|
|
Post by coachjd on Feb 10, 2010 19:00:06 GMT -6
Anyone have any idea how Nebraska uses the blackshirts on their defense? What is the criteria? How do they get it taken away etc... One of my assistants came to me with an idea about ordering black practice jersey's with "TEAM" across the front. We hand them out to varsity players to wear in practice after they have demonstrated anything that portrays being a great teammate. He also thinks we should be able to take them away if they show in any way that they are not a great teammate. This is what I am a little skeptical on. I can already here a mom calling, why did you take my sons black shirt away after practice?  Does anyone do anything like this? ? Look forward to your response. |
|
|
|
Post by coachknight on Feb 11, 2010 7:01:16 GMT -6
I know that in the 80's (not sure about more recently) Capital High School in Boise nicknamed their defense the "Gurkhas" (spelling?). The starters earned a black helmet, as opposed to gold for the rest of the team. They also had a black beret to wear around school. When they lost to their rival, they had to sheathe the gurkha sword in the school's display case, and vice versa if they won. The helmet and beret could be taken away, but I'm not sure the exact reasons why. It was strange to look out and see 8 black helmets and 3 gold ones. The lack of achievement was on display for everyone to see. My buddies from that school told me it was quite the motivating factor for the defense.
Coach Knight
|
|
|
|
Post by davecisar on Feb 11, 2010 8:04:21 GMT -6
Black shirts are handed out to the defensive starters only
Coach Pelini has waited to give them out until he sees consistency on defense. Sometimes it is game 4 other times game 6 etc
When Devaney and Osborne were HC, the blackshirts were given out before the first game
In callahans day they used to have 14-16 of them
In the Osborne, Devaney, Pelini era it's 12 or so.
|
|
|
|
Post by mariner42 on Feb 11, 2010 9:20:57 GMT -6
I've always liked the idea, I'd like to implement it if we ever get to platooning our squad, but I'm afraid our guys wouldn't respond in the way that I'd like. Lots of swollen heads and hurt feelings instead the desired results of competition and pride.
|
|
parkway
Sophomore Member
Posts: 170
|
Post by parkway on Feb 11, 2010 9:29:18 GMT -6
I've done it in the past. I always felt the HC was way too liberal in passing them out, however. If you are going to do it, make sure everyone is on the same page.
|
|
|
|
Post by lnueva32 on Feb 11, 2010 10:21:03 GMT -6
We've done it. Before every game during the season & playoffs, we hand out "The Black Shirts" to every defensive starter. We want to create an environment of competition. Some weeks we have the same starters, other weeks we have new starters. We only give out 11 and wear them on defensive days. And we don't have a platoon squad. We take pride in our defense and our players reflect it!!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by bluboy on Feb 11, 2010 10:56:23 GMT -6
We hand out black shirts, prior to the first game, to the starting defense. If a player does not play well, we will take his shirt; but he can earn it back again. The kids really take pride in being a member of the BLACK SHIRTS.
|
|
|
|
Post by davecisar on Feb 11, 2010 12:27:55 GMT -6
The blackshirts were originted by accident in the 60s with Devaneys team.
An assistant was supposed to get some pullover vests for the team. The local sporting good store didnt have 11 of the same color. The only alternative was to buy the only color they had in bulk which was full "jerseys" that were black.
|
|
|
|
Post by captain31 on Feb 11, 2010 12:28:30 GMT -6
I know that in the 80's (not sure about more recently) Capital High School in Boise nicknamed their defense the "Gurkhas" (spelling?). The starters earned a black helmet, as opposed to gold for the rest of the team. They also had a black beret to wear around school. When they lost to their rival, they had to sheathe the gurkha sword in the school's display case, and vice versa if they won. The helmet and beret could be taken away, but I'm not sure the exact reasons why. It was strange to look out and see 8 black helmets and 3 gold ones. The lack of achievement was on display for everyone to see. My buddies from that school told me it was quite the motivating factor for the defense. Coach Knight They wore different-colored helmets during games? Is that legal? |
|
|
|
Post by coachjd on Feb 11, 2010 13:10:45 GMT -6
You have to make the shirt more than a shirt. The one I designed had some fancy logo on the front and my signature line on the back. The shirt itself has to mean something, it has to symbolize something. Our kids wore them to school every thursday. My kids were not allowed to wear the shirts to school because of the word "VIOLENTLY"...the principal would not allow it.  but they wore them anyway and that principal learned how to deal with it. (sometimes having a board member's son is a benefit). Coach Exactly. We want to the shirt to mean something. We have a few very selfish kids in our senior class next fall. We want the shirts to be a symbol of being a great teammate. Putting the team in front of individual honors. Demonstrate great leadership, effort and being a great teammate. |
|
kcfb8
Freshmen Member
Posts: 88
|
Post by kcfb8 on Feb 11, 2010 13:26:07 GMT -6
We added this idea a few years ago and gave it out to the starting D. Ended up not loving it because of guys that are in a starting rotation, you end up with 15 kids, and it became watered down. We started last year only giving one out a week (starting in summer camp) to the player that most exemplified toughness, sacrifice, etc. We awarded them at our weekly team dinner. It became a big thing and there were just as many "scout team" guys as starters. We didn't end up with any hurt egos (not that I know of anyway) and guys really valued the honor. By the end of the year, there were 11 guys who got it and at the banquet were honored as the "starting" Black Shirts (we had another name for them). Next year, I'm going to add a plaque that's made each year with their names on it that will hang in the locker room...adding one each year.
|
|
|
|
Post by airtrafficcontrol on Feb 11, 2010 13:29:01 GMT -6
coach put count on me 1 on the jerseys..kids will love it.
|
|
|
|
Post by D-Coach on Feb 11, 2010 13:55:45 GMT -6
We hand out blackshirts to the starting defense the day before every varsity game. We watch a hi-lite film of the previous weeks game, an assistant coach will talk to the team (motivational speech), and before we break I will hand out 11 blackshirts (Whatever It Takes is the quote on the shirts). Plus we will hand out a "12th Man" blackshirt. This goes to a deserving player that has worked his tail off all week long. The players will wear them to school on Friday and they will turn them in after the game. We go through this tradition every week.
|
|
ramsoc
Junior Member
Posts: 431
|
Post by ramsoc on Feb 12, 2010 14:31:56 GMT -6
I know that in the 80's (not sure about more recently) Capital High School in Boise nicknamed their defense the "Gurkhas" (spelling?). The starters earned a black helmet, as opposed to gold for the rest of the team. They also had a black beret to wear around school. When they lost to their rival, they had to sheathe the gurkha sword in the school's display case, and vice versa if they won. The helmet and beret could be taken away, but I'm not sure the exact reasons why. It was strange to look out and see 8 black helmets and 3 gold ones. The lack of achievement was on display for everyone to see. My buddies from that school told me it was quite the motivating factor for the defense. Coach Knight They wore different-colored helmets during games? Is that legal? That was the same question I had... |
|
|
|
Post by coachd5085 on Feb 12, 2010 17:33:09 GMT -6
Coach Exactly. We want to the shirt to mean something. We have a few very selfish kids in our senior class next fall. We want the shirts to be a symbol of being a great teammate. Putting the team in front of individual honors. Demonstrate great leadership, effort and being a great teammate. coachJD--what kind of competition do you have on the team? What kind of role do you look to those selfish kids to play on this team if THEY DON'T BUY IN. If they don't act in a manner that will lead your staff to give them a blackshirt...will they still start/play? Nothing will make this more meaningless than having a bunch of GREAT KIDS/NON-PLAYERS getting black shirts..and starters/players not having them. Also, I am not really a great fan of the idea of giving special awards unless there is TRUE TRUE competition for those spots. If you are a program with lower numbers, and the natural maturation process generally wins the spots (meaning...kids are going to play/start just because they are older/more mature than underclassmen...) then I don't see them benefiting. |
|
|
|
Post by coachknight on Feb 13, 2010 7:21:45 GMT -6
I'm not sure what the helmet rule was then, but they were allowed to play wearing different color helmets. We always joked that "You're now entering Idaho, set your clocks back 20 years." Maybe we were behind the times; maybe the officials just didn't enforce it. I just know it was a major point of pride for those guys to have the black helment, and a huge embarrassment for them to lose it.
Coach Knight
|
|
|
|
Post by coachdag on Feb 14, 2010 13:52:29 GMT -6
We use black practice jerseys and do take them away if we feel that the kid isn't working hard in practice or isn't prepared come game time. They get them at the start of the season and are told right off the bat that they can loose them and they can earn them back. It's a great source of pride and they do work harder, most of the time, to keep them.
|
|
|
|
Post by Defcord on Feb 14, 2010 18:44:50 GMT -6
One of the teams I coached against use to put the names of players on jerseys if they came to 90% of workouts in the offseason. The coach said it motivated players more than anything he had ever used.
We tried where we were at for a couple years and the kids loved it. The great thing was people in the stands would start talking about why some kids have their names on their jerseys and not others. And parents of kids with their names were proud that their sons had worked hard and earned their names on the jerseys. It was really cool.
Then one set of parents had a son who fell two workouts short of earning his name on his jersey. It came down to the last week of summer workouts and his family had a vacation planned. He went on vacation and didn't get the two workouts he needed. Mom and dad were both irate and approached me during a school function. First they accused me of being wrong on my numbers so we looked at logs and they conceded the numbers were right. THen they called our AD and said that I was punishing their son for going on vacation, which our AD told them to give it up and make their kid come to workouts more. It was a big mess, but we held to our guns.
I could see something like this happening with the black shirts too. Parents can be ridiculous if Johnny doesn't get something. I think our society has come to a point where people feel like they are entitled to everything. THe good thing about names on jerseys or black shirst is that once again teaches young men that they are not entitled to everything. Some things in life they flat out must earn.
|
|
|
|
Post by offcoach1 on Feb 14, 2010 21:03:48 GMT -6
we do it for defensive starters and anyone who has given an outastanding effort that week in practice. Ours has skull and crossbones on front and relentless pursuit on the back. When we have a big game and it has been an outstanding week of practice the whole tema earns one. At the end of the season if a player has earned one 7 times they have earned it and we give them out as an award
|
|
|
|
Post by mariner42 on Feb 27, 2010 23:15:37 GMT -6
I know that in the 80's (not sure about more recently) Capital High School in Boise nicknamed their defense the "Gurkhas" (spelling?). The starters earned a black helmet, as opposed to gold for the rest of the team. They also had a black beret to wear around school. When they lost to their rival, they had to sheathe the gurkha sword in the school's display case, and vice versa if they won. The helmet and beret could be taken away, but I'm not sure the exact reasons why. It was strange to look out and see 8 black helmets and 3 gold ones. The lack of achievement was on display for everyone to see. My buddies from that school told me it was quite the motivating factor for the defense. Coach Knight Talked to a guy who coached there and he explained the Gurkha 'award' to me. VERY cool deal. Important facts: -Awarded by unanimous vote by defensive coaches -at Capitol they exchanged their gold helmets for black helmets (Evidently legal) ---At Pitman (the school whose staff I was visiting) they take their black stripe stickers and blackout their helmets -The gurkha sword would get unsheathed at a pregame thing vs their rivals, but could only be re-sheathed if they won. If they lost, it stayed unsheathed in the trophy case until they won again. -At Capitol, gurkhas have their names painted onto a wall in the cafeteria, all of them since '68 (F***ING BAD @ss) ---At Pitman, they have a neat hanging plague ladder thing. -----'Gurkha-hood' doesn't transfer from season to season, but a junior who is awarded again as a senior gets a special silver plaque instead of a normal black one VERY COOL tradition, imo. Going to look into borrowing it and instituting it here. Recommended reading by Coach Harris about the Gurkhas: www.amazon.com/Valour-History-E-D-Smith/dp/1862273820/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267334089&sr=8-3 |
|
but they wore them anyway and that principal learned how to deal with it. (sometimes having a board member's son is a benefit).
