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Post by coachb5806 on Jul 15, 2019 21:47:43 GMT -6
We put name plate stickers in our lockers each year. Kids love them. We pull them off at the end of each school year. It does peel off some paint behind them but we just touch it up.
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 3, 2019 17:12:54 GMT -6
Head coaches who have a couch in the coaches office are lit. We have 5, no joke. But it is also where we watch film with the team
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 25, 2019 23:30:16 GMT -6
Not only can I not think of anything I care less about than my players hair, but I am actually currently growing a mullet as part of an agreement with 5 seniors.
We are all growing mullets together as long as one of those 5 doesnt miss a single workout. If even one misses, they are all gone. This started the Monday before Thanksgiving, and we are still growing.
Interestingly enough, the most successful football program in our state will not hire you if you have facial hair. I think I have been clean shaven once in the past 10 years, so I know I will never be working there.
Also, I think it is ridiculous that any grown man would tell another grown man what he should look like, but if you dont toe their line you cant work there, fair enough.
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Post by coachb5806 on Dec 23, 2017 16:58:23 GMT -6
The same thing was happening around that time at Evangel Christian, John Curtis Christian and West Monroe High School in Louisiana. People aware of the practice used to chide those schools for having an "8+" grade level. Kind of sours the fact that also during that time, The school resumes looked like this : John Curtis state championships 1975, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, Evangel Christian state championships 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2016 Evangel did not open a HS until 1989. West Monroe State Championships 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2011 Prior to the Early 1990s, West Monroe was a whipping boy in LA high school football. Article from 20 years ago. www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1996/04/03/28shirt.h15.html States that one year West Monroe High School held back 19 kids at "parent request" who had performed well enough academically for promotion. As the article points out, that is an entire class. Soooooo you’re saying that we need to figure out a way to convince parents to hold their kids back in jr high...... if everyone would just read outliers Probably the most interesting book i have read. Makes me look at everything in a different light.
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Post by coachb5806 on Oct 14, 2017 1:37:09 GMT -6
My former super who was here my 1st 5 years and hired me was an old school football player and coach. He loved football. He would stroll out to practice occassionally. We played for state titles in both 2014 and 2015. Each time he asked if he could come talk to the team during the week. He had been a stud rb on a team that lost a state title by one point his sr year. Both times the kids loved the visit. They knew he cared and loved fb.
When we won state in 14, it was the 2nd title in school history and 1st in 35 years. We surprised him with a ring and he was stunned. He left for a bigger better job last December. He was a great one to work for.
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 27, 2017 9:05:34 GMT -6
Happened my 1st year as HC in the fall of 2012. I wrote a letter explaining why it wouldn't work (You had to come in for the jury pool on Fridays) and said I would be happy to serve any other time of year. I was released no problem and haven't been summoned again.
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 25, 2017 11:56:09 GMT -6
We are a school of 200. We have been very good offensively and defensively the past three years. Our only goal on return is get the ball back. We play basically a base defense, want to ensure the kick, no fakes. There are way too any instances of teams losing possession on a muffed return or a team running a fake and any of those occurrences is a huge momentum shift. We try to minimize the bad and punt return, seemingly at every level, even the NFL, is where an abnormally high number of bad outcomes occur for the returning team. It is something that our kids initially didn't like, but now we tell them, watch college and NFL for a weekend and tell em how many posessions you see lost on a return gone bad. Not all of my coaches like it, but it has worked well for us. We went 2 years straight without a single punt where we didn't get the ball back. We had a team run a fake on us this year. SO, we have lost one possession in the last 3 seasons. It is a part of our overall approach to things.
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 25, 2017 11:37:50 GMT -6
We almost never return punts. We don't block them either.
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Post by coachb5806 on Mar 8, 2017 11:59:54 GMT -6
Here's another thought.......ever give your kids a day off? Like on a Tuesday? We did once. it was our 2nd year here. We were 0-2 in our league, had played #1 and #2 in league the previous 2 weeks. We really needed to win the last 2 league games. Our kids were spent. We drug through our Wednesday practice. I pulled our staff aside and we decided to give them Thursday completely off, no morning session (we go before school at 6:45 on-thurs in season). Told the kids see you Friday at 4:30. We came out and won 47-13. We played very, very well. I think that little recharge for our kids in that situation was great. That being said, I love what was previously mentioned about in season practices. We practice in season to get ready for Friday. We plan out practice for the entire week in our Saturday meetings. For us, practice is essential. We go 3:30 to 6. As the season progresses, and we have less to refine, we try to get them out by 5:30. But our kids and parents know not to expect anything before 6.
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 27, 2017 11:05:30 GMT -6
Hunter Wood, strength coach for Apopka, was outstanding at Denver this weekend. He was one of the best I have heard. That whole organization is very good from the top down. They will be a consistent power for a long time. Theres so much turnover in this state but Apopka has a real good structure and theyre great in an organizational sense. Got to hear Darlington in Phoenix last year, he was equally impressive. Hearing his strength coach, who was speaking elsewhere last year, was on the list. If we weren't already headed to Denver we would have made the trip for that alone. We do a pretty good job with our off season, and honestly there was only one thing we are going to tweak with our high school program. But Coach Wood completely opened up a new way of doing things with our 7th and 8th graders that I can't wait to get rolling on. We have certainly been neglecting those guys.
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 26, 2017 20:27:36 GMT -6
Hunter Wood, strength coach for Apopka, was outstanding at Denver this weekend. He was one of the best I have heard.
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Post by coachb5806 on Jan 25, 2017 9:57:24 GMT -6
How do you all handle gameday for other sports? We are also a very small school with no athletic period or PE weights. All of our work must be done before or after school. Our 9th graders lift twice per week in PE but 10-12 must come in before or after school. Do you all have any pushback regarding lifting for athletes who are in-Season in another sport? Coach we don't bring guys in on other sports game days. Our minimum goal each week is 2 days, one to bench/squat and another to hang clean/deadlift. For example, this week, we got our bench/squat done Monday with everyone, basketball played Tuesday so that morning only offseason guys (about 9) came in and we conditioned. Basketball coaches asked to give them Wednesday off since the team didn't get in until after midnight, so Wednesday was just offseason again. We had them do a front squat/Incline workout that the boys call Hell's Playground. Thursday is a big league game, so we will work footwork and agility tomorrow with our offseason guys then Friday everyone will hang clean/deadlift together. One of the best things we have done is change how we lift during our own season. There was a time when we lifted "to maintain" blah blah blah. We couldn't train heavy and seeks strength gains due to the rigor of our season. Looking back, that is a huge load of bull$hit. When we started here 5 years ago, kids had no strength base at all. We trained hard and heavy the first half of our season and maxed in October. I was surprised in how much we gained strength wise and I didn't feel that it affected our performance, so we continued. We went 4-6 that year, but laid a good foundation. Ever since, we lift on a heavy program aimed at increasing strength during our season just as we do the rest of the year. We max the last week before Christmas break every year. It is hard for a coach to argue against in season training when you do it during your own season, play late/deep into the playoffs and then two weeks later your kids post a 30 lb improvement in their lifts. It has reached a point now where our basketball coach is requiring his players to be there at morning workouts, whether they play football or not.
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Post by coachb5806 on Jan 20, 2017 19:27:40 GMT -6
Coach here is a post from a previous thread that pretty much sums up how we handle it
this is a problem that I have spent a lot of time combating over the years and here is what I have implemented. First, our offseason begins as soon as our season ends. We bring our guys in at 6:45 am every day before school. We try to get 3 days a week on the weights and two days a week on footwork and agility. It can be hard to do, as we are a small school and almost all of our guys play multiple sports, hence why we go mornings before school. Like coach2013 said, it is all about incentives a rewards. We use those to create a culture of wanting to work and get better every single day. We take attendance at every single workout/practice. Our current attendance records go back to the Monday before Thanksgiving. We use these solely as rewards, not punishments. For example, we have a kid Trevor, he is a Jr and the only kid that has not missed a single workout. He is sitting at 113 workouts as of now, (He also plays baseball and throws in track). Trevor is number one for everything.
1. We buy a few new helmets and shoulder pads every year. Equipment is issued in order of workouts attended. Seniority means nothing here! You get things in the order you have EARNED them. Our seniors know that if they want to go first, they have to start earning it as soon as their Jr year ends. We have a kid who has not played before that will be a senior who has committed to our program and will be near the top of the list.
2. We are currently constructing new locker room. It will have 24 custom, wooden sit down lockers. It will also have overflow bench seating. The top 24 workers get to choose which of the new lockers will be theirs, the others get the overflow benches.
3. We traveled to a team camp a few weeks ago in two school suburbans. Kids were fighting over who got to ride in which suburban. I was driving one and our principal was driving the other, some kids did not wnat to ride with her. I told them if they could not figure it out I was going to get out the attendance log and whoever had put in more would pick where they rode. We use that attendance log to reward wherever possible!
4. We do a Night of Champions lifting competition at the end of each July. We also max in December and May. Players can reach our 1,000 lb club (bench, squat, hang clean, deadlift) at any of these max windows. At the night of champions kids get to pick one lift to compete in (they max the others before the event that afternoon) and we give a trophy to the heaviest lifter in each class and the best lb for lb lift (encourages everyone to work, regardless of size and overall, top end strength) At the end of the year football banquet, the last award we give out is the 1,000 lb club trophies and shirts for those who made it. This is after all district, all state, all stars, etc. We build it up as the biggest award a player can earn because it is a reflection of the commitment and work ethic that we value above all else. We give out very nice awards for this (google sculpture alley)
This is some of what we do to motivate our guys. I am going into my 3rd year as the HC at this school. Our first year we went 4-6, no playoffs. Last year we went 7-5, were seeded 5th, and lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual state champ 22-6. Our improvement was primarily due to our players commitment to our off season program. We are a wing t team that had a 15oo yd tb, 1100 wb, and a 700 fb with 4 sophomores and a junior on our offensive line. We were tough, strong and determined because our guys learned and prepared for that every single day.
We have 15 starters back from that team and every single one has lived in the weight room and committed, regardless of what else they have going on. They are all over 80 workouts.
Now, sometimes you have to be creative. We have a Sr to be, the aforementioned 1,100 yd rusher, who was not showing up and working. I had tried everything I could think of. I sat him down and asked him what it was going to take. He said to let him wear a visor (I haven't allowed our boys to wear them). I agreed, we typed up a contract (Agreement was he would have perfect attendance from that point on) and it is sitting above my desk. He has not missed since mid January when we made the agreement. Of course, I will not only allow him to wear a visor, so if he succeeds, and he is 3 weeks from fulfilling the contract, he will have unlocked that privilege for all players, adding to their respect for him and their view of him as a leader.
Hope some of this helps. This is one area of coaching that I think is hugely overlooked and sooooooo important
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Hail Mary
Dec 30, 2016 21:12:19 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by coachb5806 on Dec 30, 2016 21:12:19 GMT -6
I have one that still hurts...
My first year as a HC (2012) at 24 we were playing a district team. They were undefeated and ranked 3rd in the state. We hadn't beat this school in 25 years. We were 3-4. We went down and scored with 26 seconds left and get the two to go up 28 to 26. They complete some passes. They complete a pass and call timeout, stopping the clock with 0.2 seconds left. It was not a situation. We had worked. We backed off our coverage, put heels on the goal line and said dont jump anything.they snap the ball and air it out. Our soph safety comes flying up, jumps to knock the ball down, misses and their wr catches the ball at the 3 and walks in. We lost 32 to 28. We finished 4-6. If we had held on it may have been enough to make playoffs. They ended up making the semifinals.
That is one no one has forgotten.
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Post by coachb5806 on Nov 1, 2016 20:41:52 GMT -6
Just saw a reporter tweet that he spoke to our state association and they checked with the national federation and were told that this was legal
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Post by coachb5806 on Oct 31, 2016 20:43:54 GMT -6
NM is under NFHS rules.
Here is some background on Artesia that someone associated with their program would never tell you. They are elite. There are few programs in the country at any level that can claim the things they have accomplished. They are gunning for the 30th state title since 1950 something and in my opinion this incident all but guaranteed they will get it.
Goddard is their biggest rival in classification. When I played we were in district with both and it wasn't pretty. Artesia is the classiest program I have ever seen. As a player and coach I have never been treated so well and had the hell beat out of me simultaneously. On our state board someone posted an NFHS rule that to me makes it clear that this is illegal.
I personally have immense respect for both of these programs, but Artesia doesn't need a chip on their shoulder. Watch out. I will Keep you guys posted.
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Post by coachb5806 on Oct 25, 2016 14:10:36 GMT -6
We only watch our live scrimmage practice film, which is done in Wednesdays practice. We watch it Thursday morning before school. We start at 6:45. School starts at 8:10.
This is easy for us as we come in every day at 6:45 year round for weight, footwork, agility, etc. In season, Thursdays are practice film days.
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 5, 2016 9:29:03 GMT -6
I find this thread very interesting. I am only 28, but I absolutely hate music at practice. We tried it 2 years ago, it didn't last a week. It was a HUGE distraction. We don't even have music in the weight room, we never have. I tell the guys all the time it is their job to be mentally prepared everyday for the task at hand. We as coaches bring energy to the weight room and practice and we have had very good results. My coaches know that we do not get any off days. We say, fake it till you make it. If you're not feeling it that day, you better fake it in a way that nobody can tell. We try to structure things where we rely solely on internal motivation, nothing external. Like someone mentioned earlier, when you get used to external motivators, you may struggle at times.
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Post by coachb5806 on Jan 21, 2016 21:48:03 GMT -6
I must be in the minority here. We started bracing our entire o line in 2014. We had lost a starting lineman in two of the previous 3 seasons to knee injuries in practice. In 2014 we bought 12 hinge knee braces for 40 bucks each from our med supply company where we get our training supplies. This past year we bought 12 more and were able to brace the starting o Line, d line and some of our jv line. We go live very intense scrimmages every Wednesday, where we had lost guys previously. In the past 2 years we have played 27 varsity games and haven't had any knee injuries. We have had some moments in practice where I was worried, but the braces seem too collapse the entire leg when impacted from the side rather than letting it flex and collapse in the middle. We are a wing t team and we have tons of down blocks where legs can get crossed up and blocked into from the side. We are a small school but based on our experience the last 2 seasons it's 500 bucks that we will keep spending each year. We collect them each year and are building up a nice supply.
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Post by coachb5806 on Jul 6, 2015 16:19:44 GMT -6
Coach, I believe the biggest thing that we do is I do not allow any music in the weight room. I tell the players that it is a skill to focus and perform a task at hand without external motivation. I also tell them they will not have earbuds in their helmets to help them on a Friday night.
I honestly feel this has gone a long way in maturing our players ability to mentally prepare and execute. We lift 48 weeks out of the year, so there are plenty of opportunities to work on focusing and performing. I would say that our ability to focus and perform is one of our strengths.
I am 27 years old and going into my 10th year coaching, my 4th as a head coach.
If you need any additional info, let me know. Happy to help
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 17, 2015 13:35:40 GMT -6
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 17, 2015 11:55:47 GMT -6
coachb, for your liftathon you guys only do 1 lift? For the actual competition and fundraising portion, yes. They max bench, squat, hang clean, and deadlift. They pick their favorite/best/most competitive lift for the Night of Champions competition. The reason we do it this way is because, honestly, the fundraising element of this is secondary to the event's purpose. The event is a culmination of our strength program that basically started 51 weeks prior. It is about one last measure of improvement before the season and reinforcing the weight room as the foundation of everything we do. That being said, I only let them do one lift because I want as many guys competing as possible. I have one guy that is our heaviest in bench, squat and dead lift. I would rather recognize three different guys that have worked equally as hard than just him. We had 36 guys on our roster this past season, and 30 competed in the event. Also, I think people are gonna give what they are gonna give. If they want to give $100, they are going to pledge accordingly regardless of the number of lifts being done. Hope that helps.
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 14, 2015 11:46:52 GMT -6
Another thing, we film our scrimmages on Wednesday. Those films are never longer than ten minutes. There is your proof right there
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Post by coachb5806 on Apr 14, 2015 11:18:09 GMT -6
NM passed similar rules that were in effect last season. Here is how we have broken it down and worked with it. If you read the definitions of the rules, its very similar to what has already been posted above, it talks about specific drills and definitions of varying degrees of contact. In my mind, when I am coaching or we are between reps, that is not contact time.
I am looking at this as actual contact time. Let's be really generous and say that a full contact play in a scrimmage lasts ten seconds. Well, that means each individual player can have up to 180 live reps in a practice.
We are wing t and go intense indy periods, with plenty of live work on Tuesdays and live scrimmages on Wednesdays. We have gone as many as 40 live offensive play reps in a scrimmage then flipped to defense. We are a small school, 36 on the roster.
My point is this, even if we go 80 live plays in a scrimmage, we haven't used up half of our contact time as alloted by these rules.
Now, before coming to my current school I may not have looked at it this way, but I have sat in with enough lawyers, ahem, parents, in disciplinary situations here to know how to make a case for something.
That's how we do it and you bet I am ready and willing to defend it when Little Johnny's attorney comes asking.
The alternative views says that standing around, actually coaching, running in plays, etc counts as contact time? No way. When the drill is live or the ball is in play, then its contact time. Anyone who wants to come to practice and run a stopwatch for those intervals is welcome to.
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Post by coachb5806 on Mar 9, 2015 20:24:00 GMT -6
Coach We used to do three day youth camps. I hated them, the players hated them, and the kids tired of it quickly. We went to a new format this year and everyone loved it.
We hosted a three hour camp on a Friday night from six to nine. Parents get a Friday night without kids. We charged ten bucks, to cover the cost of their camp shirt. The shirts said estancia football, we're next. We do it as a community service, not a fundraiser. Our varsity players run everything. They take kids through our dynamic warm up, lead all drill work, etc.
We ran kids through fifteen minute offensive position group drills. We broke them into qbs and receivers, running backs, and o line. Every kid goes through every position. That takes 45 minutes. Then we do the same for defensive positions.
Then we time 40s and explain to them where it came from, try to teach them a little about the game. Then we have a competition where our varsity punter tries to pin the ball and the campers have to cover and down it. Whoever gets closest got an extra camp shirt.
We finish with a flag game under the lights. The kids, players and coaches loved it. The campers left wanting more, not burnt out.
I have done a bunch of youth camps over the years and this was by far the best. Honestly looking forward to it this summer, haven't ever said that before.
The coolest part was we had a dad with two boys who stayed late and told us how much he and his boys loved the camp and how they were new to town. They came to most home games and always made it a point to come chat after games. They became instant supporters of the program.
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 26, 2015 14:57:39 GMT -6
I am clearly in the minority on this one. We go walk thru on Mondays, Tuesday we have intense, live indy periods (30 min o and d), offense against bags, defense thud, and Wednesdays are live. I mean live, full tilt, to the ground for at least an hour. Our goal every week is for our Wednesday to be harder than our Friday. We are a small school with a roster of 36 kids. We are middle of the pack for our classification. We get at least 25 live offensive play reps. If the intensity and physicality are not there, we will send the offense in and start all over. We are a wing-t team. We build everything on physicality.
We had three starters miss games with injuries. 1 got a concussion in practice, 1 got a concussion in a game, and another missed six games with a sprained knee that he injured in a game. The only time our Fridays were tougher than our Wednesdays was the state championship game and our regular season game against the team we played for the state title. They were the only team that could closely match our physicality. They are a double wing team with a very similar philosophy to ours. We played the #2 seed, a 10-1 spread team in the semi's and beat them 53-14. Our game plan was simple, hit them harder than they had ever been hit before and see how they handled it. We did, and they didn't handle it well. We ran 1 offensive formation all game.
I will never understand how you can expect your kids to be physical as hell if it is not a culture you are constantly cultivating in them.
Off season is also key here. We wouldn't be able to survive our season and practice set up if we didn't spend 48 weeks of the year on the weights.
We also played 14 straight games without a bye.
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 25, 2015 12:34:00 GMT -6
coach if you can give me an email I can send you my excel spreadsheets for the past two seasons. It details everything. We have a 7,000 operational budget and whatever fundraising we do. School covers a lot of these costs separate from our operational account. We are a small school in NM with 230 kids 9-12
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 16, 2015 16:11:09 GMT -6
Started coaching at 18 after graduating at my alma mater. Spent six years there as an assistant, NM 4a. Interviewed for a 2a HC job in 2011, didn't get it. Was contacted by the school in 2012, took the job at 24, was the 3rd HC in 3 yrs. Just finished our 3rd season 11-3, won first state title in 35 yrs. It has been an awesome experience. I thought I was ready at 24, but couldn't have been more wrong. Have been fortunate to have patient admin and assistants. Have learned a ton and still plenty more to learn
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 6, 2015 11:50:27 GMT -6
The maxes in the video above, the ones done in the weight room, are for total purposes and our 1000 lb club. Every kid maxes all four lifts, they only collect pledges and compete in the one that they choose to do for the NOC
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Post by coachb5806 on Feb 6, 2015 11:40:03 GMT -6
We do one every July. It is the end of our offseason program that starts the prior November or December and is a nice little kickoff for the season. It is on the Saturday night the week before the start of two a days. Kids collect pledges as others have described. We tell kids we want each one to bring in at least 100 bucks. First year we made about 1700, second year 2300, and last year we were using it to pay to build a new locker room, kids really pushed and brought in just over 4,900. Kids love it. They only get to complete in one lift of their choosing, and it is a competition. We give out nice awards for heaviest and best pound for pound in each lift, bench, squat, hang clean and dl.
We do it in either our main or auxiliary gym. We also do our pre season parent meeting immediately after. Works well because they are all there to watch the lifting. We move in two power racks and use our weight room mats to protect the floor.
Here is the link to the highlights from the event this past summer. the actual Night of Champions begins about 3:40
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