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Post by jsk002 on Aug 27, 2014 13:34:26 GMT -6
Thanks Guys - keep it coming.
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Post by jsk002 on Aug 27, 2014 13:32:44 GMT -6
How do you convince kids who have never had to work for anything that working hard pays off? A few considerations: - Small Roster and I can't just replace kids - Young team - not real vocal leaders - No real bad apples - I am just not sure they get it yet I guess I am looking at motivational techniques, ideas on how to make sure they get it and techniques you guys use for today's kids. No doubt that they are a different breed. Do you film practice? @ Fantom - in certain situations I do. That is actually something I will do today in order to help this situation. Given our resources, it's not realistic to film every practice and every single drill. There are six coaches total for us and I don't really have managers available for this.
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Post by jsk002 on Aug 27, 2014 13:30:01 GMT -6
Who says you can't just replace kids? I'd much rather lose a game with kids who are busting their butt than to win with a field full of lazy slapa$$es. Even if you can't really replace them, you have to make that kid think you will. Yesterday a freshman CB was being lazy in INDY period, the position coach up/downed the entire unit because of him of his laziness. I think that was motivation to him. I pulled him off to the side during water break and asked him how many guys were in the DB group. He said "IDK, 25?" I said "and we only play 4 at a time. You're a good player and we would like to have you but you aren't necessary. We do not NEED you, we have 24 more guys. Think about that." I have 8 DBs in my total program...I agree with what you are saying, but realisticly I am better finding additional ways to motivate.
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Post by jsk002 on Aug 27, 2014 11:22:02 GMT -6
How do you convince kids who have never had to work for anything that working hard pays off?
A few considerations:
- Small Roster and I can't just replace kids - Young team - not real vocal leaders - No real bad apples - I am just not sure they get it yet
I guess I am looking at motivational techniques, ideas on how to make sure they get it and techniques you guys use for today's kids. No doubt that they are a different breed.
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Post by jsk002 on Aug 18, 2014 12:02:59 GMT -6
Well - I think most of us feel like we get better as we go along. Provided that the opponent was evenly matched, I think I would opt for a scrimmage followed by a benefit game. This also assumes that we would have our standard week's worth of rest and recovery.
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Post by jsk002 on Jul 18, 2014 6:35:54 GMT -6
I've coached two teams that were 21 Kids (10 - 12th graders). The first team was awful and lasted only 4 games before injuries happened and we had to forfeit. The second team went 5-5 and made the playoffs.
JV is another story. We've taken 13 kids to games before.
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Post by jsk002 on Jul 10, 2014 6:40:19 GMT -6
I agree with coach2013 You will truly have something going when the kids DESIRE to be there and refuse to miss, as opposed to HAVE to be there and don't want to get punished. Guys - this is what it is all about. You need to find a way to develop a culture where your athletes want to lift because they understand the value it brings and that it allows them the opportunity to win. This has to be the ultimate goal. I coach at a small private school 40 - 45 kids total in the program. I can't run kids off because they haven't bought in yet. I can't punish a kid because he has to live with another parent during the summer. I can't make a big deal if a kid misses a week because his family is on vacation. I will put anyone who blows us off at the bottom of the depth chart and force them to work their way up. I can promise anyone who buys in, shows up and works hard an opportunity to play. It took a lot of time to get there - and incentives for lifting and rallying around events are great - but those should be a means to getting kids to a point where they understand and value the importance of lifting and they want to be there.
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Post by jsk002 on Jun 20, 2014 6:29:05 GMT -6
So we have kids miss summer for summer school and vacation. We stress the importance of attendance BUT we can't say it is mandatory. We have 75% of our kids who don't miss much but another 25% who miss due to vacation or summer school. This is a problem at lower level but time they get to Varsity it is not a huge problem. Few questions for you coaches: 1. Is your summer mandatory? 2. Does a successful summer lead to a successful fall? 3. Do your parents understand the correlation between summer and fall? 1. We don't use the term mandatory - but we also don't use the term optional. As a program we've gotten to the point where the kids see the correlation between hard work in the off-season and success on the football field. We talk a lot about why off-season participation is important to our goals. We don't stress if a kid is on vacation with his family, or misses a workout, practice or 7 on 7 for another personal reason. We do expect our athletes to notify us if they will miss. We don't like when kids just blow us off - but we handle that on a case by case basis. 2. Yes 3. Yes
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Post by jsk002 on Jun 17, 2014 5:01:12 GMT -6
The only value I would place on winning a 7 on 7 is if you are a program who hasn't won a lot and you need to build confidence. A successful 7 on 7 can be a piece in that puzzle. If you are an established program - then I don't think a goal should be to win a 7 on 7. I look at 7 on 7's as an opportunity to compete (you can't get enough of them in my opinion) while running your coverages & routes.
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Post by jsk002 on Jun 11, 2014 9:11:29 GMT -6
Every year - every helmet that is issued.
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Post by jsk002 on May 16, 2014 6:18:26 GMT -6
Defensively we won't change year to year, but I will change if the move is what I feel is best for the program. For example, 3 years ago we want from a 4-4 cover 3 / Cover 1 team to more of a 4-2-5 Split field cover 4. That was not that difficult of a transition.
Now looking at my roster, conference we play-in, etc. etc - we are moving to a 3-4 slanting defense with Cover 4 / 2 as the base. I feel that this is a what we do for the foreseeable future. However, 4 -5 years down the road, who knows. We don't really do wholesale changes to techniques / fundamentals / keys that type of stuff - so hopefully it is not completely foreign for the kids. The exception to this will be the dline play, which will be new as we weren't really a team that moved them a whole lot.
I believe you can have flexibility in scheme from year to year, but you need consistency in how you teach it the game ie. techniques, fundamentals, key / reads. So that kids aren't learning new stuff every single fall.
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Post by jsk002 on Mar 19, 2014 7:18:42 GMT -6
I am a less is more type of guy. In Wisconsin we don't have spring ball & we only have 5 days in the summer where we can coach up our kids in football related activities.
In the winter, we have a 4 day program for those who do not play other sports. Those who play other sports, we like to see them in as much as possible, but to be honest, our Bball and Wrestling programs do a good job of in season lifting. We actually encourage kids to participate in those sports. We don't have an active spring program. I and one of my assistant coaches are both track coaches. So we tell our guys, that if they want to get better come run track. We will lift 2 to 3 times a week during track.
In the summer we have morning lifting for 1.5 to 2 hours 4 days a week, 5 summer practices and we will do Wednesday night 7 on 7's. I am not allowed to coach the kids up on these, so we basically sit in the stands and watch them compete with other local schools.
In season, we don't really do anything on Friday with the kids and If I meet with coaches it will be for only a couple of hours.
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Post by jsk002 on Mar 18, 2014 21:29:18 GMT -6
6:15 - 6:25 Specials 6:25 - 6:35 Dynamic Warm-Up 6:35 - 6:40 Passing Line / Indy work for OL 6:40 - 6:45 Indy D / Tackling 6:45 - 6:50 Team O on air 6:50 - 6:55 Locker Room
That's more or less it. We may start 5 minutes earlier if we feel we need more time to get back and forth from the locker room.
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Post by jsk002 on Feb 24, 2014 21:13:31 GMT -6
The older I get, the more I realize that it is important to set an example for the kids. I don't think I want a team of guys running around and dropping the "F bomb" or saying "GD" is what I want. So I am much more aware of what I say. Certainly, I am not perfect nor is our team. If it becomes excessive then, I'll make a kid do 10 push ups or something like that. If start slipping myself a little bit, then the kids will let me know and I'll do push ups or gassers or something like that.
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Post by jsk002 on Feb 18, 2014 21:52:07 GMT -6
It sounds like you have to get your kids to care about each other and care about the team. It also sounds like you have very little leadership among your players. I agree with Mariner that you or someone on the staff needs to be in the weight room running your program. It doesn't matter who else is in there, grab the football players and run them through your workout. Culture change isn't easy - but it sounds like that's what you are dealing with. Kids need to know you care, and clear expectations on what is acceptable need to be set. Again - a lot easier said than done. But this is what I would concentrate on.
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Post by jsk002 on Feb 18, 2014 21:40:24 GMT -6
We don't do a static stretch as part of our warm-up, it is all dynamic. If we are going to do a static stretch we do that as part of a cool down, but we typically only do that once a week. I like a dynamic warm-up because I think it allows the kids to work coordination, athletic movements and get warm-up all at the same time. It's also the track coach in me - I would never have the kids do a hard sprint workout without a proper warm-up. This to me is just risking injury. I don't look at football all that much different.
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Post by jsk002 on Feb 17, 2014 20:06:57 GMT -6
Lion doesnt stretch before it hunts A world class sprinter doesn't run a race before he warms up. My thought is that there is value to warming up.
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Post by jsk002 on Jan 31, 2014 7:47:05 GMT -6
We are looking at re-organizing as well. We have about 28 varsity players. How long have you been doing weekly practices with an offensive and defensive day? I want to go to this practice format and was looking for some input. I would also be interested in knowing what you do for your speed training on Thursdays. PM me if you would like to talk about things in more detail. Last year was the first year we did a practice with an offensive and a defensive day. Prior to that we basically split up the practices. Offense usually had a little more time. As far as pros and cons - this is what I see: Pros - Segments don't feel rushed. This is more beneficial, I think in inside run and 7 on 7 periods. We do a lot of our coaching on the fly - but this longer period seems to allow for us to do some teaching in the period if necessary without really falling behind. I feels like it is a more complete practice. Cons - if you see something you don't like in the game plan - there is less time to adjust. So you need to be really prepared going into the practice. You aren't going to get team every day. I also feel like the kids need to work both sides of the ball every day - so this plan includes indy offense on the defensive day and team defense on the offensive day. Speed training - We did this for the first time last year. I coach track along with my LB / RB coach. We do a lot of speed training in track and the summer to get our guys faster, then when we get into the season we do nothing to maintain or grow that speed. I listened to Steve Silvey speak at a clinic about this topic and it just occurred to me that we need to do this. He is a very knowledgeable coach he doesn't give his material away, but he knows what he is doing. A resource i would recommend to anyone. Any way, back to the point. We did three different workouts and we alternated them week to week. Workout 1 3 x 30 yds @ 95%, 1 Minute between each rep 2 x 50 yds @ 95%, 1 Minute between each rep Workout 2 40 Yards Total - 10 yds Acceleration - 20 yds full speed - 10 yds deceleration x 6 - 1 Minute between each rep Workout 3 3 x 100 at 75% - 2 minutes between each rep. You need a good warm-up for these, so kids don't end up pulling muscles. We also did this at the start of practice when legs were fresh. It doesn't make sense to do this training at the end of practice or even after lifting. Thinking about it now, I should probably move this segment to Tuesday to prevent any hold-over lactic acid build-up in the legs. We did it early in the week last year. In an ideal world, I would commit 20 minutes to this segment and add some sprinting hurdle drills. You can youtube to see some examples. However, time doesn't really allow for this, so we do the best we can with what we do have. It is important to note, that we coach up technique & form when doing this, but it really needs to start in the summer and carry over from there. We also do the hurdle drills in the summer. If you want me details - just let me know.
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Post by jsk002 on Jan 30, 2014 22:05:43 GMT -6
Hey Guys,
I didn't get any feedback on this first time around - so I am bumping it up. If any one has comments or suggestions - feel free. Thanks!
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Post by jsk002 on Jan 17, 2014 7:46:42 GMT -6
Also-no warm-ups at all. Went right into practice. Do you feel like you had more injuries by not warming up? How intense was that first passing period?
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Post by jsk002 on Jan 14, 2014 0:12:09 GMT -6
We don't mess around. If a kid complains that his head hurts, we get him to the trainer. Early in preseason practice, all players take the impact test for a head injury baseline. One thing that we have done to cut down on the number of head injuries is cutting down on the amount of full contact. We go totally live for about 10 minutes on offense and defense one day a week. The rest is "thud". It has not hurt us, as we won a state championship this year with this kind of practice philosophy. We are almost exactly like bluboy - other than the part about winning a state championship. Oh well - I guess you can't have it all. In all seriousness - we baseline test at the start of the season and any our trainer has protocol for any head injuries. If we suspect something is up, we send the kid to the trainer. I didn't have any varsity guys diagnosed with concussions last year. The previous year, I think was only 1. So the limited contact in practice has helped.
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Post by jsk002 on Jan 13, 2014 22:47:10 GMT -6
I am a more is less type of guy. I wasn't always - but now realize that the longer practices really do wear on kids. I've found we have been more productive when the kids know they don't have a marathon practice. The shortest I can get things to is 2.5 hours but that includes 30 minutes of meeting / lifting off the field and 2 hours on the field. I agree that 2 plus hour film sessions, kids lose focus. I've done them but think I need to change this up. This is what I am looking at for next year:
MONDAY
3:30 – 4:30 – Lift 4:30 – 5:00 - 30 Minute Review Friday Night’s Film 5:00 – 5:15 – D Game Plan 5:15 – 5:30 – O Game Plan
TUESDAY – DEFENSIVE DAY
3:30 – 3:50 – Special Teams Meeting 3:50 – 4:00 – Film – Opponent Favorite Plays 4:00 – 4:10 – Warm - Up 4:10 – 4:20 – Live Period 4:20 – 4:30 – Special Teams 4:30 – 4:50 – Indy Offense 4:50 – 5:20 – Indy Defense (Include pursuit) 5:20 – 5:35 – Defensive Skelly (DL – Pass Rush and / or Chutes / Sled) 5:35 – 5:50 – Defensive Inside Run (DB's 1 on 1's) 5:50 – 6:00 - Tackle
WEDNESDAY – OFFENSIVE DAY
3:30 – 4:00 – Lift 4:00 – 4:20 – Special Teams 4:20 – 4:40 – TEAM D – Top 3 Pass / Top 3 Run Plays 4:40 – 6:00 – Offense (My OC will break this down further, just giving him a block of time at this point.)
THURSDAY
3:30 – 3:40 – Warm Up 3:40 – 3:50 – Speed Training 3:50 – 4:10 – Special Teams 4:10 – 4:35– Offense 4:35 – 4:40– Tackle 4:40 – 5:00 – Team D
SATURDAY
9:00 – 10:30
Varsity – Run / lift / Stretch JV – On the Field - TEAM
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Post by jsk002 on Dec 31, 2013 11:57:20 GMT -6
1. Perspective is always good to have. It is just a game.
2. We are all competitive people, so none of us like losing. However the fact remains that only half of us win on any given Friday night. I think it goes back to how you prepare. On Friday nights you have some control, but you aren't playing. You have greater control in how you prepare your guys or your team. If you are confident that you did all you could to prepare your guys, then while loses will still hurt, you will have either solace in the fact that you did all you could or you will have a chance to review what you could have done better.
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Post by jsk002 on Dec 31, 2013 11:11:51 GMT -6
Hey All,
I am looking at re-organizing our weekly in-season practice schedule.
A couple things to note: - I want to keep it to 2.5 hours total. We have a roster of about 35 varsity and 15 Freshmen (JV). Our guys play both ways. We all practice together for indy. Team time for the JV is done on Saturday's - they play on Monday and we keep the scheme the same. We don't have lifting periods or athletic periods.
Here is what I got.
MONDAY
3:30 – 4:30 – Lift
4:30 – 5:00 - 30 Minute Review Friday Night’s Film
5:00 – 5:15 – D Game Plan
5:15 – 5:30 – O Game Plan
TUESDAY – DEFENSIVE DAY
3:30 – 3:50 – Special Teams Meeting
3:50 – 4:00 – Film – Opponent Favorite Plays
4:00 – 4:10 – Warm - Up
4:10 – 4:20 – Live Period
4:20 – 4:30 – Special Teams
4:30 – 4:50 – Indy Offense
4:50 – 5:20 – Indy Defense (Include pursuit)
5:20 – 5:35 – Defensive Skelly (DL – Pass Rush and / or Chutes / Sled)
5:35 – 5:50 – Defensive Inside Run (DB's 1 on 1's)
5:50 – 6:00 - Tackle
WEDNESDAY – OFFENSIVE DAY
3:30 – 4:00 – Lift
4:00 – 4:20 – Special Teams
4:20 – 4:40 – TEAM D – Top 3 Pass / Top 3 Run Plays
4:40 – 6:00 – Offense (My OC will break this down further, just giving him a block of time at this point.)
THURSDAY
3:30 – 3:40 – Warm Up
3:40 – 3:50 – Speed Training
3:50 – 4:10 – Special Teams
4:10 – 4:35– Offense
4:35 – 4:40– Tackle
4:40 – 5:00 – Team D
SATURDAY
9:00 – 10:30
Varsity – Run / lift / Stretch
JV – On the Field - TEAM
Hate it - Love it - Any suggestions let me know. Probably far from perfect, but I want efficiency.
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Post by jsk002 on Nov 15, 2013 8:22:58 GMT -6
As a head coach - I do an informal review. I'll bring all the guys in and talk about what did well in the season, what we can improve upon and map out an initial plan. We typically do this over Pizza and beer.
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Post by jsk002 on Nov 15, 2013 7:27:58 GMT -6
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Post by jsk002 on Oct 29, 2013 9:45:39 GMT -6
I'm sure you have expectations for those guys. I would just reiterate them, demonstrate how they aren't living up to them and explain to them that this will not result in success. I would explain to them why the kids in the past had success.
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Post by jsk002 on Oct 29, 2013 9:20:59 GMT -6
So what's your question? Sometimes classes lack leadership. Seems like that is what you are dealing with here. Did you talk to your captains?
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Post by jsk002 on Oct 25, 2013 9:05:40 GMT -6
Wisconsin - weather might be part of it but I also think the state wants to get games in before the beginning of deer hunting season - third week of November.
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Post by jsk002 on Oct 25, 2013 8:07:42 GMT -6
And I am fired up!
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