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Post by doitforthekids on Oct 19, 2018 10:35:16 GMT -6
Make your team environment a place athletes want to be. "Athletes" being defined as willing workers, like competing, like being a part of something; you can do something with those traits! Run your weight room and practice in a way that those kids WANT to be a part of it. Start by getting them in the weight room. In the process you'll run into specific reasons not to play (concussions, injuries, etc.) explain how you will alleviate those concerns.
PS. if you're a teacher, run your class that way and draw them in through the classroom.
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Post by OCoach131 on Oct 19, 2018 10:40:46 GMT -6
I have experienced coaches doing a couple different things in order to try and get the best athletes in the school out. I've been on staffs where the HC has put either the head basketball or baseball coach on staff coaching a position. This was usually a position that the coordinators or HC could provide a lot of guidance with. Most of these HCs from other sports are experts in their sport but maybe not football so a little guidance was necessary. If the HCs from those sports were not interested then they would try to get a well liked assistant from those teams on staff. They tried to pick someone they felt like had a good relationship with the kids you are trying to recruit. Once again they usually needed a little guidance but they also fit in pretty well. Sometimes those assistants were better fits than the other HCs because they were used to being in a support role rather than being the guys in charge.
I have also seen coaches talk to the top notch athletes of other sports about the numbers of scholarships and money available at the college level per sport. I've worked at a "baseball" school and a "basketball" school and every player on those respective teams thought they were getting a full ride. Especially in baseball that is just not the case. Even the kids that go to the big-time D1 programs typically do not get 100% scholarships. They also pointed out the size of rosters for college basketball and baseball vs football.
I have personally taken the approach of trying to talk to the friends of the athletes we want that are already on the football team. Those kids have a much bigger influence over their friends than anything I can say or do. I tried to use their peers as a way to get them out. That has worked pretty well for me.
I will say though all of these have been met with mixed results. Football is tough as we know. We always had to be mindful when there were tough times in the season to get a feel for those new players commitment. Kids who joined for the wrong reasons may leave you during the tough times. It has happened a number of times.
There are some other things you can do like how you structure practice and try to make things a little less mundane. Of course there are certain things that just have to be done and you can't avoid them but we tried to keep kids fresh and not hit everyday for 3 hours.
Your AD goes along way with this kind of stuff. If the AD stresses multi-sport participation among their coaches that can take a lot off your plate. If your AD is the coach of a competing sport, I have found it can be tough.
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Post by airraider on Oct 19, 2018 10:43:22 GMT -6
How would go about persuading/recruiting kids to play football? We have 50 boys playing other sports that would instantly make us a threat if they were playing. Its a slippery slope... I have found that "most" who are not playing have a reason.
too lazy I like basketball more Its too hot scared of getting hit too hard don't think I will start momma want let me
etc etc etc
So when you persuade them out, its hard to keep them out.
Obviously there are many exceptions to this rule, as some just never thought about playing and are just an invite away.
One thing I am going to try this year is starting an intramural flag football club in the spring. I am going to try to get 4-6 teams of 5-6 kids.. I am going to make it completely exclusive from football and I hope I can bring a few kids in through the social aspect as I expect all of our football kids to participate.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 20, 2018 10:47:43 GMT -6
Something I shared with a friend the other day is to think about it in terms of a business. You have to have multiple sales funnels in place for kids, meaning that you have to approach your potential players in a variety of ways. Something that might attract a kid to play such as new uniforms or multiple helmets may not move the meter for another kid. How do you find out what attracts kids? Do market research. Interview kids, do surveys, etc., then experiment, then evaluate and then repeat.
Something else I think many of us overlook is to continue to recruit players once they are on our team. This is something that I heard Boise State does really well. E-business experts say you need to have multiple sales funnels in place for your current customers as well. The idea is the same, kids have a choice (to play football or not) and so we can't treat them like they've joined the French Foreign Legion.
It doesn't mean we compromise our standards worrying that we'll lose kids, just like sometimes businesses lose customers who don't fit their avatar. But, it's important not to take a kid for granted, as if he doesn't have a choice.
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