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Post by coachdoug on Aug 29, 2012 7:08:41 GMT -6
I'm not sure I really see a significant difference b/w the USA Football method and the PW method. In fact, until this year, PW used USA Football for it's coaching certification courses. I took the course under USA Football in the past and PW's own course this year and thought they taught tackling the same.
I don't think the method is particularly difficult to execute - at least not moreso than any other method. One of the whole points of the method is to buzz the feet and break down into what they call hit position before contact so you're not running full speed at contact - sometimes easier said than done. When you shoot the hands and fire the hips forward, it is a natural physiological reaction for the head to stay up and back. In contrast, when you try to "wrap" the natural physiological response is for the hips to stay back and the head to go down.
This video is the best I've seen on how to properly teach this type of tackling:
I think this video does a much better job of explaining the technique and why it is mechanically superior and safer. I think you'll also get a much better sense how it can be executed at full speed.
I also like to use the terminology "bite the ball" - I think it embodies in a quick sound bite all the ideas of keeping the head up, getting low pad level, seeing what you hit, coming under control, etc, etc, but Pop Warner (or at least our league - I'm not sure if this is a local rule or naitonal) has outlawed the use of that term as they feel it promotes leading with the head.
I do think it's somewhat comical that such a big deal is made out of the PW certification training. As anyone who has taken the course can tell you, it is full of errors. While the section on tackling is actually pretty good, an awful lot of what else is in the course is just wrong. Improper technique in some cases, opinions presented as facts in others, and in some cases factual information that is simply incorrect. For instance, in the section on rules, they made factual errors about the rules in almost every rule they discussed. Seriously, how do you get the rules wrong in a coaching certification course? But they did, and not just once, but on almost every rule they discussed. IMHO opinion, the course has nothing to do with actual safety or promoting better coaching - I believe PW requires the course for 2 reasons - to protect themselves from lawsuits (hey, we make the coaches take this course that promotes proper technique, it's not our fault if they go out and teach something different), and to make more money off the coaches (the course cost about $20 and tens of thousands of coaches nationwide are required to take it every year - you can do the math). Honestly, the course is a joke.
Finally, to answer coachseth's question, yes PW has age and weight limits in most of its divisions. Mitey Mite, Jr. Pee Wee, Pee Wee, Jr. Midget, and Midget all have weight limits (I'm not sure about older divisions like Bantam). There is one division call "Unlimited" that does not have an upper weight limit, but does have a lower weight limit (105 lbs), for ages 11-14. That is actually the division I'm coaching in this year.
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Post by coachdoug on Aug 27, 2012 14:16:16 GMT -6
While I suppose that is theoretically possible, I've never experienced any coach having a misunderstanding over his title, nor I have I ever heard of any other coach having any problem of that sort. For sure, coaches have had problems when they've been promised certain responsibillites and then had them taken away or never really got them in the first place - as far as I can tell, that's what happened to dduck13 here. There was no confusion (at least not that I can see) over what the term coordinator meant in this case nor I have I ever seen that be source of any hard feelings - and that's in nearly 20 years of coaching and conversations with 1000s of coaches.
There are simply hundreds, in not thousands of things higher on the priority list to make an issue of before something like this would need to be addressed.
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Post by coachdoug on Aug 27, 2012 1:46:33 GMT -6
4 coaches, 21 players. Every coach has an assignment on offense and defense, the coordinators are responsible for calling all the plays on their side of the ball (the lone exception being the line coach). OK, but other than during a game, do you really have a job justifying that title? I'm guessing you practice offense or defense all at once -- although you have almost enough for full platoons, and if you do practice the offense & defense independently then the justification for that title would be even less, there being basically a boss and a single assistant at each station. So if you're practicing all 21 together, it's with 4 coaches, one of whom happens to be head of the team. On my team, with 3 coaches total, one of them has primary charge of offense, and another the defense, but I wouldn't say they're coordinators, because it's just one practice session at a time, nothing really to coordinate unless you count arranging whatever drill we're doing -- and I just call that coaching! It's dduck13's team, with 8 coaches, that could possibly use coordinators who would justify that title. But what I see there is that the HC has given him nothing to do during games. Bob, the things you decide to get your panties in a wad over just defies all logic. Honestly, who gives a flying {censored} what titles any staff gives their coaches?? Hell, you could call him the Executive Vice-President of Defensive Operations and what difference would it make? You've made some pretty inane comments in this space in the past and I've learned to generally just ignore it, but this has to be near the top of the list of just stupid things to make an issue about. There is no universal dictionary of football terminology. Telling other coaches they're wrong because they use terms differently than you do is simply wrong itself. Any term (including ones that seem to get your tit in a wringer like coordinator or tight end or center, etc, etc) can mean whatever any coach wants them to mean. Sheesh, get over yourself already.
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Post by coachdoug on Aug 23, 2012 13:20:10 GMT -6
Hindberg: I went through some crap like this a couple years ago when I got run off a team in Tucson because they didn't think a dynamic warmup was "safe" and insisted I do a full 20 minutes or so of static stretching. It's unbelievable how descructive ignorant people with a little power can be. You can read all about my experience in this thread: www.coachhuey.com/index.cgi?board=generalyouth&action=display&thread=40109Maybe that will give you some ideas for how to best deal with your situation. Good luck - my heart goes out to you.
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Post by coachdoug on Jul 13, 2012 17:50:17 GMT -6
We're working with this group: www.reachingourgoal.orgI really like to the concept - nothing to sell, no inventory. You just ask the parents to provide email addresses of friends, relatives, business associates and anyone else that might make a donation to the program and they send them a nice email with a link to a nice webpage with pictures from your program and a description of what the money will be used for, then they can make a donation online with a credit card (or they can always mail a check). Simple, easy and clean. They company just takes a fee of a few dollars for each participant (and only after money has been raised, so there is zero chance of losing money). The percentages vary depending on how much gets raised, but they say that the fees typically end up being about 20% of the money raised. They say the average donation is about $60-$70 and for every 10 email addresses they average about $150 in donations (don't quote me on that - I'm going off my memory, but I think it was something pretty close to that). Not bad. So, if you have 20 girls and each provides 10 names, that should raise about $3,000 - less the fees (assume 20% or $600) leaves your program with $2,400. Good luck.
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Post by coachdoug on Jul 6, 2012 12:04:38 GMT -6
I tend to agree with coachbuck - I have been an association president in the past, and I think it's a little over the top for the board to dictate to the coaches how to do their jobs. Now, if you're Dave Cisar and you have the time and resources to fully train all the staffs (videos, books, clinics, one-on-one training, etc.), then perhaps you can pull it off, but for the vast majority of programs out there, the only thing you're going to accomplish by dictating the details of how to practice, is to drive away good coaches.
As coachbuck suggested, a good clinic for all your coaches where you demonstrate the preferred way to do certain things (like dynamic warmup), is probably the way to go. When you do that, you can let the coaches know that they can do things however they want, but they will be held accountable for results - if the team is not performing well and learning good fundamentals, the board has the right to reassign a coach from another staff and at that point dictate that certain parts of practice be done a certain way. We always did that and no coach ever objected to it in advance and we only had to actually move coaches to help out struggling staffs a couple of times.
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Post by coachdoug on Jun 13, 2012 22:36:20 GMT -6
coach doug, There is always one little bit of info that is left out, only one team per age group allowed in our league. Sorry about that bit of information being left out. There is another organization in our town that used to have 2 teams in their league, but the league went to one team per city after teams were "loading" one team. Yeah, I see more red flags going up - fixing the "loading" one team problem is relatively easy to do. A one team per program rule is just a lazy way of dealing with it. Having that along with a minimum play rule and no limits on roster size just makes no sense - I really get the sense that the administrators of your league are in over their heads. I really don't see how you can realistically manage more than 35 with your MPR rule, and about 25 would really be ideal. I don't know if you really have any options where you live, but if it were me, I would basically tell them they're going to limit the team to some number (no more than 35) or I wouldn't coach the team. If they called my bluff, I would walk. Having 50 kids on a team with a 5 play MPR is just ridiculous and recipe for disaster - you're setting the kids up to fail. In the long run, you'll probably end up losing more kids than if you put in a reasonable restriction on roster size up front. Good luck. Let us know what happens.
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Post by coachdoug on Jun 13, 2012 17:11:02 GMT -6
I am going to add my 2 cents. Current roster is at 47 going to be closer to 50 by the time of the first game. I coach 9-10 y.o. Minimum play is 5 per game, no special team plays count towards this total. Maximum number of coaches is 6. Season is 2 months away and I worry about this issue every day. The board thinks it is more important to give every kid a chance that wants to play, than it is to teach the kids that really want to be there. It is more than just a struggle not only to get the plays in, but keep the kids attention and be competitive. Any advice on play counts, where to "play" MPP's. Mr. Cisar, we talked briefly about this a couple of years ago at a clinic in Chicago and things have only gotten worse since. This years team is actually small in kid physical size too. Only 2 mandatory linemen in the whole group. Team full of Wideouts if you know what I mean. There is no reason those goals have to be mutually exclusive. If the board really wants to accommodate every kid that wants to play, they should also be able to recruit another coaching staff and create a second team for that age group. Practice field space shouldn't be an issue since you'll be dealing with the same number of kids anyway. Two teams of 25 makes a whole lot more sense than 1 unmanageable team of 50 - on many, many levels. Frankly, this is such an obvious solution that it is more than a little alarming that the board didn't already figure this out on their own. That is a warning sign that they don't know what they're doing - if they don't immediately see the value in starting a second team, I would seriously consider moving on to another program and/or league. I can't think of any reasonable excuse to not do this.
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Post by coachdoug on Jun 11, 2012 23:10:38 GMT -6
coachtwy - where in So Cal are you?
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Post by coachdoug on Apr 3, 2012 2:18:05 GMT -6
Forgive my lack of imagination, but I saw the discussion in the HS section and looked at the website, and I'm just not sure what the kids are going to do with the dog tags and how you use them as motivators. Do they wear them on a chain around their necks? Under their pads or just outside of practice and games? Or are you doing something else all together, like putting them on key chains? In our league (and most that I know of) kids aren't allowed to wear jewelry on the field, even under their pads.
How exactly do use them as motivators? I can envision several scenarios, but if any of y'all are using something like this effectively, I'm sure what you're doing is better than whatever I'd come up with on my own, so please share. I'm intrigued by this, so I may very well adopt it if someone can walk my feeble brain through the steps of implementation.
Again, I'm sorry you have to spell it out for me, but I'm curious to see what y'all are doing with this. Thanks.
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Post by coachdoug on Mar 30, 2012 10:18:19 GMT -6
I'm shocked to see that apparently I'm in the minority here, but we spend a lot more time on offense, especially in the preseason. We do start every practice with a tackling circuit and a team pursuit drill, and we coach up every drill equally on both sides of the ball, but as far as team offense and team defense where we are installing the scheme and repping assignments, it's probabaly at least 70/30 in favor of the offense. Once the season starts and we go to 3 practices per week, we do one day of offense, one day of defense and one day of special teams and offensive review. I suppose part of this is because I know my defense very well and I am very confident that I can install it and get the kids to understand and know their assignments very quickly, whereas the offense is infinitely more complex and takes a lot longer for the kids to understand and know their assignments (and how they changed based on various defensive looks).
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Post by coachdoug on Feb 28, 2012 9:22:17 GMT -6
I'm not sure you have to have such a difference between 7th and 8th grade - you can pretty much treat them the same. Maybe be a little more demanding of your 8th graders. The specifics of exactly what kind of blocking (zone, pulling, pass pro, screens, etc), coverage (man, C2, C3, etc), routes, etc depends a lot more on your scheme and what skills the players need to know to run that scheme than it does on their age. There is no reason kids a lot younger than 7th grade can't learn to pull, zone block, play man coverage, etc. In fact, man coverage (in my experience) is a lot easier to teach than zone, so if you do want to teach them in separate years, I would start with man.
In any event, there are a few things that jump out from your list. Number 1, you indicate that you're teaching "chop blocking" - I hope you meant "cut blocking" since a chop block is an illegal double team block that often results in serious injury to the defender. Run fits and filling is about as fundamental as defense gets - that should be taught at every age (down to about 5 anyway), so I certainly wouldn't wait a year to get that in. Same for no huddle, motion, and PAT/FG (I've seen teams as young as about 9 convert these consistently). Unless you're running air raid or run n shoot, I see no reason why you would need to use a choice route at the MS level - there is no harm in it if you can coach it and it fits in your scheme, but I certainly wouldn't make it a priority. Same for the swim move and zone blitz. Also, you mentioned option reads - are you planning on running a lot of option? Option is kind of an all or nothing proposition - I wouldn't recommend doing it at all unless it's going to be a big part of your offense - it just takes too many reps to be worthwhile otherwise.
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Post by coachdoug on Feb 15, 2012 19:37:22 GMT -6
I find it interesting that a number of HS coaches have jumped into this discussion to express their opinion that it is appropriate for youth programs to mirror the schemes of their local HS. Now, as I've said before, if we're talking about a Middle School or Jr. High School that is part of the same school system as the HS and sends the vast majority of its kids to that HS, then, sure, of course it makes sense for that younger school to mirror the local HS (they're part of the same overall program after all). As I also said, if we're talking about a typical youth program that operates within geographic boundaries that are probably very different from the HS's boundaries, and probably sends kids to multiple HS's, then that is a very different situation. In my experience (and from what I've learned talking with 100s of coaches across the country), the latter is the far more common scenario, and the remainder of my comments apply ONLY to that scenario.
So, to those HS coaches that have said that you feel youth programs should run your schemes, let me share with you how I (and most youth coaches I know) feel about it. If you feel it is important for YOUR program to have our players learn your scheme while they are still with us, then show us that you value us and that our program is important to you. If you simply say that it's our responsibility to prepare our kids for the next level and we should automatically just run your schemes because it's the right thing to do, well, that attitude isn't going to get you very far. Basically, that is about as valid as the closest college or JC suggesting that you use their schemes for the same reason. However, if you realize that serving your interests isn't necessarily part of our mission and we're only likely to do so if you earn that privelege, then you'll do the things that will make the youth program want to cooperate with you. Things like holding coaching clinics for the youth coaches, making videos and other clinic materials available, allowing use of practice facilities and game fields (including scoreboard, P.A., and lights), providing financial assistance, holding youth nights at select varsity games (i.e. inviting youth teams into the pregame locker room, providing free admission, etc), making equipment (blocking sleds, chutes, ropes, ladders, etc) available, holding summer camps for players, etc, etc.
If you show a commitment to the youth program, the youth program will typically bend over backwards to try to accommodate you, but if you approach the youth program with an arrogant attitude that the youth program has an obligation to do want you want, well, you're probably going to get exactly what you deserve. JMHO.
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Post by coachdoug on Feb 9, 2012 9:18:48 GMT -6
How about recreation teams with no official school affiliation, with kids from two or three elementary schools that all feed to one high school? To me, they should be running the high school system, just like the middle school. I completely disagree with this statement, at least as it is stated. It is possible that it would make sense for a youth team to run the HS's schemes in this scenario, but it's not a given, and frankly it's not even likely. The idea that just because the majority (or even all) of the kids will be going to the same high school, they should automatically run that HS's systems is misguided. Especially if the kids are younger, it is extemely unlikely that the HS will be running the same schemes when those players reach varsity in 8-10 years, and there is a pretty strong likelihood that the varsity coaching staff will be completely different by then. Even if they are in the 7th or 8th grade, it's probably no better than 50/50 that the same coaches and schemes will be in place when they reach varsity. If the HS is running schemes that just aren't appropriate for youth (WCO, Pattern Reading C4, etc), then it makes even less sense. And statistics say that 70% of the youth players will never set foot on a varsity field. More importantly than all that, though, is that you have to understand that a non-school affiliated youth program and a HS program (as well as it's affiliated MS program) have vastly different missions. The HS program (including all its subvarsity teams) exists to promote the HS, to win games on Friday nights, help kids get to college, to teach the players whatever skills their coaches determine they want to focus on, etc, etc. A non-school-affiliated youth program exists to provide a fun experience for kids, teach them a little about the game, and teach the kids whatever skills their administration determines they want to emphasize. Those missions are not necessarily (or even likely to be) congruent. Now, if the HS reaches out to the youth program and offers help in various ways (facilities, financially, equipment, training coaches, coaching videos, camps, clinics, etc), then they have earned the right to have some input into how the youth program is run. But if they haven't done those things and they expect the youth program to take any direction from them, well, that's just arrogant.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 31, 2012 12:40:38 GMT -6
I agree completely with coachbigbri and jrk5150 and would add the following. Make sure you keep it fun and focus on fundamentals. If the kids are learning some skills and having a good time, they will keep coming back and develop a love for the game. If you make them miserable with hard core conditioning or drills to "develop toughness" you'll lose them to soccer or basketball or baseball or whatever. Having said that, it's no fun to lose badly, so don't think I'm saying don't enforce any discpline at practice, either (that's actually worse than overdoing it). If you practice at a high pace, minimize standing around time (multiple stations with high reps and short lines), make drills competitive, and coach "on the run," the kids will learn a lot, develop good skills and fundies, and end up having a great time in the process.
If, OTOH, you have two kids doing a drill while 30 stand in line watching and then the coaches stop after every rep to lecture their "coaching points" and the coaches do a lot of yelling but not a lot of teaching, and the drills are not competitive (i.e. hitting bags all the time instead of head-to-head with a winner and loser for each rep), then the kids are going to get bored and not have fun, and you're probably not going to be very successful. (BTW, I'm not implying that you would do any of these things - as an experienced HS coach, I'm sure you already know all that, but I wanted to make the point for any new youth coaches that may be reading this.)
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 27, 2012 13:06:16 GMT -6
the 46 is an NFL version of the 10-1/Special. If you watched the Chicago Bears they will get in a straight 10-1 some (did it alot in their SB run in 05 or 06) Head Coach Lovie Smith the same guy that got upset in 1974 or so playing against the 10-1 when he was at Big Sandy. If you go to the general defensive thread there is a long discussion about the 10-1 scheme. Are you referring to this thread: coachhuey.com/index.cgi?board=gendefense&action=display&thread=36109&page=1? Goodness, man, that's a 14-page, 400+ reply thread!! I don't have time to read all that right now, but I saw enough on the first page to get that 10-1 is a misnomer - there are 9 diagrams of the alignment on the first page, and only one shows 10 defenders on the LOS. And in the 10-1 special that is suggested as an adjustment to spread alignments, it looks like you absolutely could trap the 4is. I also see that Celina HS in Texas is one of the schools that runs this scheme - are you affiliated with that school or did you choose that username because you're a fan of the defense? Certainly G.A. Moore is a legend and I am thrilled at the opportunity to learn about his scheme. I'll try to go back and read more of that thread later. Perhaps as someone who seems to be very familiar with this scheme, you could give us a short summary here rather than forcing everyone to go spend hours digging through that enormous thread.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 27, 2012 12:59:14 GMT -6
GAM? is that for G.A.Moore?? Never in the 10-1 do you teach kids to "box" that just widens the running lane and allows for a clean kick out. We teach em to take blocks on with their inside shoulder keeping their outside free but never box at all. Never ever box. No, it's Gap Air Mirror - a youth specific defense designed by John Reed. It is not sound for exactly the reason you brought up - the boxing ends open up the off-tackle area, which can be further exploited with a nasty-split TE, amongst other things.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 27, 2012 0:31:19 GMT -6
By technical definition ... I get what you're saying, but you should probably be a little more careful about making statements like that. As I'm sure you're aware, there is no such thing as a "technical defintion" of any scheme-related football terminology (there are technical definitions of rule-related terminology, though). Scheme-related terms mean whatever the coach decides they mean for his team. In fact, it's enough of a cliche around here that making the statement that "there's no universal terminology in football" will get you blasted for restating the obvious for the millionth time.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 26, 2012 13:53:29 GMT -6
The 10-1 is a solid youth defense. Like coachdoug said it's a man press not bump and run. Bump and run is not the same as trying keep the receivers from getting off the line. If the defense is playing the 10-1 correctly and trained on their responsibilities, the inside trap will be stopped. Too often though, at the youth level teams are playing a particular defense and they have kids out of position or they don't know all of their responsibilities. A quick synopsis of the 10-1 defense.........it has defensive lineman in the A and B gaps, defensive ends in contain outside, cornerbacks and outside linebackers in man coverage, and a free safety or middle linebacker in zone coverage. The key on pass plays is that the zone coverage guy is able to read the QB and know where the ball is going to be thrown. This defense is good for stopping slants and short passes. Deeper passes could be more of a problem if the receiver gets off the line pretty cleanly. But at the younger youth levels you don't have a lot of QB's that can throw the deep pass. Okay, now I'm really confused. celina seemed to be saying that it's a version of the Bear 46, but what you're describing sounds like GAM. Yeah, it could be difficult to inside trap either of those, but I'm not sure why you can't do an outside trap on the next DL either on or outside the TE. I guess if you're out that far, you wouldn't normally call it trap, but I think we all know the GAM is susceptible having the DE kicked out and running off-tackle.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 26, 2012 12:09:42 GMT -6
I completely agree with the comment about playing press man - if the other team has better athletes, that's when you HAVE to play press, so they can't get off the line and use that superior athleticsm. If you have better athletes, then you can play off and use your superior athleticism to make plays. Most coaches get this completely backwards.
I have no idea why you can't trap a 10-1. I am not particularly familiar with this scheme, but it would seem to me that it would be best suited to youth, so I'm not sure why you would say it "even" is effective at the youth level. I would expect it to become less effective as players get older. To wit, I've never seen it run at the NFL level, so I guess your claim that "it wins at all levels" is not exactly accurate.
In any event, I'm sure I'm not the only guy here who is unfamiliar with the details of this defense. Why don't you enlighten us with the details of how it is run (alignments, gap responsibilities, run fits, coverage responsibilities, force responsibility, inside out pursuit responsibility, alley responsibility, gadget responsibility, boot/counter/reverse responsibility, blitzes/stunts, and typical adjustments), and why it is so effective. Thanks in advance - I always love to learn new things.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 23, 2012 11:55:20 GMT -6
Again, there is an important distinction that needs to be made to determine if running the HS systems makes any sense. If you are a MS coach, meaning your players primarily go to one HS within a year or two, and you're employed by the school district, then you are effectively part of the same system as the high school and it makes sense to take direction from the varsity HS coach.
However, if you are an independent youth coach (as I believe the vast majority of youth coaches here are), especially with younger players, and you are a volunteer in a program that has no formal or financial ties to any school district or specific HS, then running the HS program's schemes makes about as much sense as the HS running the local college's schemes.
The two scenarios are just completely different situations - in one case it makes perfect to run the HS schemes, and in the other case it makes absolutely no sense at all.
Having said that, regardless of the situation, in my experience the best and most successful HS coaches don't care what schemes the players learn in youth ball - all they care about is that the kids learn good fundamentals and have a love for the game, because if they get turned off football and don't play at all in HS, then what scheme they ran makes no difference at all. If they can have a lot of players come out for the HS team, and they have a good base of fundamentals, any decent coach can teach them a scheme very quickly.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 20, 2012 9:26:40 GMT -6
As a MS coach, you're there to help build the groundwork of the program and feed it with talent ready to play. It only makes sense to run a version of the Varsity system. Yes, if you are a MS coach that directly feeds one HS, then you really are part of their system and what you're saying makes sense. However, a lot of us (most of us, perhaps) here are youth coaches in AYF, Pop Warner, or some independent youth or rec league that isn't affiliated with any particular school. My teams from my old program sent kids to at least 20 different high schools over the years. I'm not even sure where all the players on my team from this past season are going to HS next year, but I know it includes at least 7 different high schools. It also sounds like you've had a lot of stability at your high school - very little turnover in coaches and very little change in scheme. That's pretty uncommon - in most places the average tenure of a HS head coach is probably about 5 yrs (certainly less than 10), and coordinators (and thus schemes) change even more often. So, given that, for most of us trying to emulate any particular high school's program/scheme makes little sense. If I'm coaching 7th graders, how do I even pick which HS to emulate? I could probably choose from 10-12 schools that players are likely to end up at - maybe that's helpful for the handful of kids that go to whichever school I pick, but doesn't do anything special for all the other kids on the team. Of course, there is no guarantee that the HS will even still be using that scheme when those players reach varsity in 3-4 years (in fact, there is a good likelihood that they will be running something different by then). When we start talking about coaching 3rd or 4th graders then it becomes even more absurd to worry about what the locals high schools are doing - with kids that young, the population of potential high school destinations is even larger, and it's almost a certainty that the high school will be running something different by the time those kids reach the varsity level in 6-8 years.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 15, 2012 11:44:30 GMT -6
Tut - I think you're on the right track. We always provide the parents with a number of handouts at signups and go over each one with them so they know exactly what they're signing up for and exactly what our policies are. Some items, like the code of conduct and our refund policy and our snack bar agreement, we have them sign a copy for our records, but most (like the calendar of events, practice schedule, certification checklist, equipment checklist, program philosophy/mission, education awards program, fundraising info, yearbook advertising info, etc) we simply review it with them verbally and have them take the handout.
Other things we've handed out at signups include: schedule of fees, age & weight chart, physical exam form, list of volunteers needed (with job descriptions), and a merchandise order form.
I agree that it is important to give them this info as early as possible and to set the tone for your expectations as they sign up - it helps prevent a lot of problems later.
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Post by coachdoug on Jan 10, 2012 15:29:25 GMT -6
Unfortunately, coach, there is no one approach that will work in all situations - every coach is an individual and how to best approach him will have lot more to do with that individual's personality than the fact that he's a youth football coach.
For instance, if your kid was on my team and you introduced yourself to me and mentioned that you had been coaching at the local HS for some time, probably the first words out of my mouth would be, "Hey, I know you've got a heavy schedule with the HS and all, but if you can spare some time, I'd love to have you help out with our team - if you can coach with us great, if not, maybe you can just help me coach some of the newer coaches and bring them up to speed on current techniques and such. Maybe share some of your best drills and techniques with us ... what do you say?" Other coaches, however, will feel threatened and immediately get their backs up as soon as they realize you know more than they do.
Having said that, there are a few things you can do that will increase your likelihood of success if you get a difficult guy. First of all, don't criticize - if you start off the conversation with "Hey coach, I coach at the HS and I couldn't help but notice that you're doing everything wrong. Man, no one's taught tackling that way since the 80s and the blocking technique you're using is from the 60s! Why don't you let me help you and show your coaches how it's done," well, don't expect a very friendly reception (obviously I'm exaggerating for effect, but hopefully you get the point).
Secondly, offer yourself as a resource rather than a savior. Most youth coaches have substantial egos (they’re not doing it for money, so in a lot of cases they’re either coaching to promote their own kid or to feed their ego – not all, a lot of us coach because we love the game and we want to help young boys grow into men, but be aware that plenty of daddyballers are out there), so they are not going to respond well to being told that they need help. But, if you let them know that you can help them reach their goals and make them look good, that will appeal more to that type of coach. Be sure to make it clear that you’re not looking for credit – you can help the coach and then he’ll look like a genius. Third, if you know you’re dealing with a daddyballer, do a little homework and find out a little about his background. A lot of daddyballer coaches have had some success in business or some other area of their life, so their ego tells them, “Hey, you’ve made millions in real estate/biotech/internet/sales/etc, how hard can it be to get a bunch of kids to execute some simple plays?” If you know a little about him, you can appeal to his ego a bit when you talk to him. For instance, “Hey coach, I know you’re a successful sales manager at XYZ Company – I’m really glad to see you out here – I’m sure your professional experience will really help you out here. As I’m sure you know, being organized and having a well thought out plan are keys to any endeavor, whether it’s business or coaching sports. Just as you’ve done well at XYZ Company, I’ve had a pretty good career coaching football here at Central HS, so I have a ton of resources that can really help you and the team. We have practice plans, game plan sheets, stat software, video software, a gazillion coaching videos, etc that I can share with you. If you have some time why don’t we get together over a cup of coffee, or shoot, just come down to my office at the HS and I’ll show you everything we use. It could really give you a leg up on all the teams you’ll be coaching against. You got your calendar handy? I can meet with you tomorrow at 10:15 or Thurs at 1:30 – which one is better for you?”
If you get some pushback, you can appeal to his business success - "Hey, at your job do you ever get frustrated that new hires want to do everything their own way and not follow the advice of guys like you that have already had success? And don't the guys that follow your advice/coaching the closest have the most success? It's the same way in coaching - on our staff at the high school the young guys on our staff that are coachable themselves and follow the HC's program the closest end up doing the best. So, as a new/inexperienced coach yourself, don't you think the same process would apply? I have a track record of doing this successfully - why don't you let me help you? Look, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, and I certainly don't want to run this team or take any credit for its success - I just want to help you and help the team, which in turn will help my kids. You know what I'm saying works in your business, so don't you think it will work the same way for you with regard to coaching? Let me be a resource for you."
Well, those ideas will increase your chances of having a productive conversation with the coach, but just be prepared that some guys are so insecure that they are terrified of talking with anyone that can recognize that they don’t know what they’re doing, and those guys are never going to let you anywhere near their team or their staff. Hopefully those types are becoming more rare, and you won’t find that on your team, but unless you decide to volunteer to coach the team yourself, it’s going to be the luck of the draw.
Good luck to you, coach. Let us know how it goes.
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Post by coachdoug on Dec 20, 2011 13:39:37 GMT -6
I get the idea of not letting a kid handle the ball if he has a bad attitude, but I agree with matty and others - the O-Line should be a unit with a lot of pride, not a sad place to put weak players or punish anyone. We go to great lengths to build up the O-Line as the most important unit on the team and instill a lot of pride in that unit. We want everyone on the team to want to play on the O-Line, or at least hold the players that are on the line in the highest of esteem.
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Post by coachdoug on Nov 9, 2011 0:15:38 GMT -6
that you won't discuss playing time or positions with them, other than to explain on a macro level how decisions are made and what the rules & policies of the league/program/ and team are. I will also tell a parent what a kid needs to do to improve if he wants a shot at a particular position next year. I understand why you have this rule. But I'm not sure this is the right way to go about things. Not sure it's not, either, LOL. I'm just thinking that you should be willing to discuss anything you do or decision you make when it impacts their kid. The problem is that it's a difficult conversation, and I fully understand WHY you would want to avoid it. Just playing Devil's Advocate, really. You should have a valid reason for every decision you make, that doesn't include favoritism, that is based on tangible standards that should be able to be communicated to the parent. Doesn't mean you debate it with them, but I can certainly argue that they deserve a reason. You can certainly have a rule that you won't discuss other kids, so no getting into "my Little Jimmy is better than Petey so why is Petey playing while Jimmy isn't" - THAT one, I shut down NOW. Or you can certainly shut off parents who are rude about it. But this is their kid, don't they have the right to know why you do what you do? Do you think others that are put in charge of their child should be able to make decisions like that free and clear of discussion? Would you accept that type of rule from your kid's teacher? I won't discuss how I grade your child? Granted - they are paid to teach, you are not. But they aren't paid to discuss stuff with parents, they're paid to teach your kid. Like I said - just playing Devil's Advocate. I understand why you would have that rule. I understand the potential for headaches trying to have those discussions. Just not sure that shouldn't be part of the deal. I don't know. Honestly, most coaches I talk to have that rule. About the only one I can think of that doesn't is Dave Potter, he will talk about whatever a parent wants to talk about. But he's a unique guy, LOL. This is actually a very interesting question you pose, and, believe it or not, I completely agree with you. If you read what I wrote, you'll see that I didn't say that I have these rules, but rather these are rules that I suggest for most new coaches. Like you, most coaches I know have these rules and they seem to work well for most of them, so I generally suggest them to other coaches, especially newer guys who may not be as comfortable dealing with parents. I actually have none of these rules myself - I will talk with anyone any time about anything, including to explain to a critical, irate parent my decisions immediately following a tough loss. I pride myself on my diplomatic skills and my ability to calm down emotional parents/fans and get them to understand what we were trying to do in a reasonable manner. I have no problem explaining to a parent why his or her kid isn't playing the position they want or the amount they want. When a particularly irate comes up to me screaming or yelling about whatever (after I’ve moved them away from the kids) I’ll generally just let them go without interrupting until they’re done. I will ignore most of what they say and not take anything personally, but I will listen for any substantive complaints/criticisms/questions and make a note of them so I can be sure to address them later. I will then ask them if they are done and wait for a yes answer before I respond (or ask them to finish before I respond in any way). Then, I will explain to the person which issues they just brought up that I will respond to immediately, which issues I will respond to later (typically because I’ll have to do some investigating and fact finding first), which issues should be addressed to someone else and who that is, and which issues cannot or will not be addressed (complaints about officiating or personal insults, etc). I will get an agreement on that before I proceed. If the person tries to interrupt me to argue while I’m addressing the issues, I will calmly and politely remind him or her that I let them say everything they wanted to say without interrupting and made sure they were finished before I said anything, and then I will ask for the same courtesy. Most of the time, this works pretty well and has usually resulting in the upset person really appreciating the fact that I let them say everything they wanted to say and heard them out. In most cases (not all, but most), they actually apologize to me later for their behavior and their initial attitude. One of the things that is particularly effective with a parent that is just complaining to complain and isn’t responding to what I’ve told him or her is to simply ask what they want. That usually comes out something like this, “Okay, Mr. Dad, I’ve heard your concern and I’ve explained why I did what I did. I get that you’re still not happy – what exactly would you like me to do?” If the answer is “Nothing, I just wanted to let you know I think it stinks,” then I politely end the conversation by telling him that his complaint has been duly noted. If he has a specific request, then I’ll either grant it or explain why I can’t grant it, and, if possible, I’ll offer a counter proposal. The important thing is to get the non-productive complaining to stop and focus on solutions. Having said all that, if a parent comes to me immediately after a practice or game with a heavy dose of attitude and gets in my face and says something like, "I wanna know why little Johnny isn't playing running back and getting most of the carries - he's obviously your best athlete," I'll reply with something like this, "Okay, Mr. Johnny Sr., you need to settle down a little bit and I'll be happy to discuss this with you. Can you do that?" Then I'll wait for agreement both verbally and in demeanor. Only then will I continue, "Look, if you want to know how the decisions were made about what position your son is playing, or if you would like to know what little Johnny needs to do to improve if he wants to play a different position or get more playing time, I'll be happy to do either or both of those things for you. If, however, you simply want to complain and argue with me about little Johnny's current situation, I have absolutely no interest in doing that. Are you okay with that and do you promise to keep this conversation to the former and avoid the latter?" Again, I will wait for agreement before proceeding. At that point it's usually a pretty easy conversation. Ultimately, I agree with your point about the parents deserving an explaining for any decision a coach makes. I really do try to put myself in the parent’s shoes and think about what I would want and expect from a coach that my child plays for.
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Post by coachdoug on Nov 8, 2011 12:59:07 GMT -6
Joe:
I know what you had to deal with this year and you've done phenomenal job. For those of you who don't know, the JH Joe took over was winless last year and over scored about 30 points all season. Joe was told he would lucky if he won a single game and should get coach of the year honors if he won two. Well, his team went 7-0 and won their local championship. I'm thinking they should be hiring a sculptor right about now for a statue of Joe to go outside their field, LOL.
The varsity OC position has been a real challenge as well, as Joe alluded to. When Joe first got there, he got a lot of pushback from the other coaches on the staff - stuff like "these kids can't do that" or "that'll never work here." Anyway, after about 2 games when the other coaches saw that Joe's stuff was working, they finally came around and got on board with what he was trying to do. They have set several school records for offense this year despite having such a small squad. Joe didn't mention it, but his JH QB was better than the varsity QB he's had to work this year, so throwing the ball really wasn't an option.
Of course, Joe does have a few phenomenal athletes across the JH & HS to work with - all from the same family, which you would instantly recognize, but I'll leave it up to Joe if he want to share that on the board.
Anyway, Joe is a little too modest sometimes, so I thought I would fill in some of the blanks on what an incredible season he's had this year.
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Post by coachdoug on Nov 7, 2011 14:00:41 GMT -6
While I agree that you should continuing doing what you do, you should also do some extra homework with regard to self scouting. Put yourself in your opponent's shoes and prepare a game plan against yourself as if you were coaching your opponent. This should give you a pretty good idea of what they are likely to do against you. Then, make sure you have answers for whatever they throw at you. I remember a few years back, a team in my organization went 11-0 through the regular season and playoffs up to the championship game. They were playing a team that they beat 16-6 during the regular season. I asked the coach if was making any adjustments or putting anything special in for the championship game and he said no, they were just going to stick with what had been working for them. Well, they got smoked 20-0 in the championship, and I remember watching the game thinking that there were a few obvious adjustments that could have been made on the fly, but certainly should have been addressed beforehand during practice. Anyway, I guess my point is that you should stick to what you do, but don't be arrogant about it - self scout and make sure you have some adjustments ready for what your opponent is likely to do. I love this idea. as a matter a fact I just started doing this myself. ii play the season by halves since we play every team twice in 10 games. my goal at worse is 4-1 so we can boarderline clinch playoffs. and the second half i add new things, but let me ask would you change blocking assingments and if so how. for instance we run double wing with no pulling and i would like to put it in to pull some plays but in the midst of the game i dont want to forget and that be the cause of lost yardage. Well, the youngest tackle group I've coached ws 8-10, so you have a much better idea of what your 6-8s can handle than I do. I would think they could handle pulling, especially since that is so central to the DW scheme. Without know a lot more about your team and schemes, it's tough to really say what I would do. In any event, I wasn't really talking about wholesale changes to your approach or scheme but simple adjustments to likely tactics by your opponent. As an example, let me tell you what happened to that team I mentioned earlier that lost their championship game after going 11-0. They had two main pass plays that they used - one was a fade by the wideout and the other was a smoke (zero yard hitch). The opponent's game plan was predictable. They had pretty good athletes so they played their CBs 10 yards off to protect against the fade and as soon as they saw the WR step back they flew up to make the tackle on the smoke. The obvioius adjustments (that were never made) were to put another receiver in motion (or simply line up in twins) to block on the smoke play, or to fake the smoke play and have the other receiver go deep. Or even just run a smoke/hitch and go with the one receiver. This team did none of those things, but just kept running the same plays over and over again with the same results. I hope that gives you a better idea of what I was talking about.
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Post by coachdoug on Nov 7, 2011 13:12:49 GMT -6
Congratulations coach, good job!!
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Post by coachdoug on Nov 7, 2011 12:45:47 GMT -6
We play in a league with no obls (older but lighters) Which i like it as apposed to other leagues. Now i understand the logic to get some of the smaller kids playing with kids their size but you can have some real monsters. Idk the actual limit on how many a team can have but 5 kids is enough to change the course of the game. What is your take on it. Also in our league we have to use maryland state ids for kids. not rec ids. These ids are obtained via the dmv which i also like. Rec ids can be lied on and you can take myself back at 19 n just say im 15 n can lay. What is your take on ids also? I hate older/lighters (generally abbreviated here as O/Ls), but I am currently coaching in a Pop Warner league so I'm stuck with it for the time being. In my old league up in L.A. (which was AYF) we got so sick of the O/L crap that we eliminated it for a number of years (most of the 2000s) even though it hurt us in regional competitions against other AYF leagues. It was so much better without them. The O/L rule generally gets abused wherever it's in place and it really doesn't provide what it's designed for. As an example, one team the year before we got rid of the O/L rule had 20 O/Ls on a team of 26 players. That's just ridiculous. Regarding IDs, our league, and most leagues of which I am aware require an original birth cert as well as a current report card. My old league in L.A. also required proof of residence (utility bills and such), and it had to match up with the school on the report card or there had to be a very good explanation. Of couse, all those documents can be forged, so the L.A. league mandated severe penalties for anyone caught cheating with illegal players (auto lifetime ban for the head coach and anyone else found to be involved in the fraud and auto 1 yr suspension for the program president) and then left it up to the programs to self-police. That system actually worked pretty darn well. In Tucson (where I was in 2010) there was rampant cheating (I'm not so sure about ages, but territory boundaries were pretty much ignored). Here in San Diego, I'm not sure, but I get the impression that there is a fair amount of shenanigans going on as well. I kind of like the idea of using state issued IDs, but I'm not sure how that works logistically as we keep all the team's IDs on a ring that must be presented, unaltered, at each pregame check/weigh in.
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