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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 7, 2009 7:20:45 GMT -6
Where are you located that you were able to come and check them out? Visiting my folks for spring break in south Daytona. It's a whole different world down here. Went to a local high school last week to talk to some coaches and observe their "activity period"...nothing like having all football players in a PE class everyday!
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Helmets
Apr 6, 2009 17:00:30 GMT -6
Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 6, 2009 17:00:30 GMT -6
Any of you ever have your kids keep their helmets on while shaking hands? We do after scouting a team and seeing one of the kids on the field knock another kid out during handshake.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 6, 2009 16:52:54 GMT -6
What's the history of UCF, not just as a football program, but as an institution? Is it relatively new?
Went to one of their scrimmages on Saturday and what an awesome looking campus! The limited part I saw looked brand new from a "downtown" to resident housing to the stadium and practice facilities.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 4, 2009 21:20:48 GMT -6
Five years ago I went to my first game to scout an opponent as a new member of our staff. At the first snap I heard the coaches I was with saying "yep, 4 front w/a 3 tech" and "cov 3 robber" etc. Honestly, I was lost. I couldn't figure out how they could look at a cluster of 22 kids and discern what was what.
Lots of film and live scouting and actual games has started to clear this up. It is absolutely all about patterns and recognizing them based on the ever-growing library in this small cabeza of mine.
Fast forward to today...went to a scrimmage at UCF and in a snap shot of the defense I see Cov 2 w/lb'er locked on the inside slot to field. It was a passing down and w/out really thinking about it, I knew the qb was going to the backside. Why? Not b/c I'm some genius coach, b/c I'm not. What I did recognize though, was a 3 on 2 match-up to the wideside resulting in a 2 on 2 alignment on the backside. Sure enough, backside slant attacks the defense.
When you look at a defense and check the mof, aren't you really looking for a pattern of possible coverage? Based on what you see, you are instantly led to fewer and fewer possibilities of what the other team is doing and hopefully you have answers "right now" not based on your IQ rather your experience at identifying what it is you're given.
Great thread Brophy.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 2, 2009 9:10:30 GMT -6
I think that society likes to duck responsibility. It's easier to point the finger outward than inward (although I like to say that when you point you have three fingers pointing back at you).
I don't know if it's guilt projecting outward, but do you think parents are just too afraid of looking in the mirror?
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 19:36:17 GMT -6
touchdowng: you make an excellent point regarding the kind of conditioning for football. There's even a point to be made regarding the type of conditioning for particular positions.
That said, we're a small school with kids often playing both ways. We had a very successful season last year and our conditioning proved critical in the latter stages of the season.
While fb is primarily an anaerobic sport, I believe that anaerobic exercise coupled with aerobic drills helps overall fitness and, perhaps more importantly, mental toughness.
I want kids to push themselves even when they feel like quitting and as we all know competition pushes kids to push themselves.
I understand your point completely but was thinking what if you could design a course that essentially incorporated elements aerobic and anaerobic exercise?
Perhaps you start "high kneeing" it through tires, hit the deck and scramble under a chute, sprint up the hill, slalom through set posts, etc.
I often "create" shorter conditioning courses for practice that entail hitting the ropes, blasting under the chute, racing through cones, etc.
Not that kids particularly enjoy conditioning but sometimes these wrinkles help break the monotony of gassers, hills, etc.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 16:14:40 GMT -6
Anyone have an established, football oriented, obstacle course at their facility? I was trying to think of a permanent course to put together that would be agreeable to the buildings and grounds crew (out of the way for the mower, etc.) but that would stand the test of time in the elements.
Ultimately, I was thinking of putting together a course that would take the average kid around a minute to complete. By having it permanent, you could have course records for backs and lineman.
Kids could also run through it on their own for conditioning in the summer.
Any thoughts on what it would look like or what you would have as part of it?
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 16:09:27 GMT -6
Strength: There's no substitute for it and no excuse for lack of it!
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 11:19:39 GMT -6
Thanks!
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 11:15:20 GMT -6
ojw: thanks for the info. I actually made the drive from Daytona to Gainesville last year to see their spring game...who would'a thought 60,000+ would show up to see a team scrimmage themselves! Awesome scene.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 7:40:44 GMT -6
Great stuff coaches! With the three ring binder idea, you could even create pages for kids to insert newspaper clips from the season, etc.
By giving them some ownership, it might compel them to read more of it since they'd be "filling in the blanks" as the season progresses. It might even take on a life of its own with kids from the jv program being excited to get theirs when they get up w/the big boys.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 7:32:59 GMT -6
Any thoughts on schools, college or hs, to chdck out from the Daytona area?
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Post by Coach Bennett on Apr 1, 2009 7:30:40 GMT -6
Tried to search for this but ended up getting every thread anyone ever quoted someone else in.
Anyway, I understand how to quote a coach, but how do you split up his response to address multiple points by interjecting your own text?
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Post by Coach Bennett on Mar 31, 2009 8:33:32 GMT -6
Whoops! Airraider, just saw Shreveport under your location...not sure there are many rinks down that way!
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Post by Coach Bennett on Mar 31, 2009 8:32:14 GMT -6
Another way to get rubber flooring on the cheap is, if it's played in your area, contacting local hockey rinks and getting their used matting.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Mar 25, 2009 10:05:46 GMT -6
Question is, how do you gauge loyalty? It's so easy to have someone say "program first" but then you hear one of your "loyalists" trash talking a colleague or coworker or boss and wonder, do they do the same when I'm not around?
Ultimately, I agree...relationships and great people make your life not easy but easier.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Mar 5, 2009 7:58:36 GMT -6
Anyone ever get frustrated when basketball or hockey starts holding meetings just about the time you're finishing up the season or heading into playoffs?
As much as I want to meet with our kids in the spring to get them on the same page, I try to remember the frustration felt when other teams start our kids even thinking about another sport while in football. It's really not fair to the kids either.
We hold our meetings just about immediately after spring sports are finished. That said, we make sure that information about tournaments and lifting schedules are informally out there as soon as we know it.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Feb 9, 2009 9:02:35 GMT -6
Math teachers are in demand (like said earlier). Another emerging, highly sought position is reading specialist if that fits more with your academic orientation.
I know that our district is looking to hire reading specialists even in the midst of cutting other positions in this economic climate.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 10, 2009 12:57:10 GMT -6
Any titles you've come across that your student athlete would be into reading in the off season? Not necessarily for every kid but for the couple that you have a fairly good idea will be your captains next year?
Just trying to get them thinking about leadership without having them think about football specifically during their hockey or basketball season.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 7, 2009 12:09:41 GMT -6
To the idea of letting kids be individuals I tell them they should be...do it by working your tail off in the off season, in camp and make plays on the field. Separate yourself from your peers through action not window dressing.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 7, 2009 10:45:09 GMT -6
We've had good success with running a base play on a "first sound" cadence. We get right to the line, get set and have at it.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 7, 2009 8:51:48 GMT -6
We recently received a stipend/grant from a state legislator which allowed us to convert our weight room to a true fitness center; it's awesome. It's a difficult economic climate but perhaps you could contact one of your state reps from your area. At the very least you could let the board know how serious you are about making it happen by showing them who you've talked to.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 7, 2009 7:53:02 GMT -6
PLAY THE CHILDHOOD OBESITY ANGLE!!!
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 7, 2009 6:55:46 GMT -6
Great replies everyone. Since I started the thread, I'll play devil's advocate here. Since many of you have usernames that are not your given one, did you start out on this board thinking anonymity was the way to go?
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 6, 2009 8:05:25 GMT -6
So, a few weeks ago a coach on the board slyly asked if I perhaps coached in Kansas. I bit, said no, and informed him that I coach in upstate NY. He replied, "I thought so!" (Nice one ampec).
I feel like it's not that big of a deal since I see so many coaches marketing their schemes through video, etc. However, it does make me a little bit leery in working out the finer points of what we're trying to do.
Question is: do you care if your one of your opponents knows who you are, the questions you ask and the feedback you provide from this board or any other resource for that matter?
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Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 12, 2008 9:21:33 GMT -6
Personally, kids should be playing more than one sport and the physical demands of wrestling seem to make kids mentally tough. We don't have wrestling at our school but I see kids playing hockey, basketball and lacrosse as a good thing. Rugby is really growing in our area and it has really helped our tackling!
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Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 11, 2008 8:18:55 GMT -6
I hear you coach! Here's an example of something from our season this year: we run a jet-veer scheme. Naturally, when the DE's start widening, we go veer. Well, there are many ways to take advantage of a 5 tech that comes upfield...so, we installed the shovel. By the end of the season I had too many plays to effectively rep, even if on Sunday night I determined "these are the plays we'll use to beat 'x'" this week.
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Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 10, 2008 12:15:44 GMT -6
Any of you tell yourselves you're going to have a limited playbook only to find that this play and that one and this one will attack next week's opponent and so you install it?
Wish I had better discipline or a better initial playbook that addressed a broader range of "what if's."
Do any of you say "I'm only going to have 'x' runs and passes"?
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Post by Coach Bennett on Nov 25, 2008 11:58:20 GMT -6
We stumbled upon one that was simple and that the kids preached all week:
THE THEME IS TEAM
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Post by Coach Bennett on Oct 9, 2008 10:38:42 GMT -6
Thanks splitbacks and trojan.
I installed them a couple of weeks ago so they'd be ready to go and am psyched to use them.
What are your favorite unbalanced sets for what plays?
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