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Post by Coach Vint on Jul 12, 2019 11:17:07 GMT -6
When I coached in NYC we went to Camp Kinder-Ring for four days. I was single so I enjoyed not having to cook and clean for those four days. It was great team bonding. It was a pain as we had to raise the money, rent a truck, load everything, and drive a couple hours. Our kids were very well behaved for the most part. We had an egging incident one year, but that is as bad as it go. When that happened (10pm) we took them to the field and ran gassers until midnight. We had no more issues that year or others.
It is sad that the word has changed so much. Bad things have been happening for year, but now with social media things spread like wildfire. Camp was a great experience for team bonding and for our kids in general. Most of our kids had never left the city. The big deal at camp was that they couldn't skip and they couldn't quit. We knew we would have 100% attendance for those four days.
I know a few schools still go, but I am sure it is many less than 15 years ago.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jun 24, 2019 19:46:02 GMT -6
Our kids come in to lift, stretch, watch film, and do awards on Saturday. They come in at 9 for treatment and leave at noon. Coaches come it at 7:30. We watch the game as an offensive staff, certify stats, and talk about corrections. We then begin to break down our next opponent by watching their last game. Once kids leave we watch our opponent as a staff. We then leave about 1pm.It is vital for the kids to be able to stretch, get treatment, and watch the film. Having them come in and get the blood flowing helps them recover.
Sunday is all coaches. We work on our game plan, scout cards etc. We also go through practice schedules and scripts for the week. Each coach has a role they play. Coming together to finalize everything is very beneficial.
We are in a situation where we play 4 or 5 Thursday night TV games each year. After a Thursday game we do our Saturday on Friday. The coordinators and head coach will go scout someone live. I sometimes take may wife and daughter. We will eat dinner then watch half of the game together.
There are many ways to make this work. Find what works for you.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jun 17, 2019 6:28:33 GMT -6
We had a ton of guys like this when we got to our place. Everyone told us all the things they won’t and wouldn’t do. They won’t come to early morning weight room. They won’t pass their classes. Hell, they won’t come to practice. We set standards, held them accountable, and had some attrition as some guys couldn’t make it. Those were guys who just refused. We also spent a lot of time on relationships. We did things with our guys away from football. We did position group meals and things like that.
Each year the buy-in has gotten better. We still have some fence sitters. We have some guys that are compliant but don’t take ownership. But the number of guys bought in is increasing. We brought enthusiasm when we got here. That helped as well. We spend time on academics also to help them have a chance to go to college. When guys know you genuinely care about them as more than an athlete they tend to trust you more. This gets more buy in.
Many guys need to hear that you believe in them. They need to know that you see something special in them. Also understand there are guys who have things pulling at them outside of your program. Sometimes you have to make them choose.
We we also have a saying here. A ride is not an excuse. We give every kid who needs a ride everyday. I pick 6 to 8 kids up in the summer. I make 2 trips. Most our our coaches bring 3-4 guys. It is what we have to do to get them here.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jun 2, 2019 22:06:41 GMT -6
Saturday’s coaches are in at 8. We watch our film, chart loafs and grade our players. We are done with this by 9:30. We then start working on next opponent. Kids get treatment at 9:30, lift with HC at 10:00, light jogging and stretch at 10:30. 10:45 to 11:00 we call out loads. 11-11:10 we watch specials. 11:15-11:45 we watch film by position. 11:45-12 we do awards. Kids leave at noon. Coaches gone by 1. We come in Sunday from 2-6 or 6:30 to finalize game plan.
Our kids are focused watching film on Saturday. We are focused game planning in the office. When work is done, we leave.
We played 4 TV games on Thursdays last year and i loved it. We watched film, lifted, and ran Friday. Coaches came in Friday at 7 to watch film. We then met after kids left to watch next opponent. We took Saturday off.
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Post by Coach Vint on May 7, 2019 13:53:27 GMT -6
I am really curious as I can't imagine only having 18 kids playing football in a school of 1500. How does that happen? I have coached in some tough places, but I have never seen participation even remotely close to that low.
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Post by Coach Vint on May 7, 2019 13:23:11 GMT -6
I’m in year 2 of a major over haul. 4 Seniors this year. All the rest Freshmen and Sophomores with some Juniors sprinkled in. We may not win a game but, we actually look like a football team at spring practice right now. At this time last year I had 24. I now have 34. Missing 5 today (2 injured; 3 no showed). It’s a process and there’s no way you can speed it up. If we can keep this going, I firmly believe we can be very good in another year or 2. Gonna be a tough road but, should be worth it. Won 3 games last year for the 1st time in 8 years at this school. In spite of all that, I love coaching here. There’s some kids out there that hang on to every thing we say. That’s what makes it worth it. Gonna be a wild ride this year. This post exemplifies what it is like to build a meaningful program! It is very rewarding to go into a place and build something special where there is very little. Best of luck this season!
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 30, 2019 20:38:11 GMT -6
Texas has 10 regular season games. If you make it to the state title you play 16 games.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 27, 2019 19:15:06 GMT -6
Our kids get out of school for home games at 1:45 We have our pregame meal at 2:30. No one leaves. Pregame meal: 230 Devotional 3:00 until 3:15 Rest areas 3:15 until 4:15 4:15 dress and tape 4:50 Off and Def Meetings 5:05 Special Teams Roll Call 5:15 Depart for Stadium 5:30Arrive at Stadium 6:00 First Group Out 6:10 QB's and Skill Out 6:20 Big Skill Out 6:30 Others Out 6:30 Stretch 6:40 Indy 6:48 1-on-1's OL/DL 6:53 Team Off vs. Team D 6:58 Punt/ZP 7:03 Back Inside 7:25 Team Entrance 7:30 Kickoff WIN
This is our typical schedule. Last year we had 5 TV games and had to make some adjustments. We had to be back on the field a little sooner, so we went in the locker room 5 minutes earlier.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 27, 2019 19:06:02 GMT -6
We have a great group of kids who are some of the hardest workers I have ever been around. We lost 8 starters on offense and 7 on defense, but this group is really fun to coach. The work hard and have a great attitude, and they love being coached.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 18, 2019 12:20:03 GMT -6
We would work a ton of halfline and half field. We might have more group work and less team. Even now we work a lot of half field pass.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 12, 2019 10:11:44 GMT -6
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 9, 2019 14:19:19 GMT -6
Hudl was a Godsend when it came out. Rather than spend $6k to $10k on a system that had one or two stations, you paid $800 to $3k a year to have a web based solution. Your players and coaches could watch video anywhere. You could tag video, build highlights, and create reports.
Hudl has been great as far as customer service. They grew very, very quickly, and I think struggled with the enormous scale. The only area that frustrates me is that they have not upgraded to 1080 video. Most cameras are 1080 or 4k, but the video quality is reduced when you upload. I am good with them raising their prices. I am good with them limiting storage. I get that. We have paid the same thing for a lot of years. But I would like to see them go to HD video.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 9, 2019 13:45:57 GMT -6
I just want to bump this to the top now that some time has passed and you guys have probably had a chance to meet and go over how you are going to handle it. Somebody out there has a system planned that looks good, I wanna see it. I'm still a big fan of just substituting football for the speed/agility stuff we do twice a week, problem with that is we have too many kids (good problem I know) for them to all be in the weight room at the same time, so we have to split them up some kind of way anyway..whatcha got? and I'll go ahead and apologize for my comments in this thread back when I posted it if they came across as callous or greedy, I certainly didn't mean it that way not sure why I got grumpy about it I can only surmise that I must not have been having much luck with the wife in the early part of the year I got little kids man it happens to the best of us. You might look at the OL/DL in the weight room for the first 50 minutes, while the skill guys are on the field. They do 25 minutes of agility work and 25 minutes of football specific skills. Then you take a 20 minute break and switch. OL/DL will get their 25 minutes of speed and agility and 25 minutes of football specific. Then you bring everyone together for announcements, popsicles, etc.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 6, 2019 23:13:30 GMT -6
Town’s about 4k and school has roughly 450-500 kids Blair Oaks? My sister lives in Wardsville. Great school with outstanding kids who work very hard. Went through there 12 years ago recruiting.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 4, 2019 13:25:53 GMT -6
Full staff meeting before each phase of training. It is early in the morning as we all coach a second sport. We met a an offensive staff at 7am for the first 5 mornings after our season ended to watch film and discuss things that were fresh. We then met every Monday morning since January for 45 minutes before school. Each week we had a specific topic. Each coach was in charge of an area of research and development. They then presented to the entire offensive staff. The last two meetings we went over spring install and an all-star game we are coaching. I have a great group of coaches who enjoy studying the game.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 4, 2019 13:12:26 GMT -6
I have a HC that is just one of the best men that I've ever had the privilege to not only work with but also to be around. He cares about his coaches and players. A Christian man that will do anything to for his the program. An example would be this spring. I had an accident where I tore the retina in my right eye causing me to have several surgeries and miss a lot of school He has reassured me that everything will be okay to just take care of myself. He is a man of high character and integrity. In 27 years of coaching he is by far the best person I have worked for. The coaches on the staff are very close. We have a great atmosphere in the FH. We have a family atmosphere with the team and within the staff. You work with a tremendous man! He helped me grow in many ways outside of football! It was a great place with outstanding people and an awesome coaching staff. You are right, it was a very tight knit group. It was awesome working with you and all of those guys.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 4, 2019 12:44:56 GMT -6
Very few arguments here were about coaches. Coaches don't like the rule because it creates two cesspools. One with unscrupulous guys doing underhanded crap to get kids to transfer, and other where kids flee accountability. It is all about kids. What is best for kids. Is it best to transfer, or stick it out. Is it best for kids to be able to go wherever they want any time they want, or is it best for them to overcome things that don't please them? You are right about one thing. Parents. Kids haven't changed much in the last 50 years, but parents sure have. Especially with social media and the ego. Let me show pictures of little Johnny doing his thing. Look at my son. Look at my daughter. And then the My 5-8 120 pound guard should be starting. The coach doesn't like him. He should have D-1 offers already. And when the parent doesn't get what they want, they might leave. That's why we have mentally weak kids. We have mentally weak parents. There are two kinds of parents, those who prepare their child for the path, and those who prepare the path for the child. Too many parents try to prepare the path. The kid never faces adversity so they never learn to deal with it. One of my buddies has spent at least $50k on travel baseball, hitting lessons, camps, etc for his son in the last 5 years. HIs son is now 13 and he said he is trying to help him get a D1 scholarship. If he invested that $50k and the other $50k he will spend in the next 5 years, he would be able to pay for 5 college educations. It is all about saying, "my son is D-1." I assume he doesn't realize that the D1 baseball scholarships are pretty different than the football. The "D1" brand is extremely powerful to some people, sadly. His son doesn't have talent. That is the really sad part.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 4, 2019 10:45:55 GMT -6
Very few arguments here were about coaches. Coaches don't like the rule because it creates two cesspools. One with unscrupulous guys doing underhanded crap to get kids to transfer, and other where kids flee accountability. It is all about kids. What is best for kids. Is it best to transfer, or stick it out. Is it best for kids to be able to go wherever they want any time they want, or is it best for them to overcome things that don't please them?
You are right about one thing. Parents. Kids haven't changed much in the last 50 years, but parents sure have. Especially with social media and the ego. Let me show pictures of little Johnny doing his thing. Look at my son. Look at my daughter.
And then the My 5-8 120 pound guard should be starting. The coach doesn't like him. He should have D-1 offers already. And when the parent doesn't get what they want, they might leave. That's why we have mentally weak kids. We have mentally weak parents.
There are two kinds of parents, those who prepare their child for the path, and those who prepare the path for the child. Too many parents try to prepare the path. The kid never faces adversity so they never learn to deal with it.
One of my buddies has spent at least $50k on travel baseball, hitting lessons, camps, etc for his son in the last 5 years. HIs son is now 13 and he said he is trying to help him get a D1 scholarship. If he invested that $50k and the other $50k he will spend in the next 5 years, he would be able to pay for 5 college educations. It is all about saying, "my son is D-1."
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 3, 2019 11:18:44 GMT -6
This is a direct quote from another good friend of mine coach coaches in Florida:
"The open transfers legislation has ruined athletics here in FL. And the FACA and FHSAA stood by and watched it happen."
That guy is a heck of a coach who has successfully coached in three states.
Open transfers do very little good for anyone. I do not live in Florida, and I do not coach there. I have several friends who do, and nearly every one of them hates the open transfer policy.
Kid gets mad at coach for being held accountable. Transfers. Parent doesn't like kid's playing time, transfers. Coach isn't fair. Transfer. This school will give me money to play. Transfer. They promised me a D1 scholarship. Transfer. No sir. Nothing good about it. Having parameters in place is vital. I like the rule in Texas. If a kid transfers he has to either move addresses and actually live in the new school's zone, or sit out for a year. It isn't perfect. People find a way around it. Some schools still do a lot of underhanded crap. But it at least sets a standard.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 3, 2019 9:39:23 GMT -6
We have great kids, a great admin, football matters, and we have an outstanding coaching staff. Everyone enjoys working together and we hang out away form football. The big key is your staff cohesiveness and administrative support. That makes things go very well. We also have some talent, which helps as well.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 2, 2019 11:53:43 GMT -6
So most of us coach student athletes. And I will bet all of us say things like, "its about the kids, its for the kids". Is it really? Most rules governing our sport in regards to non game day activities are about US, protecting US. Take transferring/recruiting. Those rules are about protecting the coach, there not whats best for the Kid. Example, your a stud WR and you go to a school that chucks it 40 times a game. Next season your coach leaves and the new guy is single wing, is this whats best for the kid? But if the kid leaves in most states without actually picking up and moving, the kid sits. So is it about the kids? Lets just say you are a kid who just hates his coach, kids are people to, and sometimes you just dont get along. So the kid can stay in a toxic relationship with hopes he will play or what? Quit? he cant transfer or open enroll because he will sit. These rules also serve to protect bad coaches. Bad coaches know they wont loose kids to a cross town rival, why, well because the kid cant play. This is a mostly true fact, kids dont transfer from good programs to go to a bad one, they transfer a bad one for a good one. So again is it for the kids? Is staying at a bad program whats best for the kid? Why are we afraid of allowing recruiting and transfers? In Corp America if you are good, people will recruit you all day, you stay if the place you work is a good one, you leave if it is not. Sure money may play a factor but if your happy , you will most likely stay. Coaches can come and go as they please, but not the players? Again if you are in a system that plays to your strengths and the coach leaves and a new coach puts in a system that doesn't, why should a kid have to stay in that system. Why should the kid sacrifice for the adult coach?? Oh I know I am in the minority here. But if you stop rationalizing whats in your best interests and actually believe what we all say, you cant argue against this. by allowing this does this make our jobs harder, YEP sure does, and it makes all of us better, which will make the kid better. Work hard or fail, isn't that what we all preach to these kids? But instead we pass rules under "its fair" umbrella....life aint fair, suck it buttercup... Want to keep your kids, its pretty easy, out work the other guy and build a program that kids want to be a part of. Sorry but if you are phoning it in and your kids want to leave, well thats on you. But lets stop pretending it's bout the kids and "fairness", its about US, its about you. Change my mind, prove me wrong! Don't compare coaches to kids, because coaches have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Sometimes we have to make grown man decisions. A coach can be fired for upsetting one board member, parent, or administrator. They can do everything right and have their livelihood snatched away because they didn't serve the parent's self interest. With that said, I don't condone coaches leaving every year or two years for greener pastures. As far as kids, we already have a free for all in some states that has caused huge issues. I talked to a legendary coach in Florida who left the game a few years ago because it was like the Wild West. He said guys were calling his kid's parents trying to get them to transfer. He said this happened nearly every night. They would lie and make crap up just to try to get one of his kids. They would give kids money and gear. Instead of coaches building a program, they were out trying to take short cuts and recruit kids from successful programs. Rather than worry about the coaches who leave for a better job to better their family situation, get on the scumbags who profit off recruiting kids to leave their schools. That coach at a bad program would just go "buy" the best players he can find. States that have open transfer policies have opened Pandora's box and this stuff is happening more and more. You say if you don't like it work hard to keep your kids. We work our ass off for our kids. They know this. But then you add a scumbag AAU coach who is willing to cheat to convince a kid to go to a high school where his buddy coaches, there is not much you can do. And when a school pays a parent's rent on a bigger home so the kid transfers there, are you saying we should pay for an even bigger home so they don't leave? I will compete with anyone on our program merits, but we aren't going to give kids money and hook their parents up. It happens, and what you are talking about will make it happen more and more. We already have a huge problem. At least currently some states try to contain it somewhat. In Texas we have some rules in place that at least somewhat discourage illegal recruiting. It still happens. And if they get caught there are some ramifications. They don't catch everyone, but at least there are some things in place. If we opened transfers with no penalty it will be the beginning of the end.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 2, 2019 8:57:33 GMT -6
Schedule a stop about an hour before the halfway point. Let them get out and rest their legs. Make sure you schedule time for meals. On Friday night have them do something like go to a movie from 8 to 10. Make sure you get them in the rooms by 11. Don't let them sleep too late. Get them up around 7:30 and have them all eat breakfast. Under no circumstances should they swim in the hotel pool.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 29, 2019 9:37:08 GMT -6
It is going to be a great read! Coach Gordon is one of the best teachers in our business!
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 28, 2019 8:22:23 GMT -6
A lot of places had/have smoke breaks. I remember back in the 80's when my dad was coaching and the teachers would sprint down the hall to the loading dock between classes for a smoke break. Those were the good old days.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 24, 2019 20:42:44 GMT -6
Anything your players do together outside of football is team building. We also have position group dinners at the position coaches houses. You don’t have to do formal activities to build chemistry, but you can. We spent an hour one evening doing laser tag last season. That was a good one. We also had a pool/pizza party. That was also good. It is also good to have them to the house to eat and just relax.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 22, 2019 13:09:49 GMT -6
When I coached up north we had five of us in the building, but only 3 were paid by the district. 2 were paid by our booster club. We had three additional guys paid by the booster club. 1 of those was a para. The other two had regular jobs that allowed them to coach. During the off-season we didn't ask hem to be there everyday. We asked them to be around 1 day a week for the weight room. We also asked them to go to one clinic with the staff. They also came to our staff meetings in the off-season. It worked very well for us.
Obviously in Texas everyone is a teacher in our building. We all have responsibilities and roles to play. The big thing the article was saying is to do your part. That is different in each place. Young coaches need to know that the jobs that suck need to be done just as well as every other job. Everything matters.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 22, 2019 12:52:34 GMT -6
We mark our game balls on the white stripe. We use 4 balls each week. We mark them G1, G2, G3, and G4. They get used on Tuesday and Thursday in practice, during team. QB's will use them during Indy. We typically get 3 to 4 weeks out of each ball depending on weather and use. Some weeks a ball may not get used. We sometimes get through a game where only 2 were used. We cycle new balls in as needed. We break out 2 new balls each week. They are used Monday through Weds to get some wear. It takes 6 to 8 practices to get them game ready.
On Sunday I take the two balls and wipe them down with a damp rag. I let them dry for two hours. Then I then put the Wilson ball lotion on. I let them sit for 15 minutes then I brush them. After that I wipe them with a clean towel. They then go into the bag for practice. Once they are game ready we take them out of the bag and store them until they are ready to go into circulation. We order 2 dozen new balls each year. Last year we went through 18 of them in 13 games. We have 6 new balls left. We also have 14 balls that we will use during spring ball. 1 went flat and won't hold air, 1 was auctioned, 1 was given to the HC for his first win, and one went to a dignitary.
Once the ball goes out of circulation we put an XX over the G1. It then becomes a practice only ball. Ball companies will now personalize your footballs with your logo.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 18, 2019 20:21:14 GMT -6
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 17, 2019 18:04:39 GMT -6
To build a program that consistently competes for state championships you need the following: 1. Talent 2. Excellent Coaches who know how to teach the details and the big picture 3. Coaches who care about their players 4. Players who care about each other
Culture matters. Culture is important. Whether you say the word culture or you despise it, it exists. You can build it by design or build it by chance. Everything the OP has mentioned is culture. I get it, you don't like the word. You don't like coaches tweeting about it. You don't like coaches saying, "look what we do." I liked the book Culture Defeats Strategy. It had some actionable ideas. I loved 3D coaching. We went through a training program at the last school I was at through our local FCA Rep for 8 weeks. It had a ton of great information and helped me as a coach.
Culture is essentially the collective behaviors and attitude of your program. Take all the behaviors and attitudes and add them together and you have your culture. What you do each day with your team will either improve your culture or make it worse. Whether you call it culture, climate, or magic fairy dust, it matters. And yes, we proudly tweet our kids in the weight room and in our circuit. We post videos of our competitive drills. Why? To promote our kids and our program. We tweet when our kids get offers. Why? To promote our kids and our program. We can't control the talent that comes through our door, but we can control how well we coach it, and what we do to grow the young men we coach. We control whether we maximize the talent and performance of our guys. That takes more than football knowledge.
What we do is bigger than football. Yes, we must win to keep our jobs. But what we are really doing is using football as a vehicle to build men. The game doesn't build men. Relationships, expectations, adversity and accountability build men. Those are all aspects of our program. We do happen to coach some football as well with an outstanding staff.
The short answer: You need both.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 6, 2019 14:03:32 GMT -6
We used grid squares. I went 5 across and 7 rows deep, 3 yards of space between each line. It worked very well when I was coaching large OL Groups.
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