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Post by gekruse on Feb 10, 2019 13:42:28 GMT -6
Our offensive staff just got done with the Minneapolis Glazier Clinic and one of the coaches attended a session about improving participation in your football program. An idea was to really make home games special and something the kids will remember. We aren't exactly sure how to do this so I thought I would ask if anyone does anything unique to make home games special for the players?
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Post by canesfan on Feb 10, 2019 18:18:18 GMT -6
Our offensive staff just got done with the Minneapolis Glazier Clinic and one of the coaches attended a session about improving participation in your football program. An idea was to really make home games special and something the kids will remember. We aren't exactly sure how to do this so I thought I would ask if anyone does anything unique to make home games special for the players? The weather didn’t really cooperate with us but this year we: -Had politicians set up during our rivalry game. Had a pregame concert, giveaways, contests. It was election year and that was our home opener. Wild atmosphere to say the least, even during our 1 1/2 hour lightning delay -Introduced a different team every game. While our players don’t get anything out of it, more people come and it seems like a college game. -Cool intro. We started the Virginia Tech Enter Sandman this year and had our pep section, band and cheerleaders jumping and going nuts. -We had a senior as the third quarter hype man leading a Maroon/White chant. -We had trick or treat at our last home game. Weather is usually bad and thought that might help. Maybe it did. Basically, we look at it as the cooler the atmosphere, the more kids will enjoy it. Football should be “the event” for a small town. Our community is a basketball community with only recent, relative football success. But if you build it, it will get better. Going to go even bigger next year. I would caution two things: -Don’t give control of your home games up. If the coaches aren’t interested in changing the game day atmosphere, don’t do it or you’ll end up with stuff you hate. -Do not make it a distraction for the players. We don’t even tell them the events we have going on.
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Post by larrymoe on Feb 10, 2019 18:38:42 GMT -6
The OP asked how to make it special for the players, you specifically leave the players out of it completely. I don't think those go together.
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Post by coachd5085 on Feb 10, 2019 18:46:26 GMT -6
The OP asked how to make it special for the players, you specifically leave the players out of it completely. I don't think those go together. I agree. If you work very hard to create an environment where the players are focused on other things, you will probably not have the on field success to make things enjoyable.
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Post by canesfan on Feb 10, 2019 19:51:36 GMT -6
The OP asked how to make it special for the players, you specifically leave the players out of it completely. I don't think those go together. It’s all for the players. Big crowd, big stage. Wasn’t a distraction, For our kids. If you’re recruiting kids in the hallways, the bigger the games seem to the community the bigger they may seem to the kids. The biggest thing you can do for the players is win. One of the next biggest is make people come watch them win and get excited. It’s all related: win, get people excited, more money for the program, nicer things, etc. circle of life. I would guess our kids enjoy running out to a hyped crowd. I don’t think any human on earth is more distracted than a high school boy. That’s what they’re used to. Chaos.
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Post by canesfan on Feb 10, 2019 19:54:27 GMT -6
The OP asked how to make it special for the players, you specifically leave the players out of it completely. I don't think those go together. I agree. If you work very hard to create an environment where the players are focused on other things, you will probably not have the on field success to make things enjoyable. Players don’t focus on the external. Heck they aren’t even present for a lot of it. Not like they watched the concert. But it adds to the atmosphere.
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Post by coachd5085 on Feb 10, 2019 19:59:35 GMT -6
I agree. If you work very hard to create an environment where the players are focused on other things, you will probably not have the on field success to make things enjoyable. Players don’t focus on the external. Heck they aren’t even present for a lot of it. Not like they watched the concert. But it adds to the atmosphere. I don't disagree at all. I just interpreted the OP question differently, and didn't consider the things you mentioned as things making the home game "special for the players" for the very reason you mentioned.
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Post by Coach.A on Feb 10, 2019 20:00:14 GMT -6
A simple one we did that got positive feedback was Family Appreciation Night. Players gave their away jersey to their fathers to wear. Before the game, each player gave their mother a rose and a hug. We played "We Are Family" over the sound system while this happened. We got some great photos and the mothers loved it!
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Post by KYCoach2331 on Feb 10, 2019 20:03:16 GMT -6
The OP asked how to make it special for the players, you specifically leave the players out of it completely. I don't think those go together. All those things contributed to more people coming to our games. The more people come the better the environment and the more special it was for the players. Other than winning and having a great environment to play in, I’m not sure what else you can do to make it special.
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Post by canesfan on Feb 10, 2019 20:13:24 GMT -6
Players don’t focus on the external. Heck they aren’t even present for a lot of it. Not like they watched the concert. But it adds to the atmosphere. I don't disagree at all. I just interpreted the OP question differently, and didn't consider the things you mentioned as things making the home game "special for the players" for the very reason you mentioned. He mentioned recruiting kids to want to come out as well. That’s why my mind went to what it did. As a kid in the stands I’m thinking that they might feel it’s pretty cool to be one of the players on our Friday nights. If it ever got to the point where it was a distraction for us we’d stop immediately.
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Post by 42falcon on Feb 10, 2019 20:34:20 GMT -6
I really like this thread because I think it hints at what makes our game special.
-I couldn't agree more getting big crowds / people at games is a big deal and in the long run will benefit your program by helping to recruit kids
Things we have done: -we did a welcome back BBQ a few years back and it was a hit drew a huge crowd -we always talk to our kids about getting the word out getting the crowd out with their friends -we have run a fan bus to some of our games that was good for us -last year we had a tragedy as we lost one of our players in a car accident the next home game we had food brought into our auxiliary gym which is attached to our team room. After the game the players, their friends and family all joined us in that space. We are school that is 8 years old so we talk a lot about creating and crafting our tradition. One of the things that came out of that night was that after all our home games we need to do that. Invite the community into the team.
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Post by hawksrule on Feb 11, 2019 11:31:18 GMT -6
I don't disagree at all. I just interpreted the OP question differently, and didn't consider the things you mentioned as things making the home game "special for the players" for the very reason you mentioned. He mentioned recruiting kids to want to come out as well. That’s why my mind went to what it did. As a kid in the stands I’m thinking that they might feel it’s pretty cool to be one of the players on our Friday nights. If it ever got to the point where it was a distraction for us we’d stop immediately. So most of what we could think of on our 3 hour drive home was stuff to add to the atmosphere and get more fans to games or at least get the fans there more engaged in the game. We aren't sure that makes a huge difference to the kids on the field but one of my favorite memories of playing HS football was a playoff game where the stands were packed and people were standing around the entire field. The sound of the crowd definitely made the game feel special and memorable so I guess those things do have an effect on the players.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 11, 2019 11:45:38 GMT -6
I like this idea... and think it definitely has some merit to it... Anyone do give aways???
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Post by canesfan on Feb 11, 2019 11:55:25 GMT -6
I like this idea... and think it definitely has some merit to it... Anyone do give aways??? We do giveaways. Contests. Anything and everything. If we think it could make money for our team and not negatively impact our program we do it. This year we’ll even give away shirts in between quarter/timeouts.
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Post by canesfan on Feb 11, 2019 11:57:33 GMT -6
He mentioned recruiting kids to want to come out as well. That’s why my mind went to what it did. As a kid in the stands I’m thinking that they might feel it’s pretty cool to be one of the players on our Friday nights. If it ever got to the point where it was a distraction for us we’d stop immediately. So most of what we could think of on our 3 hour drive home was stuff to add to the atmosphere and get more fans to games or at least get the fans there more engaged in the game. We aren't sure that makes a huge difference to the kids on the field but one of my favorite memories of playing HS football was a playoff game where the stands were packed and people were standing around the entire field. The sound of the crowd definitely made the game feel special and memorable so I guess those things do have an effect on the players. I think it helps kids more than you’d think. Our upset over the district favorite was a fun night. Would have been fun either way but our crowd atmosphere allowed our kids to really have fun.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2019 12:05:46 GMT -6
Our offensive staff just got done with the Minneapolis Glazier Clinic and one of the coaches attended a session about improving participation in your football program. An idea was to really make home games special and something the kids will remember. We aren't exactly sure how to do this so I thought I would ask if anyone does anything unique to make home games special for the players? Work with them to come up with traditions to institute. Pull your rising seniors together to come up with cool ideas. Have them come up with some kind of special pre-game ritual or entrance. You can look up things that colleges with a lot of tradition do and see what you can steal. See if you can come up with something for them to do during the school day, too. One school I've heard of has their kids come down the steps on the home side of the bleachers and high five fans on their way down while parents and fans in big diesel trucks rev their engines on a hill overlooking the stadium. Another coach I know has stolen Gen. Neyland's "7 Maxims of Football" and has his kids recite that in the locker room together before coming out, then they do a knock-off "Vol walk" down a path lined with elementary school kids cheering them on as they walk to the field. My college alma mater used to play in a dome. For the player entrance, they'd cut the lights and blast Enter Sandman as the players ran put into a dark stadium with a strobe light and a smoke machine. I think VT actually stole theirs from us. Not sure if a typical HS stadium lights would cooperate with that, though.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Feb 11, 2019 13:10:59 GMT -6
I'm in agreement with the "get a big crowd" and it will make it special for the players. Many years back I was a middle school coach for a Jr/Sr high school and I ran the endzone cam for the varsity games. The school did a good job by pumping up the games during the week to the entire student body. At the games they would have goofy halftime games that students would participate in on the field, they had a teacher Gong Show, they had a T-shirt cannon, etc. It was nuts how many kids they got there. I remember one game in particular where we were locked in a dogfight and the crowd was going crazy. On the final play the opposing team was kicking a field goal to take the lead by 2. To this day I firmly believe that the kid hooked it because our crowd was such a distraction. When he missed the entire stands emptied onto the field. It was absolutely electric, better than any college or pro game I've ever been to. A few weeks ago I was at Home Depot and I bumped into one of the kids that played in that game - he was with his own son. Our conversation immediately went to that game and how fun it was.
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Post by vanden48 on Feb 12, 2019 16:32:00 GMT -6
You need to have an AD that is on board and excited and willing to help. If you take all this stuff on on your own you will be overwhelmed. I took over a very small school that had not had success or big crowds for years. Maybe 100 people at the games in the past. One of the things I noticed was that they never played music, had a horrible sound system, and did a minimal job painting the field.
I happened to be a DJ in college so I brought my sound system to the field and had pre-game music, very loud. Showed a kid how to run the equipment and gave him a script of when to play music (time outs, between quarters, half ect..). That was a huge upgrade. For a couple of games I had a live band volunteer to play behind the endzone. They played the national anthem Jimmy Hendrix style on the guitar and we scored 70 points.
I made painting the field a community event. We painted the lines, hashes, HUGE numbers, had decorations, multiple colors. Players loved it, took pride in having a nice field, and made fun of the programs that were too lazy to paint numbers or hashes.
Got as much food there as possible.
And we won. Crowds went to 500-700. In a town of 1200.
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Post by CoachPut on Feb 12, 2019 20:52:41 GMT -6
There was a raffle every week and at the end of the 3rd Q a fan got to kick a 35 yd FG for a free two year lease on a car from a dealership in town. Only 1 out of 5 was successful (the kicker from 4 years prior). Was a nice fundraiser for our booster program
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Post by Down 'n Out on Feb 13, 2019 7:53:50 GMT -6
I was coaching Middle school a couple of years ago and the local college football team (DII school) came to a game. Every week they did a team building event(go to the movies, play paintball, whatever) and that week they chose to come watch one of our players play (he was their HCs son and they all knew him). Were a smaller school in a rural area, their football team was about 85% urban kids so a very different vibe than what our kids are used to. They were loud and energetic the entire game, which really changed the atmosphere for us. We sold it to our kids as "a college team is here to watch you, so lets put on a show", and for them it was a fun, ridiculous night out.
Not something that can be done every game but maybe 1 game a season.
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