Banquet - Talking about seniors?

Did he make major contributions to special teams? Practice squad? Did he display core program qualities (resiliency, positive teammate, honesty, etc). I'd focus on contributions no matter how small (small as viewed by a biased parent) & traits your program hopes to instill.

It may not make dad happy but you're in this business for the kids.  It's his time & you can use this to speak directly to him.

I am sure he is more than just the stats he put forth on Friday night, how was he as a person? Put a positive spin on that. Or focus on one specific thing he did and blow it up out of proportion. Outside of that, maybe we should start a thread "Generic things to say about kids during a banquet"

Example:

"He Really enjoys contact and always looked for someone to hit"
"Was always there when we needed him"
"This kid was always looking to jump in and contribute any way he could."
"Coaches know how valuable his work in practice was to the team, he contributed in ways others don't get to see"
"Respected by his teammates...a real worker"
"Someone whose grown a lot during his time here."
"I look forward to all the things he will accomplish in the future"

I agree with the above points. I have noticed that some of the hard feelings go away after the season and they have had some time to cool down and the kid has moved on to something else.

In the heat of the battle on a Friday night a parent doesn't see their kid play and they get upset. Once they get a way from it for a while they cool off.

Unless they are totally nuts...

I had a player like this last year. Our head coach was a huge advocate of pumping up seniors, regardless of playing time.

I talked about the few times he had to step in and give us a few plays. Made that seem like a huge deal. This particular kid was going to college (not to play ball); he and I discussed his future plans, so I talked about that as well.

I find it sheds light on the person and what he can accomplish next. Let's face it, football is over for the majority of kids after high school whether the stats and accolades were plentiful or non existent. Pump up the kid, and make him feel good. Dad's opinion doesn't matter if you reached the kid.

bone...the guys who missed practice at the end of the year...should not be at the banquet. If you're letting them be there...that's on you or the HC. Same with the practice ditchers.

You're going to "celebrate" the season with a bunch of guys who don't care? Hell...I'd only talk about the kids that were there 100% of the time, eat a piece of cake, and call it good.

Talk about his character as a competitor he wanted to be on the field and worked every day to get as many snaps as possible. We have had kids like that who haven't played much which can be disappointing and we address this. Then we usually focus on how this will make them more successful as they took adversity and made the best of it. Didn't quit when things didn't go there way and that's a great teammate. It will also lead to good things in life.

One kid showed up in early June and showed promise, we actually had plans for him.  Then he disappeared until two weeks after equipment distribution day, didn't return phone calls all summer, nothing. When I said, "Hey buddy, where have you been?" (I was legit concerned) he actually said, "I wasn't sure I wanted to play, plus I really like my summers for relaxing but I'm here now, so don't give me a hard time about it."  Then tells me he's going to be the Z back, safety and kicker because he's a soccer player and the fastest/most athletic kid on the team (which, not in his dreams).  When he didn't get a starting spot the real attitude started, he stopped showing up to practice unless the spirit moved him and acted like a jackass when he was there.  Several times other coaches and I tried to counsel him, told him we wanted to use him but we couldn't play him because he didn't know what to do on either side of the ball.  He started showing up occasionally M-W, usually at walkthrough and then always on game day.  At a game late in the season we're whooping an opponent and everybody that showed up to all the practices that week played (I pulled starters after the 1st quarter), even if they had no idea what they were doing.  This kid started ranting that he wanted to play, his mom actually came to the sidelines and asked to speak to me.  I politely told her to beat it but not before she told me I better play the kid.  The following week the AD, HC and I got hate emails from her and the dad for not playing the kid.  Told him again, show up to practice, work hard and you will play.  Same effort through the end of the season.  Dad cornered me after the final game and was acting like a pr!ck, it was all I could do to not ragdoll him on the spot.  When I asked the team for $5 from each player so we could get the team mom a gift (woman was incredible) I got another hate-filled email telling me to jam it.  If it were up to me the kid would have been gone but the HC said to keep him, it's his program so I did.  Now I have to say something nice about the kid and I literally can't think of anything positive he did this year.

By the way, I've got a kid that is an absolutely HORRENDOUS football player, totally unathletic but I could talk about him for hours because he is a great kid with a great work ethic, I'm actually looking forward to talking about him.

"This next young man is a very confident athlete who has the capability to help our program in a variety of ways. He's the type of kid who was always looking to contribute whether it be on offense, defense, or special teams; and I know that with a summer of hard work he can blossom into the type of player who can really contribute on the next level for years to come.....Johnny Screwaround"

"Kid had a chitty attitude and was a waste of phukin space... next"

We had 19 seniors this year, several were great players including two that made all state teams, but some that barely saw the field.
Our tradition, we give out lots of awards, different coaches give out awards and talk a little about each recipient. Then the head coach talks about each senior and calls them up, they get a senior gift from school of large collage poster individualized for each senior, a gift bag from booster club, etc.
In the past with previous and current head coaches they would talk a few minutes about each kid and some were easy to talk about some harder, the guys that never played speech sound the same and hard to make it not be condescending. So this year our head coach mixed it up and while he did talk about each kid he changed it up and picked something that he would remember or miss about that kid, he intended it to be a roast but it ended up being complimentary for each and every guy. My favorite was for an undersized corner that for a few years mostly played special teams and backup but started this year and at times had trouble with big physical receivers but held his own, still shut down the edge, and got a few picks, made some key plays, and although he talked a lot of trash was a decent guy. He got the Stephen A Smith award, fittingly. He has an opinion on everything and whenever we have free time he loves to debate with people about almost anything.
It was well received, took about the same amount of time as before but it no longer sounded like he had favorites and didn't single out stars nor role players.

The HC wants us to talk about every kid so I do.

Fortunately the kids that are true steaming piles didn't show up at the banquet so I wasn't put in a position where I had to manufacture something. For the goofballs I said, "This young man was an asset on our scout team, got some playing time on special teams and will be a good football player if he dedicates himself."