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Post by powerread50 on Sept 28, 2018 8:11:52 GMT -6
I am in my first season at a new school, with a new HC and largely new staff. The school is a fairly affluent one that has experienced a great deal of success in the past. We have good kids who work and play hard. But one thing I have noticed is while our players are generally very intelligent, they do not seem to possess much knowledge of the game of football past what they are taught to do for their position. An example is when we bring JV defensive players over to run a scout D, and the d line has to constantly be reminded of what it means to line up in a 1, 2 or 3 tech. We run a 3-4 and they never have to line up on a guard, but I figured these kids would have picked it up somewhere since most of them started playing in Junior High or earlier.
I am a coach's son, and realize that I grew up with a much deeper understanding than my friends that I played with. However, they were not so oblivious to the majority of the game that does not directly involve them. Even a few years ago kids seemed to understand football better as they were constantly playing Madden, which at least exposed them to all facets of basic strategy. Now when I hear our kids talk about playing games, it is usually Fortnite or Pubg or some other nonsense. I'm not sure what all has caused this disconnect. We have really bright kids, and the previous staff was very good, but for some reason we seem to have a lot of robots running around trying to execute assignments, rather than ballplayers.
What I am trying to get together for this off season is a course in basic football. We have built in study hall and this could fit in to our schedule well. I want to teach basic offensive formations, defensive alignments, less obvious rules of the game,etc. Maybe even through in a little Gridiron History (I teach History, so I naturally lean to this). I would love any advice on resources that may be available (books, online, etc) or ideas for things that could be taught. I have a lot of subjects in mind, but know that there are a lot of relevant areas I have not thought of, especially since I have had this in the back of my mind for a long time, but really just recently (like last night) started the think about how to plan something like this out. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
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CoachSP
Sophomore Member
Posts: 212
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Post by CoachSP on Sept 28, 2018 10:22:44 GMT -6
Fit that knowledge into your scheme that you normally teach. For example, when you teach them what technique is theirs, teach all the DL techniques. When we watch film, I get a little long winded because I constantly remind them what things are called(formations, play names, the word "mesh" as it relates to QB/TB exchange). I use those words and teach them as we watch. Knowing why they must play a particular gap because of how it affects the rest of the defense.
Teach it as you go and develop their knowledge that way. Because honestly, they don't need another class. The attention span is limited as it is.
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Post by chi5hi on Sept 29, 2018 1:00:52 GMT -6
COACH at the first team meeting: "There are a hundred different offenses. There is a reason why we run this one...and this is it".
COACH: "There are a dozen different defensive philosophies, and this is ours".
Answer these questions for yourself, then pass it on to the team.
Start there. Sometimes kids don't get "it" because you haven't told them why they're there and what you want them to do!
A journey doesn't happen until you take the first step.
I remember the first time I put on a jock strap and my thigh pads in the wrong legs. I had no idea what coach wanted me to do...but he kept telling me...HOW TO DO IT! It would have been better if he had not assumed that we understood what he wanted.
From there, its easier to teach the game.
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Post by 53 on Sept 29, 2018 5:48:38 GMT -6
I think this football IQ stuff gets made a bigger deal than it is.
I played for a HOF coach that won over 300 games and he didn’t have the first clue what a 1 tech or 3 tech was, but he could still coach the hell out of some football.
He just taught it his way.
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mackd
Freshmen Member
Posts: 26
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Post by mackd on Sept 29, 2018 11:51:40 GMT -6
Last year after hearing about it in a clinic, I decided to do a “QB School” with all the kids that played QB in the program. We started in January and did Tuesday mornings every other week. I tried to go about 20-25 minutes of classroom chalk talk and 25-30 minutes of throwing mechanics or footwork.
I think it was worth it with those kids because we’re way ahead of the year prior in the summer. The QBs helped get kids lined up right and knew what all the positions were doing. My sophomore QB has played with more confidence. My Varsity QB is having conversations about different plays and in game adjustments with me more as a coach.
This year, because kids hate to be excluded, I’m going to do an offensive line school and open the QB school up to any skill kids.
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Post by Defcord on Sept 29, 2018 11:52:35 GMT -6
First, teach them the most vital things they need to know to accomplish their role and help the team succeed.
Second, sprinkle in little bits of the finer details.
Third, laugh at them when they said they made the tackle on the 52 yard line.
Fourth, laugh with them when you score and call for the KOR to get ready.
It’s a complicated game. I focus a vast majority of my time on the skills they need to be able to execute routinely within their position.
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Post by CanyonCoach on Oct 1, 2018 8:54:38 GMT -6
This has been a topic of conversation within our staff for 5-6 years...
Pipe Dream- we teach an off season football IQ class- hasn't happened, likely won't.
Reality- we use our language to teach the game to our middle school staff during summer camps and 7 on 7 and linemen challenge nights
Harsh reality- our middle school staff don't regularly attend those activities so we have continued to struggle.
Harsher reality- the kids that would benefit the most from those activities don't attend either.
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Post by coachscdub on Oct 1, 2018 17:07:26 GMT -6
A coach i used to work with told me that Frosh level football is the most important, because it is where you teach them everything but instinct. He told me that no matter what kind of kids you think you're getting you always have to explain everything never say something in football terminology and expect them to know. We literally sat the kids in the class room and described to them what a TE was or what a WR was. We talked about Playside vs Backside, Strong side vs Weakside, what is a gap, etc. I think this is something that needs to be done everywhere because most kids just dont know the basics of football when they hit 9th grade.
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Post by fantom on Oct 1, 2018 17:39:48 GMT -6
A coach i used to work with told me that Frosh level football is the most important, because it is where you teach them everything but instinct. He told me that no matter what kind of kids you think you're getting you always have to explain everything never say something in football terminology and expect them to know. We literally sat the kids in the class room and described to them what a TE was or what a WR was. We talked about Playside vs Backside, Strong side vs Weakside, what is a gap, etc. I think this is something that needs to be done everywhere because most kids just dont know the basics of football when they hit 9th grade. John Wooden used to teach his freshmen how to put their socks on properly.
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Post by coachlit on Oct 1, 2018 19:14:04 GMT -6
I just had this pop up today during practice. Varsity had the day off at 5'1 and a bye week, but we're sitting at 1-1 and figured we need to increase our football IQ. I shortened practice and held a meeting upstairs to really gauge student's general football knowledge. I had to go waaaay back to the basics and went from there. From the kid's suggestion, I'm going to create a Hudl install and then have a kahoot quiz on it next week that goes over some generic football knowledge everyone should know.
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Post by powerread50 on Oct 2, 2018 6:28:36 GMT -6
In reading these replies I think that what I was really getting at is that we have a lot of kids that just go out and do what we tell them to do. They tend to play like robots, and we are trying to get them out of that. The quote I like is "The 2 kinds of players that will get you beat are the ones that don't do anything you tell them and the ones that do everything you tell them", or something like that. I just was looking for something to help them be able to better understand the things that they may not expect during a game.
In addition, we have study hall time every day in our schedule, so this is time we would have them anyway. I feel like the kids get our schemes really well, but do not understand other teams schemes near as well unless we tell them. That is the frustration. Also, I wanted to spend a lot of the time focusing on unique situations and rules that you don't really talk a lot about.
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Post by mdunham on Oct 2, 2018 7:47:01 GMT -6
We have an install that details hole location, gap location, def line techniques, defintions like playside backside strongside weakside etc. Also available as a handout to players if they want it. We go over it Day 1 and making it an install allows it to be available all season/year.
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Post by 53 on Oct 2, 2018 8:12:58 GMT -6
A coach i used to work with told me that Frosh level football is the most important, because it is where you teach them everything but instinct. He told me that no matter what kind of kids you think you're getting you always have to explain everything never say something in football terminology and expect them to know. We literally sat the kids in the class room and described to them what a TE was or what a WR was. We talked about Playside vs Backside, Strong side vs Weakside, what is a gap, etc. I think this is something that needs to be done everywhere because most kids just dont know the basics of football when they hit 9th grade. John Wooden used to teach his freshmen how to put their socks on properly. That and questionable recruiting practices will make you an all time great coach.
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Post by fantom on Oct 2, 2018 8:33:59 GMT -6
John Wooden used to teach his freshmen how to put their socks on properly. That and questionable recruiting practices will make you an all time great coach. Not questionable, he flat out cheated but: 1. He still had to coach them and he was never accused of rolling the balls out. Other teams had good players too and, 2. A lot of them also cheated. UCLA wasn't the only school with a sugar daddy.
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