go into August - if they make a playoff run they miss quite a bit of time. That is what it is. The only kids we lose to fall baseball are kids that get spooked by contact, so they'd find a reason to be gone anyway. And frankly, baseball is losing a TON of kids to lacrosse. We haven't started to yet, but I'm sure at some point we will.
Hockey is the ugly one - they start up September 1, so they're in direct competition. Locally, the city leagues aren't too bad - they basically tell the football kids to come when they can. Heck, their seasons run to like April so missing the first two months isn't a biggie. The travel programs are not as flexible, so the kids get pretty worn out. In those cases, we will bend quite a bit, but it is still really hard for a 10-11-12 year old to deal with. I've had kids show up to an 8 am Sunday morning football game and they've already played a hockey game that morning. Talk about a safety issue. My biggest issue is that the hockey is all about $$, pure and simple. There's no reason they can't start up Nov. 1 except the rinks want the $. Personally, I find the whole concept of youth hockey disgusting the way they run it. It's not even close to being about the kids, it's all about the adults and the business of hockey.
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Post by blb on Jul 14, 2016 9:46:04 GMT -6
You have the experience and thus the advantage over me here, 33 - but player or coach I would not want to practice for five weeks before playing a game.
The light at the end of that tunnel would seem impossibly far off.
And it seems to me that two weeks practice with no contact (I assume no pads) would be wasting a lot of time.
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Post by jrk5150 on Jul 14, 2016 9:55:48 GMT -6
You have the experience and thus the advantage over me here, 33 - but player or coach I would not want to practice for five weeks before playing a game. The light at the end of that tunnel would seem impossibly far off. And it seems to me that two weeks practice with no contact (I assume no pads) would be wasting a lot of time. Personally, I tend to agree with you, but that's us too. We start Aug 1 with our first game the weekend after Labor Day. By Pop Warner rules we HAVE to start by August 15th or something like that. We have a similar rule - no pads for 10 hours, then pads but no external scrimmaging (meaning we can hit/scrimmage in practice, just can't scrimmage another program) for another week, then we can do whatever. We're allowed 10 hours a week in August (we go a little less than that) and 6 hours a week after Labor Day. I have heard more people say they won't let their kids play due to losing the month of August than have concerns for head injuries. I made a recommendation to our board to start a week later and they said no. I made a recommendation that we ask the conference to mandate a start date a week later, and I was laughed out of the room. Sometimes change is hard to accomplish.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 14, 2016 10:01:33 GMT -6
You have the experience and thus the advantage over me here, 33 - but player or coach I would not want to practice for five weeks before playing a game. The light at the end of that tunnel would seem impossibly far off. And it seems to me that two weeks practice with no contact (I assume no pads) would be wasting a lot of time. there are parts of it i like, and parts of it i dont. like i think 1 week is more then enough for no pads...... but i dont get a say in that. i do like having at least 3 weeks before a scrimmage, mostly because we don't get any kind of spring or summer program.
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Post by coachd5085 on Jul 14, 2016 10:12:05 GMT -6
33coach It sounds like you guys have already talked to the parents/families that aren't returning. I would think about contacting them again, and just putting all the cards on the table. "Unfortunately, due to a lack of interest, we won't be able to field a football team this season. I am asking you to tell us point blank, what sort of things would be necessary for your family to play football in the Fall of 2017? And really kind of press them a bit when they give the none answer of "nothing you guys did, we are just committed to baseball". Follow that up with "well, what can we do to help your son get to experience BOTH sports? I am just throwing out ideas. Like I said, culturally that isn't likely to happen here in South Louisiana within the next few years. The only thing that would keep kids from football at rates that shut down programs would be head injury hysteria. Are you guys the only team in the league of 12 that is cancelling? How will that affect them? Is it an overarching sports league or just a football league?
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