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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Mar 5, 2021 7:43:54 GMT -6
Thanks for the input, fellas. I am trying to find a balance between winning and opponent strength-of-schedule that could entice teams to play a more competitive schedule. The way it stands, with no adjustments, there is very little inter-class play because:
1) A large school can't afford to lose points for playing and even beating a smaller division school (beating a 0-10 AAA team is worth the same as beating a 9-1 AA team currently) 2) The smaller division schools don't want to play larger division schools as beating a 0-10 AA school is worth more than losing to a 10-0 AAA school
It FUBAR'd for sure
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Mar 2, 2021 9:17:23 GMT -6
Gents- Is any HS coach here content with his state's playoff point system? If you are familiar with the system (as far as point distribution/bonus pts etc) please comment. Our state recently realigned our football teams and is exploring adjustments to our current system. I have a voice in the matter and would like to hear some pros and cons from across the country. Here is a summary of our state's old system and the new one which will be used (hopefully, was supposed to be implemented last season but was not due to COVID interruptions) for first time this year: www.mhsaa.com/portals/0/documents/FB/Adjusted%20SOS%20Table.pdfThe major intent of the changes was to incentivize schools to schedule games against tougher competition and thus make it easier for better programs to get games. I'm interested in seeing IF it actually does incentivize the more competitive scheduling. That is exactly why our state re-aligned our districts. The issue is that the large/tough division (AAA) only has 11 teams in it. So we could play each team to fill out a 10 game schedule, and basically beat the snot out of each other, but we were looking for a way to get some inter-division games going. I'll keep an eye on Michigan in the fall for sure.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Mar 2, 2021 9:08:35 GMT -6
Do you feel this invites good competition between divisions? Like in your case a Class 4 playing a Class 5?
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Feb 26, 2021 16:50:57 GMT -6
Gents-
Is any HS coach here content with his state's playoff point system? If you are familiar with the system (as far as point distribution/bonus pts etc) please comment.
Our state recently realigned our football teams and is exploring adjustments to our current system. I have a voice in the matter and would like to hear some pros and cons from across the country.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Jan 28, 2021 11:53:54 GMT -6
Practice and play football. The more I've been exposed to "traditions" the more I've viewed them as a bit hollow. The majority of the kids don't take pride in them; they just view it as another thing they're required to do. And, it can backfire on you. We tried to establish a Monday night football tradition; we fed the kids in the cafeteria and watched an NFL game every other Monday night. We made it a voluntary activity and had solid participation early on. But, many of the kids viewed it simply a chore and stopped coming. It created a rift between the kids that showed up and those that didn't.THIS. Traditions need to be more genuine than about compliance. It has to be special to the kids. I lived through (as a coach) a program that tried to create traditions that were more of a chore, too cliche, or just not cool to the kids. It failed miserably and only created frustration for the HC. The real "traditions" (I am using that term loosely) in our program are: -A pre-game prayer/chant, created and implemented by a player several years ago, that gets passed down through the program -Donuts and gatorade for shutouts -Pre-game entrance Flag-Bearer...it is a cherished high-demand job saved only for your toughest kid(s) -Alumni get-together at a local restaurant around Christmas break (when our college kids are home) All but the donuts are kid-driven. If my senior doesn't pass down that prayer to a young kid before he graduates then the tradition dies. It's on them to maintain it. If it's important enough it lives on. The alumni get-together is really me and my coaches, our families, and any alumni that want to stop in and reunite getting together for the evening. We've done it at a italian/pizza joint and a pub (no drinking allowed until kids are gone of course). We emphasize keeping in contact with our alumni...kind of a "once you're our kid you will ALWAYS be our kid" thing. I have just started using Hootsuite to tweet at kids for their birthdays yearly (hootsuite allows you to make automatic posts on social media on a set day/time, reoccuring monthly/yearly etc).
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Jan 14, 2021 12:21:13 GMT -6
Some trivia that might be of interest to fans of "Pro-Style" pass offense: In the last phone conversation I had with (the very gracious) Ray Perkins, he confirmed the origin of the "Erhardt-Perkins" Pass system. This is what Belichick used with Brady: 1. Sid Gillman taught Jack Faulkner (with the Chargers in 1961) 2. Jack Faulkner gave it to Red Miller (with the Broncos in 1962-64) 3. Red Miller taught it to Ron Erhardt (with the Patriots in 1973-76) 4. Ron Erhardt gave it to Ray Perkins (with the Patriots in 1974-77) It all went back to "El Sid" (Gillman). I have an article about Sid Gillman's "influence" coming out in the Feb. issue of AFM Magazine (online). I like it when you do history of the game stuff. Couldn't have said it better. Thanks @aceback76 for dropping jewels.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 12, 2020 12:35:27 GMT -6
What do you guys do to pay back the guys who work the chains? Our local Lions' Club volunteers to do it.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Sept 21, 2020 20:38:58 GMT -6
Delaware originally postponed Fall sports until spring in an early August meeting. By mid-September we had gotten to the right people (Dept Public Health) with a plan, they liked it, and we start preseason next Monday 9/28.
7 week season starting Oct23, ending 12/5, followed by a 2week post-season.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Aug 27, 2020 13:27:45 GMT -6
Speaking of Michigan specifically here - our rule is one season in a sport per given school year, so if a kid transferred to Indiana and played in the fall, they would be ineligible if they moved back to Michigan then tried to play in the spring. No issue with two seasons in the same calendar year here as they are different school years. Same here in Delaware. "4.3.5 A student shall participate in a particular sport for only one season during each academic year."
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Feb 12, 2020 12:48:07 GMT -6
I'd say: most embarrassing moment: dealing with a state-wide uprising against our high school athletic organization and referee organizations stemming from my ejection from a game...it was a total $hit-show. Long story in short- it must have ripped open some public wounds and people used my incident as a springboard. It was my first and only ejection in football...but it was a big one. Can't drop that in this thread and not expect someone to ask for details on this one. So, details? Haha I was sparing you guys a long story but here we go: Important Information- Delaware does not have a "rating" system for our ref crews. There is a total disconnect. We have the ability to "red-line" a guy from doing our home games BUT they could (and likely will) have any post-season game you may have...so obviously it's not in our best interests do do that... Ejection was really my "tolerance of bull$hit" bucket runneth over from 5 years of coaching here. 2 REALLY bad calls one crisp evening sent me over the edge: 1) We punch it in from the 2yd line. Our kid crosses the goal line in a pile, and ends up at the bottom of the pile, ball stretched 2 yds into the endzone. No whistle yet, despite the ref standing in the back of the endzone watching it. As the RB lay there with a pile of people on top of him, with his belt on the goalline, a defender swipes the ball out of his hands 4 full secs after he crossed the goal line. 21 players on the field reacted as if the play was over and he scored. Still no whistle 5 secs after he hit the ground. A defender goes down to 1 knee, fields the loose ball while his knees are on the ground, stands up and runs 107yds for a score. I'm miffed- ask for someone to tell me what the heck happened. No answer. I deal with it but I'm steaming. 2) next offensive drive, red zone (so we have side judge deep out of bounds in endzone to either side, line judge in normal area, back judge etc) our kid beats the corner on a sluggo. Defensive back has outside leverage. He pins our kid's inside arm to his waist, essentially tackling him before our kid attempts to play the ball. He plays the ball with one outstretched arm and the CB riding him into the ground. NO CALL. I sprint immediately toward the corner of the box to see if the side judge was going to throw the flag- I asked him he said "I was blocked out," which I fully understand so I swing my eyes to where the opposite side judge should be (endzone by the goal posts when the ball was in the air) and he's nowhere to be found. He hasn't moved from his original spot, and he wasn't even looking at the play. I know the mechanics of crew and they messed up royally. I went berserk. Asked white hat for help. He told me to "get off his field." I am now in kill mode. The white hat and I are actually friendly, which made matters worse, because instead of an easy ejection it became a big ordeal. I am in full Bobby Valentine/Earl Weaver mode, not cursing but making my point, and he keeps saying "Mike, I'm not throwing you out of this game, return to your sideline." I'm not leaving without a flag dropping on that no call or on me. My 1st year assistant coach comes out to help me back to sideline, and damn near has to pick me up belly-to-back suplex style... and I wrangle myself free to go get to the white hat again. Media said I "charged" him which both myself and the white hat clarified later as not the case. Crowd goes nuts. Kids go nuts. I am escorted out of the stadium, but I'm so fired up I dead-nuts sprint across the field to the gate. Place is going nuts. Game ends in regulation and refs are hurried out of the stadium under hails of boos and god-knows what else was said. My community loves it's sports so I'm sure it was bad. End of the game interview was with my DC and OC who were acting HCs with my ejection. My OC states the obvious "the decisions made tonight were egregious and we need to take a serious look at how we are holding people accountable for these things as both teams were denied opportunities. (totally a reference to not being able to rate or even communicate with the refs)" The interview spreads over media like crazy, media swings it that we were verbally abusing the refs etc. Total horse$hit. I received another 1 game suspension, My OC was suspended for the rest of the season by our state athletics association. They almost passed the vote to give my OC a life-time suspension from coaching...for saying the what he said quoted above...but they missed by 1 vote. They also told us on Thursday night before a Friday game the following week, so we literally had NO HC and NO OC with no prep time. The state association was trying to make a point not to question them or the refs. It backfired. So that incident was embarrassing personally, but the incident (among several others that weren't sensationalized in the media) has led to a falling out between the public and the state athletics association, to the point where state legislators are now auditing the athletics association to determine if they need to gut their leadership. The head of the association quit, they hired a new guy and he quit within 4 months. But the "good-ole-boy" club that ran it are on egg shells right now. So yes, I was embarrassed to say I was the match that set off the bonfire, but they had soaked it in gasoline for many years with their BS. That's it. And I wasn't fired...my admin has my back 100%
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Feb 11, 2020 7:12:39 GMT -6
I'd say: most embarrassing moment: dealing with a state-wide uprising against our high school athletic organization and referee organizations stemming from my ejection from a game...it was a total $hit-show. Long story in short- it must have ripped open some public wounds and people used my incident as a springboard. It was my first and only ejection in football...but it was a big one.
worst moment: early in my career focusing on plays, schemes, and logistics MORE than what the kids' need to be successful...I robbed many kids of the experience of high school football that they get now under a more mature coach. When I see those guys now I am compelled to let them know how I feel and apologize. Many of them don't see that I did anything wrong, but I live with it everyday.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Jan 30, 2020 12:09:39 GMT -6
There are also more youth sports playing out of their "natural" season...ex: baseball, soccer, lacrosse, basketball. So that kid that was playing football in the fall, baseball in the spring may now be playing baseball in spring and summer/fall with travel league. I have seen it first hand with lacrosse growing in the past decade in our state.
Numbers are down in sports that quite frankly are "tough" to play (or require toughness)- football and wrestling. It's not an easy sport to practice or compete in. I can't say that about these other sports in my experience. *sidenote I have coached HS football, youth football, youth wrestling, HS track, youth lacrosse and HS lacrosse* There is an outlet for kids that don't want collisions.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Nov 20, 2019 10:49:33 GMT -6
I've watched a lot of Bears games this year... I coached 3 years with Nagy at the school I’m currently at. He was the OC I was the DC. Palmyra?
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Nov 20, 2019 10:36:41 GMT -6
Worst we saw (isn't that bad compared to many I read above):
Power I 2TE Wishbone/T I Wing I (Wing comes in motion to the deep back and they run their I offense) 2x2 3x1 4x1 3x2
Here's the crazy aspect...all done with the same personnel. Wideout comes down to play 2nd TE. TB played WR in their open sets. Messy for sure.
Won 54-14 and they scored on our JV kids in at the end.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Nov 19, 2019 9:07:18 GMT -6
For us- most wear Jerseys or any Team Gear that we've given them (shirt/hoodie etc). I don't care. If it's an away game they wear team gear...white jerseys with spaghetti day is no bueno. Jerseys are tight these days and uncomfortable so if they don't want to wear it they don't have to.
Shirt and Tie...I like it! but not for my program
I don't emphasize gameday dress very much. It's a "controllable" that's not worth my energy. I don't believe it helps win games in any way. I DON'T subscribe to the "look good/play good" idea. I was an ass-kicker who wore duct-taped cleats in college because I couldn't afford new ones. I have homeless kids, poor kids, an occasional semi-affluent farming family who sold their farm to developers...not all are equal! The homeless kid coming to school and not being hungry is a HUGE concern for me more than what they are wearing.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 30, 2019 10:40:28 GMT -6
2005- exact scenario but the score was 13-6 and we were on our own 3. Took the safety. 13-8, kicked off and defense held. Take the safety and play D. No way I'm taking the safety up 7. Worst that happens is they tie us, I'm not going to give them 2 kick it off have them drive the field and score to beat us. What if you had a great chance of having that punt blocked for a TD? Also, what if your defense had held them scoreless since their first score? And their defense had crushed us outside of 2 broken play TDs? Essentially, we looked at it like this- neither offense could score. Sloppy wet field...played on a Monday after a hurricane hit. They're the #1 team in the state with 9 FBS commits on defense, all of which are on punt block team. For us, it was not even a question. They got the ball on their own 30 and never moved it to seal the game.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 30, 2019 10:28:11 GMT -6
2005- exact scenario but the score was 13-7 and we were on our own 3. Took the safety. 13-9, kicked off and defense held.
Take the safety and play D.
***EDIT- it was 13-7
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 29, 2019 8:20:24 GMT -6
We share Friday night game ASAP. As scout films come in I share them too.
Used to wait until Monday to share the scout films, but I communicate with my individual group throughout the weekend so that on Monday they have "previewed" what I will cover in our meeting.
Monday= Film day Meet at 3:15pm- wrap-up, upcoming general program notes, reminders etc. Unit (O/D) Meetings 3:30pm-5:30/6pm - go over previous game meticulously. Preview upcoming game/install/adjustments
Tuesday/Wednesday - mini chalk-talks with positions regarding upcoming opponent+ individual unit playlists with notes sent through hudl to be viewed on own prior to practice.
Basically we use a combination of large in-person meetings, small chalk-talks, hudl playlists, and TeamApp posts to coordinate with our kids.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 28, 2019 10:42:13 GMT -6
I'm just amazed that you can find enough good coaches to replace an entire staff. Surprisingly, it can be difficult in different areas of the country. What is really hard is not finding willing and able coaches...it's finding one with NO criminal history. Past DUI, fighting, minor drug charges...can't coach here.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 17, 2019 9:18:48 GMT -6
We stopped actively pushing our kids towards wrestling. The wrestling coach had a habit of pushing heavy weight cut, especially with the football players, then use that as a reason to discourage them from coming back out from football. And not to pick on our wrestling program.... every program on campus discourages their athletes from playing football. That's insane lol. Our wrestling coach usually fills the HWT spot by picking the nastiest big guys he can get and telling them to "tackle people"...jk they actually do wrestle-wrestle, but their blast doubles tend to mimic our tackling technique we teach.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 16, 2019 10:27:46 GMT -6
Posing a question to all of you out there, how well do you get along with your wrestling program/coaches and how many kids in your program go out for the sport? Wondering if you've had success in pushing wrestling and how have your kids responded? I keep hearing the weight loss worries but our wrestling coach is super pro football and anti weight cut so I'd like to get as many of our guys out for him. How have others worked this and convinced kids it will benefit them? We have very close ties to our wrestling program. I also have coached our youth wrestling feeder program while serving as HC of our HS football team. My 10yr old son plays 4 sports- football, wrestling, basketball, and lacrosse. I have always been a big proponent of playing multiple sports in high school, and as a coach I definitely suggest wrestling for many of our football guys. Wrestling happens to be our community's most coveted sport, so we have 125+ kids wrestling grades K-8 in our youth program. Our wrestling coach is not a "weight-cut" advocate- he has his team lift 3 days a week, and as our resident strength coach I work directly with him to achieve the results he looking for (many coaches are often misguided and will essentially refer to circuit training or higher-volume training...not understanding what may be optimal for their ins-season kids). So we really don't worry about cutting weight. So, depending on what kind of foothold you and your program have in the school, you can definitely influence your kids' decisions and get them wrestling. EDIT: Of our varsity starters, we have 2 DL, 1 Safety, 1 RB, and 2 OL that also are varsity wrestlers.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 13, 2019 13:27:39 GMT -6
We are a large school (@1600). My approach to homecoming hasn't changed since we were a 900 kid school:
-I dislike the pep rally, parades, pre-dance BS...always have, always will. Our pep rally is more of a "Fall Sports" event, so it's not singularly about us...which I like.
-Float building is our MAIN school homecoming activity (outside the dance and game)- it is CRAZY well done every year and is kinda one of our school traditions that we are better than everyone at...the kids take it seriously, as does the admin/teachers. The floats are ridiculously awesome...if you are into that sort of thing.
-It is VERY important to our community.
With that said, the best I can do is remind the kids that EVERYTHING outside of the actual game and dance is for FANS. We will focus on the game and our opponent- have as a distraction-free week as possible, and leave all that other stuff for the fans and community to do. We have to handle OUR part and they will handle the rest.
If the kids can balance it, it can be a fun week that they don't stress about. If they can't handle that (or you can't handle that) then put the clamps down.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Oct 4, 2019 7:47:03 GMT -6
76-56 Loss.
Nobody played defense. 3.5hr game. Down by 20 with 30secs left and I used every.single.timeout I had. Never die on your back
Most points scored in a quarter was 27 that night by them.
We've scored 32 in a quarter- all offensive.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Sept 26, 2019 12:09:56 GMT -6
We have run into this- here are a few thoughts:
1) Find personnel to do the job (position changes) - every year we have a kid playing DL or LB that was a LB or DB previously. I'm trying to put the best 11 I can on the field.
2) Change their job if you can't find someone to do that scheme - we have primarily been a 4-2-5...until we got to this year with a cycle of kids where depth at the lines are not good. We re-structured the defense to a 3-4 to allow those kids to do what they do best, without losing our identity from an attack perspective.
3) Always play to their strengths when you can- there are times when you need to develop a kid to do a job he currently can't do yet. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water...try to maintain some year-to-year consistency
Lack of talent makes it difficult to actually win against teams who are coached remotely well.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Sept 24, 2019 8:27:00 GMT -6
We have went round-and-round with this topic as a staff ourselves. Some years we didn't live tackle once...other years we tackle live 1-2 days per week. I don't think there is an easy answer here. The best advice I can give you is that you don't need to go live just to go live- like any drill you do at practice, the question should be asked "what are we trying to get out of this?"
Two years ago we didn't go live at all. Won a state championship. Top 3 defense in state. Kid's didn't need live...we hit the tackle wheel and sleds a ton for our tackling.
Last year we tackled 2x's per week- finished 3-6 with injuries to every LB in the program. Not a good season defensively.
This year we go 1-2 periods of LIVE on Tuesdays. Just held the defending state champs to 6 total yards in a game.
In the years where you have a veteran, seasoned defense I would say you don't need to go live as much. If you have a bunch of rookies, then you may need to crank it up a bit.
Also, our "LIVE" days will only be 2 periods live at the most...typically D team and some sort of situational/competitive drill. 15-25 mins total.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Sept 16, 2019 11:00:05 GMT -6
Probably would be fired in most places.
It's the price you pay for being a public servant- you have to stay squeaky clean.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Sept 5, 2019 10:42:07 GMT -6
Nice
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Jun 6, 2019 8:04:43 GMT -6
I'll just add to the thread: There are two popular sports that are "declining" according to stats- Football and Wrestling. Wrestling (in 2016) participation was at it's lowest since 1970 in some states ( www.missouriwrestling.com/thoughts-on-wrestling/). I don't think it's a coincidence that these two sports are really the only 2 combative sports readily available to our kids (boxing used to be VERY popular but is no longer an option). WHY? This is strictly anecdotal, but I see these two sports as the ONLY sports where it is physically painful to be average/below average. If you wrestle and you stink, the dude is going to fold you up like a pretzel daily...that chit hurts! In football if you stink, you will get blasted/pancaked/run over etc and that hurts! If you take an "L" in basketball you can just talk chit and continue to suck without any physical consequences. Lacrosse has modern rule changes that discourage high levels of collisions at the high school level...it doesn't hurt to be average in these sports. Also no coincidence that these 2 sports have seen an uptick in participation ( blog.nylizards.com/blog/youth-lacrosse-participation, blog.leagueapps.com/baseball-and-basketball-participation-numbers-on-the-rise/) My point is, most humans aren't into pain and they migrate to the sports that keep them from suffering. Kids are leaning toward sports that are "easier" to participate in. Media and our culture are pushing us this direction...with the talks about head injuries, "toxic masculinity" and brutality, respect everyone's safe space etc.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Jun 6, 2019 6:12:44 GMT -6
Not sure anyone has measured if their kids have reinforced bad techniques, but think of it this way: do you think that practicing with God technique improves your technique? If so, would it not make sense for poor practice technique to lead to poor technique? It "makes sense", but I'm not sure it's true. If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't ask. Basically, it depends on whether a student who does a rep wrong realizes it was wrong or thinks it was right. A lot of drills are designed in such a way that doing it badly produces bad results. Often a drill even over-stresses form, being less forgiving than actual game situations would. But I can also see drills giving no feedback of their own at all. To take the example of music practice given by another poster, when I was taking piano lessons I could usually hear whether I played right. But I recall one interval between lessons where I'd been playing a certain note wrong every time I'd practiced, and she had to point it out to me, because to me the wrong note sounded right. (The right note didn't sound bad, either.) But my visits to my piano teacher were only weekly or fortnightly; I think if I line up a bunch of players doing a drill it'll be only a few reps between visits to each of them, a matter of a minute or so -- think that'd be long enough to reinforce bad technique? By the way, I hated music lessons and quit as soon as my parents let me. Never regretted quitting, despite what they'll tell you. This is a great answer. I'm a firm believer in micro-dosing to learn. You can't CRAM great technique. Kids learn (IMO) through a few steps: 1) They see/hear how the skill is performed 2) They try to mimic it and are evaluated 3) Corrective measures are applied 4) They perform corrective measures and are evaluated/given feedback 5) Rinse/wash/repeat Through days/weeks/months they get better, a little bit at a time, at the skill until they are able to mentally process and apply the corrective measures to fix issues. So what does that look like at practice? Ex: Defensive Backs BackPedal skill- ou could backpedal an entire practice...2 straight hours...and get the same affect as a well-structured/well-coached 10min session. The kids will only be able to process so much before they need to relax, go home, chill out, and allow the neurons to create movement pattern connections. It doesn't happen at practice. It happens when they are home after practice. So I never understood why we would expect kids to "get it" after 1 practice. They're not going to. You have to identify the few skill fundamentals needed to play the position and continually (over the course of their career) practice them. First comes an understanding, then random proficiency (they can do it right once in a while), then consistent proficiency, then honing of the skill with more detail, then mastery through practice.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on May 31, 2019 9:12:04 GMT -6
Just curious. How important are the following to your success in your opinion. Please rank EACH item 5 to 1. 5 being absolutely necessary, 4 being pretty important, 3 reasonably important, 2 barely needed, 1 not important at all. Running summer weight program along along with the rest of the FB staff Meeting with the staff Sat or Sun to game/practice plan for the week in season Drawing play cards of opponents Off, Def, Spec Teams for each opponent Meeting with players Sat for film, treatment, etc 1. 5 2. 5 3. 3 4. 5- But we meet on Monday not over the weekend
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