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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jul 26, 2017 13:27:14 GMT -6
I have been in a very similar situation as you described, where we had more coaches than players at some summer practices, it was ridiculous! Glad I got out ASAP once I realized that there was too many negative variables working against me that had nothing to do with football that I could not control/help improve. Of course I didn't realize that at the time but looking back and knowing what I know now, I would never have done it again because it is a losing battle. There are plenty of other coaching options with way better support.
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jul 25, 2017 19:59:22 GMT -6
Just a heads up, from reading dumcoach (Youth football forum), numbers are VERY LOW for all of their organizations with quite a few of them having to call it quits. A very uncertain future for the sport
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jul 7, 2017 22:22:14 GMT -6
Look into Lavar Balls BigBallerBrand, cant go wrong with those
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 29, 2017 20:55:12 GMT -6
I wasn't referring to coaches being great at one sport and then also excelling at another sport. At the end of the day, a great coach is a great teacher, if you give him/her a different sport it is just like teaching a different subject. He or she will be great at teaching it.
My comment was regarding for every great coach (thirst of for knowledge, hungry/passionate, work well with kids), there are hundreds that are not so "great"
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 28, 2017 23:57:25 GMT -6
We talk a lot about developing schemes, players, etc. What are you go to points for developing coaches? Do great assistant coaches an innate ability to be great or can it be developed? Thoughts? I've thought about coaching coaches just like I would my players but then I figured they might just become clones of me (which might be a good thing!) I try to avoid the the good ol' "I don't like to be micro-managed", well then my thoughts are "Well what's the alternative then? You do whatever you want with no knowledge of what you're teaching?" I definitely think that assistant coaches can be developed. One of the coaches I respect most in the world is a guy who only played just a few games of high school football and appeared a few times in a Varsity game on special teams. This was because of injuries, etc. But he loved football. When He came to the school I met him at, he told the head coach that he just wanted to be a part of the team and he would coach whatever position he wanted him to coach but he just needed to be taught how DE's should play or LB's or WR's etc. He's now coached nearly every position at that school, and after 8 years in the program, because he was just a sponge for knowledge, he became the defensive coordinator and a few years after he became DC the school had a 4 year stretch where they were within the top 40 in the state (all classes) for points given up average for the season. On the other side, I once knew a guy who was the OC for a state championship football team, and then later in life he became the head coach of the volleyball team at the school when they had a hard time finding someone who wanted the job and led them to some great things. I once asked his son how he was able to know both. He said that he really didn't know volleyball, but he was just great at working with kids and he talked to as many people as possible about techniques, skills, etc. in volleyball, so it worked out. Great story but I think the guys you're describing is the exception, not the norm
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 15, 2017 18:06:35 GMT -6
I'm sure this topic has come up a bunch but I'm hoping people won't mind rehashing it. I'm fortunate to have friends who play some serious big boy football and they've become friends with a national powerhouse and at my request they set me up so I can visit with this powerhouse this summer. I'm nervous as f***! Like, I'm overthinking every interaction like I'm trying to get a date with Marissa Miller. "Don't come on too strong, play it cool, don't let them know how excited you are..." My big questions (never really visited like this before): 1-how do you say "I want to know everything about running your offense" without wearing out your welcome? 2-I'm totally willing to do some kind of grunt work trade for their help, is this a standard deal? I feel like a jack ass just showing up empty handed. I dunno. Socially awkward me strikes again. Nothing gets the conversation started on the right foot like bringing Starbucks coffee and donuts. I think its a small simple gesture that could go a long ways in helping you build a connection with them. I did this once when visiting another program and they were nothing short of amazing. Very welcoming and we talked football for hours on end. Also, you are probably overthinking this, a couple things they reminded me while I was there was, 1) They do the same exact thing I was doing (visiting college programs/staffs to learn) so they were showing the same hospitality other teams showed them. They weren't going to be slapd*cks about it 2) It's not everyday you find guys who want to talk football much less want to pick your brain and learn from you.
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 15, 2017 14:05:59 GMT -6
Good stuff coaches, keep em coming! While we're on this topic, where do you get your visors from? (lol jk)
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 12, 2017 22:37:32 GMT -6
I teach/coach JRHS football in a low-income community. We fundraise as much as possible.
1) Football cleats have been an issue, I am looking to put our fundraising $$$ into some cleats and do it as a library check-out system? Anyone ever done this, is this an efficient system and how long will cleats last from the wear and tear of a season? Plastic cleats more durable & longer lasting than metal wired ones?
Looking to checkout the local Goodwill for some cleats. Open to all suggestions.
2) Looking for retailer suggestions, where do you guys purchase the following?
Football hand bags Football red agility bags Those boards you see in OL drills (Home depot?) Football chutes colored Jerseys/Pinnies
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 11, 2017 9:19:54 GMT -6
Exposing your coaches to different coaching styles is a great way to help develop them, even if it's just to reinforce that what they are doing is correct. If you can find a programme near you that's willing to host and let your guys shadow/observe their coaches then I suggest giving that a shot. Great idea I totally forgot about. There is a great HS around here that I have contacts with and could definitely connect to make this happen. Thanks!
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 10, 2017 9:56:19 GMT -6
Alternative thoughts here...head coaches are usually the ones that are in charge of all the development of the staff. But they have so much else to do.... A couple of schools in our area have used a mentor system to help out a new head coach or their staff. They ask or hire an older coach, usually retired, to work with their staff. Not always as an on field coach but instead helping their overall organization and planning. They observe practices and attend games. The guy/school that I know did this made a big impact on a young head coach and his staff. Stayed with them long enough to help them build confidence and now the coach and staff are competent. Helped build a practice plan, practice schedule, equipment organization, and philosophy on off field stuff. Other school has a retired HOF coach that is a volunteer that coaches a position and is a sounding board for the HC. He does not coordinate anything and is more of an advisor in game planning. He is a master in teaching and relating to players and is passing that on. This is awesome, thanks for sharing! Definitely thinking outside the box and finding solutions to problems
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 10, 2017 1:51:12 GMT -6
gccwolverine I understand where you're coming from. I think the difficult thing is that it isn't as easy as Me: Do you have aspirations to be head coach someday? Applicant: Yes, I'd love to be (whether they do or do not understand what it takes and what the responsibilities of a HC are) Me: Oh wow this guy wants to be a HC some day, he must have drive and ambition! I think the issue is (same as when you hire anyone for a job) you don't get to see what they're really made of until you've hired them and see how they work. In other words, anyone can talk the talk but when it comes to walking...
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 9, 2017 22:41:16 GMT -6
I guess simply put, my question is where do you find guys are EXTREMELY willing to learn? Are they molded or premade, you know what I mean? Guys who are EXTREMELY willing to learn are 99% pre-made - it's all about their character. You can mentor your coaches all you want but if they're not willing to put in the work to develop themselves and do the bitch-work that no-one else is willing to do early in their career you can't really do much about it. This was my fear. How do you find coaches like this? Game of chance?
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 8, 2017 1:14:13 GMT -6
I guess simply put, my question is where do you find guys are EXTREMELY willing to learn? Are they molded or premade, you know what I mean?
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Jun 1, 2017 11:41:12 GMT -6
I've worked quite extensively with youth a few years ago. My thoughts,
I wrote about this somewhere before but you CANNOT use cone drills designed for adults to increase agility and have 5-12 year olds run through it. This is NOT FUN. The only reason adults even do it is because they understand it will help them improve agility, that is not the same as being fun. I tried warning my buddy who ran a camp and sure enough, within 5 minutes of camp starting, all the excitement out of camp was non-existent. He had to do a complete 180 on the fly to salvage it.
If your goal is to create excitement, passion for the game, sell your program, to hopefully keep players playing up through high school, got to make it fun. Research shows around age 13-14 is when kids begin to specialize in a sport (it is also the time puberty kicks in, coincidence?)
How to make it fun? Think back when you were 5-12, what did you want to do? Set up figure-8 cone drills and run through them? I hope not, all kids want to run, catch, and throw the football. If you set up drills that have kids catching, running, or throwing the football you will be good. Also, limit lines/standing around and keep kids moving as much as possible. Running through bags, diving over dummy bags for a TD are also good.
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Post by badtotheflexbone on May 30, 2017 14:32:58 GMT -6
tothehouse hypothetically speaking, how would you go about mentoring young guys?
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Post by badtotheflexbone on May 29, 2017 22:10:30 GMT -6
We talk a lot about developing schemes, players, etc. What are you go to points for developing coaches? Do great assistant coaches an innate ability to be great or can it be developed? Thoughts?
I've thought about coaching coaches just like I would my players but then I figured they might just become clones of me (which might be a good thing!) I try to avoid the the good ol' "I don't like to be micro-managed", well then my thoughts are "Well what's the alternative then? You do whatever you want with no knowledge of what you're teaching?"
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Post by badtotheflexbone on May 16, 2017 0:11:00 GMT -6
Coaches what are some things you enjoy/dislike about spring football?
For me, I personally love the process of position specific technique, combining it into small groups, and then seeing it all tie together. Just something about that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, I just absolutely love the process
On the other hand, dealing with indirect coaching duties such as fundraising, grades, parents, misbehaviors, equipment....so NOT FUN! But I understand its importance so I focus on getting better in these areas
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Post by badtotheflexbone on May 11, 2017 18:32:12 GMT -6
**** we were talking about sitting on the toilet and forcing it, so you're on to something lol 3rdandlong here is my easy and quick guide to being "funny" if you are the serious type, just add "just kidding" at the end of your sentences. Serious people don't realize how funny they could be if they just loosen up and were "just kidding" after some of their sentences. It will actually come off funny. 2nd tip to being 'funnier' would be try and find the humor in everything, this is a guilty pleasure of mines but when I watch stuff on YouTube, I instantly scroll to the comments because I know there's going to be comments that make me laugh. "Material" Had a student from photography class that wanted to take a team photo for the yearbook. We started practice a bit later to accommodate. All the players lined up in rows on the bench in typical football team picture pose. I wanted to take a jab at one of our knuckleheads. Before the picture was taken, I yelled out to the team, "They said they wanted all the pretty people in the front, Sorry Johnny! That means you gotta go to the back". Team absolutely lost it! He tried to counter back with "Coach that means you gotta go to the back" but the effect was already gone. You can't make a joke with the same joke. How would you describe your personality? Think of personality like on a spectrum. If you are heavy on one end, you can leverage the other end to "be funny" Shy --> Random burst of extrovert Serious --> anything you do that isn't serious will probably come off funny funny --> try and be serious, it will come off funny
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Post by badtotheflexbone on May 9, 2017 20:01:45 GMT -6
I agree with 53 about the not being funny and trying to force it. Maybe its just me but I never liked "jokes" that were read/recited from a paper that had absolutely 0 relevancy to anything. Make the jokes about the program, coaches, players. Again, this comes off way easier if you're naturally funny. Another thing I would consider is, if you being the funny guy (nothing wrong with that) someone has to be the 'serious' guy, kind of like good cop/bad cop to get everyone back on track. I am "naturally" a funny guy but when it comes to coaching, I have to be Mr. serious and keep everyone on task, motivated, schedule on track, etc.
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 30, 2017 16:56:31 GMT -6
Educate me, how would the other team have possibly found out the other player was ineligible?
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 28, 2017 19:09:58 GMT -6
No. Not to my knowledge. We ordered the same ones every time and its been great. But I will say that chrome logos on matte helmets is dope, clean, fresh. Whatever adjective you want to use. I second this. We went with navy Matt with a gold chrome FSU spear. Prepare for incoming FSU lawsuit
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 28, 2017 19:03:56 GMT -6
Can't help you but I have always believed in this saying, it may be hella cliche but
Do what you love so you don't ever have to work a day in your life
OR
Do what you gotta do, so you can do what you love.
1st one may be less money but hey, it ain't work, it's a labor of love. 2nd one may make more money but that extra $$$ allows you to do what you love.
Decide what you want, go for it, good luck sir!
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 19, 2017 0:07:49 GMT -6
badtotheflexbone I don't know if the post still exists. It may have been lost in the purge, as it seems he has had all of his posts removed. I see. I've heard a lot about him, mostly through tidbits of various threads, seems like an interesting individual, care to elaborate who he was and what happened?
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 18, 2017 21:23:00 GMT -6
I agree.. but I would say the post by DCOhio where he described how he "learned to be a coordinator" is one of the best coaching posts on this site, and should probably be a must read for anyone interested in the process of truly becoming a good coach. Can't post this without sharing the link! I don't know the backstory behind DCohio but heard he wrote/blogged about marriage/wife/divorce or something? what's the story/link behind that?
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 17, 2017 23:18:51 GMT -6
Putting it up on the website may or may not help parents but it does show that your organization are aware of the issues, takes it very seriously, and uses the research to help educate your coaches, parents, players, and anyone else involve in your organization to reduce the likelihood of concussions.
I think it definitely helps from a mental, physical, emotional, and stigma point of view. I think the best thing that happens is that it creates discussion and conversations which is the ultimate goal.
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 16, 2017 0:28:24 GMT -6
This has potential to be a "bookmarked" Top Huey Thread for me lol
Coaches please keep sharing what you have bookmarked and the links, I am going through them like CRAZY!
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 13, 2017 20:35:43 GMT -6
Saw a quote somewhere on here or the youth football forum: Something along the lines of, "This is THE bigtime for your players/make it the big time for your players" IMO, With that in mind, it doesn't matter which age group you're working with I don't know if that is necessarily the case when you are talking about age groups whose most important part of the game experience is the post game soda at the concession stand.... In their defense, hot cheetoes and Dr. Pepper runs out fast!
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 13, 2017 20:17:30 GMT -6
Saw a quote somewhere on here or the youth football forum:
Something along the lines of, "This is THE bigtime for your players/make it the big time for your players"
IMO, With that in mind, it doesn't matter which age group you're working with
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 8, 2017 12:08:04 GMT -6
On an unrelated note, Where can I find more coaches like you guys to coach with!?!? The commitment here can be questionable a lot of times!
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Post by badtotheflexbone on Apr 5, 2017 0:32:56 GMT -6
Got it, so just basic Microsoft word?
Have you or anyone tried using Excel? I really like the "tabs sheet" at the bottom so that you can label different things as needed.
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