Long pre game warm up.. Why?

I despise long warm ups, especially early in the year when the weather is hot.

We do it because if you don't do it and lose then you are being lazy; same reason teams practice 20+ hours a week in the summer and have hours of meetings. I'm at a place that starts sending players out over an hour before kickoff, its silly but not my call.

But always remember: if you don't do ALL the extra things that other teams are doing and you lose, then in the minds of many you lost because you refused to do the extra work (true or not). So we keep up with the joneses for that sake.

If you do a "Walk thru" after school as some have posted on here maybe you don't need much of a Pre-Game Warm-up.

Also numbers make a difference.

Last league I coached in one of the most dominant programs would have their Varsity walk on to the field two abreast holding hands about half hour before kick off.

They would do some Specialty stuff (Punting, Kicking) and Passing while linemen did their thing in End Zone.

Then a little Dynamic Warmup.

Then some Team Offense against "Air."

Then line up for Anthem, and go play.

BUT - they had done some "Walk thru" after school and watched film before coming out, too.

Plus they had one of if not best programs from youth league on up for decades (tradition) and first or second biggest school enrollment-wise.

Bottom line - Warm 'em up, not wear 'em out.

I don't think I ever lost a game because of how we did Pre-Game.

For a 7:30 kick, we are on the field at 6:35 and off at 7:15. Whole team is on the field from 6:45-7:15

Great topic! My DC and I have been asking the same question. Last night we stretched off the field all together (QBs and receivers warmed up before). STs guys went onto the field 30 minutes before the game, off after 10 minutes. Offense went through 15 play script on air off the field. Everybody on the field 5 minutes before the game for anthem.

Do we really need to go through Indys pre game? Our opinion was no. We wanted to keep our guys relaxed and fresher for game time.

Almost identical to what we do.

In defense of specialists going out early: it's tough to have space for coaches to do Indy drills of whatever sort when there are balls being kicked and punted all over the place. Tough when you only have 45 yds of field to use.

3:30 PACK BAGS/STAY IN LOCKER ROOM


3:45 BOARD BUSES FOR WOFFORD


4:00 ARRIVE AT WOFFORD


4:15 SPECIAL TEAMS/CIRCLE MEETING


5:15 OFFENSE MEETING
5:45 DEFENSE MEETING


6:30 QB’S, SNAPPERS & KICKERS


6:35 RETURNERS & SPECIALTY


6:40 DB’S & RECEIVERS


6:45 TEAM ENTRANCE


6:46 VIKING MOB


6:48 SQUARE AND FLEX


6:54 INDY


7:00 TEAM


7:07 PUNT


7:08 PAT


7:09 OFF


7:20 WALK TO THE ENTRANCE


7:30 LOCK AND LOAD KICKOFF

Are you asking whether or not too much time passes from 5:40 to 7 for those specific skills practiced to carry over? I think the skills do carry over, but its mainly because they are also being practiced throughout the 6 o'clock hour (qbs still throwing, centers still snapping, kickers still kicking).


That being written, there are a lot of things taking place between 5:40 and 7:00 that are either redundant or not really useful which could be trimmed away and require less prep time pregame.

I hate warmups. Always have. It probably goes back to college where we basically had a full practice before the game. Wore my a$$ out. That's what I liked about rugby: The scrummers' warmup consisted of putting our beer down, flexing our neck, then grinding. 

I know that it's useful for the skill guys and that some are OCD about it but I'd rather not be involved. 

So - what are the alternatives?

Sit around in the locker room getting more anxious-nervous?

Letting kids run loose for an extra half hour before reporting?

Or try to come up with something more to keep them occupied longer?

How long are your bus rides? We have at least 2 a year over an hour which isn't hateful, but they are always in rush hour from one metro area to another that tends to be riddled with construction. Those are the most difficult to plan for. You want to plan for extra time for the unexpected but not too much time to just be sitting around.

"Run loose" sounds negative but in the end how much time do we need to control of theirs to feel like we've done our job? I know of programs that require kids to report immediately to the team room after school (2:30) for 7:00 games. I don't think we need to all follow their lead, but I promise you the reactionary response from most coaching staffs if a kid got into trouble between 2:30 and 4:30 on a gameday would be lock them down.