|
Post by coachplaa on Feb 7, 2013 15:12:13 GMT -6
Get your hands on a Mac, and just use iMovie. Easy to use and you don't have to buy it. The "movie trailer" template is very slick.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Feb 4, 2013 18:12:48 GMT -6
Your school or district should have a Tax-ID number that he will need to get the tax write-off. He'll need to show what non-profit group he donated to.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jan 31, 2013 10:23:18 GMT -6
Attachment DeletedThis is what we use to score practice. We stole this idea from the University of Oregon, and tweaked it to make it work for us. We have a two "managers" that do this. One keeps score, and the other one walks around with a megaphone announcing it after every play.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jan 23, 2013 23:17:40 GMT -6
Agreed. I respect those that do. Its just too much for me. I found myself not looking forward to Saturday practices when I DID do them, and if I felt that way I figured many did, which made them counterproductive.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jan 23, 2013 21:45:50 GMT -6
I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but we give players Saturdays off. The only exception would be if we have an upcoming Thursday night game, or if we feel like it is necessary in the playoffs. Our coaches grade film from home on Saturdays, and send notes via Hudl to players. By Monday, kids are supposed to turn in a homework half-sheet to their position coach. It basically is a short review of their effort, something they did well, and something they need to work on. They also have to open up the scout film, write down the number of their opponent, his strength and weakness. We don't expect a perfect form turned in, just something that shows us they opened up Hudl and did some film work on their own.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jan 21, 2013 12:48:20 GMT -6
One of the factors was enjoyment. What do I enjoy coaching and what would I enjoy if I was a player.
One of the things I HATED as a player was 30 minutes of stretching and form running. One of the things that intrigued me early in my coaching career was throwing the ball at the high school level.
I was lucky to be "growing up" at a time when Hal Mumme's UK offense was getting notice, and I studied all that I could. Today I think we have a system that I know our kids really enjoy- not because its in style, but because it is fun. And because myself, and the coaches that I surround our kids with, all enjoy the scheme- I feel like we practice and execute it very well.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jan 21, 2013 12:44:18 GMT -6
Go after a big name alum of your school, and ask for an amount to cover everything you need. Tell them you would like to renovate it for the students, in their name or their family's name. We did it with a graduate and a few years back he gave us a $5,000 private donation, because the weight room would be used by all the athletes. However, he did not want his family's name put on the weight room just because he was a private person and thought his money would be well-used, and it was. The hardest part is asking. I've struck out about 10 times for every time I've succeeded.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jan 17, 2013 9:38:24 GMT -6
I agree with those two for sure. We like flexibility too. We schedule the last hour of our 4-day camp for scrimmage/7on7/inside run, etc; but then we leave the rest of the time up to the coaches to do their own thing, or schedule contact with each other; so it works for all. Some coaches want a lot of contact, some want very little; so we try to accomodate.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 31, 2012 15:28:19 GMT -6
Absolutely do it! We just finished our second season of doing it, and we will never go back to the old way. There was one practice this year where our main iPod shuffle, and our backup iPod shuffle both died on us because I forgot to charge them. We spent the last 40 minutes of practice with no music, and it felt like our team was grieving at practice.
Music selection- be careful. If you let the players do it, they will likely get it wrong. Cool songs to them do not usually translate to music that will facilitate up-tempo and positive mood at practice.
I devised my own playlist. Its not perfect, but its clean, fast, and facilitates the improvement of practice. Lots of 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and even 90s music. Anything with a fast beat to keep the tempo and mood of practice UP. I'm always looking for new songs to add to the list, but they are few and far between right now. One of the new genres that have promise are the "mashups" where they take 2-3 songs with great beats, blend them together into one long song. The kids really like them and they seem to be "cleaner" than other stuff out there.
I always have kids ask me if they can "bring a CD" of "their" music. I tell them yes, and I will listen to it, but the first f-bomb, or negative message I hear, I won't take any more recommendations from them. I've had kids bring me Eminem, that has all of the F-words (blanked) out. Only problem is, everyone knows what rhymes with the f-word and other cuss words, and its not what I want kids in my program to hear. If I'm not stopping it, then I'm endorsing it.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 31, 2012 15:20:03 GMT -6
We have a very basic and simple set for our Frosh team and our JV team (sophomores). They wear the same jersey, and sophomores wear the uniform they received their frosh year. We make sure as freshmen, if a kid is a borderline size fit, we go with the bigger size. Those jerseys that they wear their freshmen and sophomore year, will become their practice jerseys for their Varsity years.
Our Varsity team gets either a new home set, or a new white set, every year. They switch off. We build the cost into the amount we ask each kid to fundraise, usually we try to budget for about $75 per kid. At the end of the season, we collect and store only one set, and the team keeps the other set. So if a kid plays his Junior and Senior year, he will have one keepsake jersey from each season.
It keeps our "look" new and lets the kids have some ownership in the design of the varsity jersey.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 18, 2012 12:11:07 GMT -6
Bold and highlight #3. It is THE most crucial thing IMO. Finding the RIGHT people and not just people. Low ego, energetic, team players.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 18, 2012 11:24:25 GMT -6
It has become an absolute MUST topic to address in the pre-season. We didn't have any problems I was aware of, because we hit it pretty hard with our kids. We basically tell them its just another way to pull a team apart- whether you say something detrimental in the locker room, on the field, or online; its going to hurt the team- and people that hurt our team will no longer be a part of the team.
We also used it to our advantage. We played our two biggest games against some team with kids that had big egos, and posted all over twitter about how they'd beat us. We did screen-shots of those tweets and put them in our weekly highlight film. It worked both times to get our team fired up.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 17, 2012 18:01:46 GMT -6
I've never required anything, but our players take a knee anyway. If the refs send our team to the sideline, we will talk to them on the side of the field, but they are taking a knee while we talk with them. It is a tradition in our community, and one that I think fighting out of principle doesn't give us any benefit.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 17, 2012 11:34:08 GMT -6
You can watch any NFL game from any angle? Is it on your computer like YouTube clips???
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 14, 2012 15:25:04 GMT -6
One thing I do: Having a date night once a week during football season works wonders. Set it up for the whole season. Thursdays or Saturdays work great with a Friday night game. 2-4 hours a week, arrange the babysitter for the whole season, and plan it like you would set up a practice schedule. As our family got older, we started alternating one week date night, next week, family night out.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 11, 2012 21:46:21 GMT -6
So much good info on here. I look at a few of the coaches I know, that spend a lot of time on football and don't have families, and I think it would be hard to NOT have a family to share and support. I know I'm blessed to have three great kids and a supportive wife, even though she can get annoyed throughout the season. My wife actually runs my endzone camera during the game. She was tired of hearing parents/fans yell at me from the stands, so she was either going to stop coming, or she needed to get away from it. Its been a big help. One of my sons is our ball boy, and my other son did all of our Hudl Live Tagging this year, and did a great job. My daughter is busy imitating the cheerleaders most of the game, but after the game she runs at me and gives me a big hug (only 9yo), and I quickly am reminded that no win is too important and no loss is too much to overcome. Along with this, I try to keep in mind what I ask from my staff. I have single guys, guys with girlfriends, guys with wives, guys with young kids, guys with older kids, etc., all on my staff. I try to keep their time commitment reasonable out of respect to them and their own families.
The way I do it is I try to keep practice at two hours for a variety of benefits, I give our team and coaches Saturday off, but each coach has an expectation of watching Hudl (whatever their role is), and each player is required to watch game film. Sundays we meet in the afternoon for 2 to 2 1/2 hours max. I ask for each coach to come prepared, but we do not watch film as a staff. I may have 5-10 clips I want to show the staff, but we won't sit down and break down a whole game(s). I probably spend an hour each night after practice, at home, while the kids are doing homework, or right after they go to bed, to grade/review practice film.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 10, 2012 14:37:39 GMT -6
Make the first minute the best of their plays. Had a coach tell me its more about first impression, so don't save the best stuff for last. It is also important to show in those first few clips what makes him recruitable, for example- breakaway speed, great quickness, dominant strength, etc.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 10, 2012 14:35:01 GMT -6
Its also only beneficial if you allot practice time to work on the situational stuff. For example, we have a 3rd down period everyday. Monday is 3rd & Short, Tues is 3rd & Med, Wed is 3rd & Long. By breaking the data down in Hudl, it lets our scout team run scripts of the opposing teams plays; as well as scouting reports.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Dec 7, 2012 18:01:30 GMT -6
Looked into this one year myself and was told that it would likely void the warranty of the helmet, only because depending on the chemicals in the paint might weaken the shell. Land of the lawyer...
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Nov 22, 2012 18:39:03 GMT -6
I think the draft idea is a fun way to do it, but it hasn't been very realistic for us. We are a full-platoon team, and have tried it, and I've watched my offensive and defensive coaches get too strategic about it. And I can't help but think its not the right way in all situations.
When we first started platooning, we had the attitude that "we will tell our players what side they should play on" and if they didn't like it, we would tell them tough luck and they needed to be a team player.
We platoon at the varsity level only, and there are players at the JV & Frosh level that play both ways because of smaller numbers. What I have learned over the years is, as coaches if we sit down together and discuss what side of the ball is better for the player, it usually ends up having an improvement on our team.
I think the secret is looking at a kid's personality. Some kids are aggressive and frenzied. Those kids are obviously great on defense. Some are measured and precise. Our coaches agree with about 95% of our kids decisions. However, there are always a few kids that don't get it. Big slow kids that want to play D-Line, or clumsy unathletic kids that want to play defense but can't run. We've had more success talking to those kids into what is best for them, because kids these days want to know WHY and not just "this is how its gonna be."
This is just my opinion, but I feel like we are doing a much better job identifying and labeling kids today, compared to six years ago when we first started the platoon thing.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Nov 22, 2012 13:52:48 GMT -6
Some great info on here for young head coaches. Eliminating coaches that aren't "pulling the rope" in the same direction would seem to be easy to do, but it is always one of the hardest things to do, if not THE hardest thing to do.
I have a 17-coach staff for three levels. It is as big as I want to go. At one time, I was begging for coaches. Our program is now in a place that I feel like I can be more constructively critical of our coaches, for the benefit of our kids and program.
First off, any negative coaches must be eliminated or corrected immediately. Sometimes this type of behavior doesn't come out until gametime. But I've also had coaches at times that are great most of the time, but sometimes detrimental to our coaching staff's unity.
I've found the best thing to do is to write down any issues you have with a coach, meet with the coach, and be HONEST about ALL of your concerns. Once it is off your chest, give the coach a chance to address your concerns. In the past when I've done this, I've had one coach walk away and quit, and I've had a few coaches make the corrections and we have been good ever since.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Aug 13, 2012 19:55:24 GMT -6
I should elaborate, when I referred to yelling I was referring more to game night. Im not a big yeller, but I'll get after it at least once a week for crappy effort.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Aug 12, 2012 10:06:59 GMT -6
I've heard two quotes I stick by: 1) Your practices should be roughly the same amount of time that your games are. Our games are just over 2 hours long; so our practices are just over 2 hours long.
2) Bobby Bowden said: "Any coach can practice for 3 hours; but it just takes a little organization and a smart coach, to fit a 3-hour practice into a 2-hour slot."
|
|
|
Yelling
Aug 12, 2012 10:04:48 GMT -6
Post by coachplaa on Aug 12, 2012 10:04:48 GMT -6
Kids get yelled at, at home; and mine do not respond to it at all. I tell my coaches that a coach who yells, is very similar to a kid that uses cuss words as adjectives. There are much better ways to get your message across.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Aug 12, 2012 10:02:11 GMT -6
At the very least make some 11x17 copies, and fold them in half so you have a 4-page program, with your roster and your opponents roster, and maybe you can get 1-2 sponsors in your limited time. You could make new copies the day of every home game. Then sell them for $1 each. Its something, a little better than nothing at all.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jul 28, 2012 23:55:29 GMT -6
I definitely don't prowl either, but if I suspect a kid is doing the wrong things, social media is a great place to look deeper. And even though I don't search for bad news, I'd rather find out sooner than later to see if I can help before its too late.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jul 1, 2012 19:06:14 GMT -6
For us, each kid has one job for the entire season. They pick their job according to pride points rank at the end of summer. A little organization in early August keeps the problems away during the season. And it helps my kids' off-season motivation.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jul 1, 2012 16:28:12 GMT -6
Really love the MEDs acronym. I'm going to steal it. If our kids do something, they spin the "PIE Wheel" which is Personal Improvement Exercise.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jun 28, 2012 15:50:05 GMT -6
We recorded most of it with an iPhone. Any time I see something that our coaches devised that is cool, I record it. After a week or so, I always have enough to throw together a video. Our kids love it.
|
|
|
Post by coachplaa on Jun 28, 2012 8:56:16 GMT -6
We saw the Olympic athletes at the Training Center in Colorado Springs doing kettlebell workouts, and they were doing simple movements and covered in sweat. Simple squats like in the film, and also trunk twists, forward swings where you actually let the weight jump you forward, step ups on one-leg, jump ups on one leg, etc. We aren't experts but we just vary it with whatever we find online.
|
|