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Post by Coach JR on Aug 13, 2008 20:09:07 GMT -6
Well after reading here the last few months I stuck my neck out and asked the local HS coach near where I work if he needed any help. Actually I have lunch at the same place some of his AC's eat sometimes, and I just casually mentioned an interest in learning about coaching but was careful to mention I've never done any. The AC said he'd get back to me. I drove by the HS practice after work (I left a bit early), and the AC I had talked to noticed me standing near the fence and made an effort to come speak. He said he'd already spoken to the HC about me and that I could assist the Middle School Team HC. This Middle School HC is a volunteer himself. The "In Name Middle School Head Coach" is actually a teacher thats never coached due to Alabama HS ATH ASSN regs requiring a teacher to coach, but the guy actually doing the coaching has been doing it as a volunteer for years with both varsity and middle school. And luckily he's one of my sheriff's deputies and we know each other. He put me right to work after watching a drill he ran with the whole team. He gave me about a minute instruction on teaching WR/DBs stance and coming off the ball techniques. And I mean my instruction was "Take them over there, and get them in a WR stance, a DB stance, and do some routes and ball reaction drills for about 15 minutes." I improvised the best I could and remembered what I'd read here....I emphasised effort over everything, and tried to only teach 2 or 3 VERY basic concepts...mostly just footwork and balance. I was able to identify 3 or 4 kids who seemed to really give a {censored} and gave good effort, if not also have an eye for detail. Again effort was the key thing I looked for and I tried to keep hustle up and loafing down. I was really flying by the seat of my pants. Another volunteer AC showed up about the middle of practice, and he's also in law enforcement....so we're all sort of a team as coaches in that respect. The team is a very rural school, mostly African American. Very poor....some kids were without athletic shoes and practiced in socks. Others wore basket ball shoes. We had abut 30 6th, 7th, and 8th graders out for middle school. The varsity on the other field had about 35 total players. My HC says once we put the pads on and start hitting the numbers will dwindle. This was day 3 of practice, we put the pads on monday, and play Sept 2. I can't for the life of me conceive how we'll even line up to run a play from what I saw, so the learning curve is steep. Oh, the "name HC/teacher" disappeared during my first drills. Had I not been there it would have been the one volunteer HC for half the practice. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, so I'm going to keep it simple and just try to get effort, praise it when I get it, and do some sort of basic teaching if I can. Putting me with WR's/DBs was like telling me to go translate Russian, but the HC is a big boy like me and I guess was glad to have anybody to pass the skinny kids to while he taught the Center/QB exchange and then the QB/RB handoff exchange for basic dive and lead plays. But, if I do say so, I didn't try to get fancy, and just teach common sense stuff on stance, basic footwork, and balance. I did a lot of reps on simple stuff.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Aug 13, 2008 20:49:01 GMT -6
Congratulation, and welcome to the world of coaching.
The #1 thing is that you care about the kids and want to learn.
100 years ago when I started coaching, I started out as JV defensive back coach at a large school program, and been having fun and loving kids for 30 years. In those days, there was very little printed material and of course, no place like this one.
If you want to know about defensive backs, there's a section on it down in the defensive part.
You might also get some tips from the youth guys too.
Good luck and ask questions.
Auburn alum class of 1979.
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Post by morris on Aug 13, 2008 21:08:01 GMT -6
teach the WR to block. Sounds simple but most MS WR do not do it well. Most MS teams can not pass very well either so they will not be catching to many passes. The DBs depend on man or zone. The youth section on here is fairly good about early level football. Good luck
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Post by cmow5 on Aug 14, 2008 8:26:37 GMT -6
A little advice from a DC. Make sure they break the huddle and at least jog to their pos every time and they need to do it the same way. I teach MY DB's to read the body language of the WR. also, they need to keep their eyes and body straight every time. BTW congrats COACH! I started as a middle school Volunteer last year. Bust my but and received a stipend at the end of the year and now got promoted to Freshmen DC. Good Luck coach
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Post by liberalhater on Aug 14, 2008 10:53:42 GMT -6
What that bible verse?
where your treasures are, so there is your hear??? something like that.
Good advice and applies to coaching.
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Aug 14, 2008 22:50:22 GMT -6
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:34)  |
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Post by Coach JR on Aug 15, 2008 16:54:10 GMT -6
yea, well there you go Auburn, congratulations. Only problem is, now that coaching is in your blood, that's it...life the way you (and wife) knew it is over. We have a police officer on our staff. He's manipulated his schedule to be able to make 2-a-days...for the most part. Cept his Captain calls him the other day and tells him that he hasn't made Role Call for 9 days and he needed to be there tomorrow. And we had to laugh at him the one day he couldn't get out of work, in pulls a patrol car just before INDY period, he jumps out, coaches his kids up for the 30 minute INDY period in full police gear, hand cuffs, pepper spray, 40 calibur, radio, badge...the whole deal. Indy period ended he ran off the field saying "sorry guys I have to go, my lunch break is over." sombich is going to get fired.  coaching gets into you and you can't get it out. Luckly I'm sans wife at the moment, and after 2, I think I'm done with them. Here's my situation. The practice field is a 6 block drive from the office, and I can sneak out most days to get there on time. The MS HC is just glad to have my help I think. Im following his lead on how much initiative I take, and how much I improvise. This is a rag-tag operation. A very poor county and county school system. I haven't seen a blocking/tackling dummy or even a set of cones to line up an Oklahoma drill. The varsity has one sled and a handful of dummys. It seems that by defeault I'm going to wind up with WR/DBs. Someone here said "teach them to block". Great! How? I know my HC's heart is in the right place, and it's tempered by his police mentality. (He told me first off one of our primary jobs was to make sure none of the kids stole anything from the school.) But I know him and I don't think he has any special football knowledge, but I think he wants to work with kids and likes it. I see a few kids that want to learn. I want to learn how to help them learn. Though my HC and I know each other, neither of us knows what the other knows about football. Yesterday I had to arrive late and he was lining them up to try to get them used to lining up in an I formation, taking a snap, and starting the play. He said to one kid "we're going to be in a strong left, twins right formation (there's no playbook or specific terminology here)...and he said to the kid "you'll be my slot reciever, do you know what that is?" The kid didn't know. I told him I could line his recievers up if he called the formation he wanted and instruct the routes he wanted, and he told me the splits he wanted and let me handle the WRs from there. Monday we put the pads on and see who is going to stay or quit. I think we'll do good to get 22 that can pay the $20 activity fee, and want to do the work. Guys, the HC is pretty much letting me do my thing...any advice on WR/DB, VERY BASIC drills or techniques you can point me to I'd be very appreciative. And I appreciate all the advice so far. I expect no stipend of any kind. But to me, having them seeming to be glad to have my help (unexperienced though it may be) means the world to me. Having a kid respond positively to me or something I try to teach brings a smile to my face. |
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Aug 15, 2008 21:32:11 GMT -6
Coach,
(don't you like the sound of that? Yes we all do)
This has absolutely got to be the poorest school I've ever heard of. Y'all need some help up there. I know Alabama well, as I do the entire south, but not having cones and dummies is beyond belief.
You need to let people know this, maybe you can help them all because I'm not sure people realize how bad this is.
Forget cones man, you need some big plastic trash cans.
You might be able to get some guys to send you some stuff.
OJW
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Post by Coach JR on Aug 16, 2008 4:18:10 GMT -6
Coach, (don't you like the sound of that? Yes we all do) This has absolutely got to be the poorest school I've ever heard of. Y'all need some help up there. I know Alabama well, as I do the entire south, but not having cones and dummies is beyond belief. You need to let people know this, maybe you can help them all because I'm not sure people realize how bad this is. Forget cones man, you need some big plastic trash cans. You might be able to get some guys to send you some stuff. OJW OJW, Coach! Yes the other day when I stepped out there, I was kind of standing back watching the HC do his thing, when he turned around and looked at me and said "Hey coach, come on and lets get these WR'sand DBs to work." Yeah, it felt good! Although my county isn't in the top 100 poorest in the nation, we border one, and are one county away from 2 more that do make the top 100. The $12K per capita income, and $25K avg houshold income keep it just barely out of the top 100 poorest. I'm sure that were it not for bordering Tuscaloosa Co and getting some spillover from there, that we'd be securely in the top 100. That said I work in a city that is away from the Tuscaloosa border, and thus have the poorest kids in the county. But, your suggestion about trying to get equipment donations is a good one. I will do that, and I know just the place to start. By the way, I'm not an AU alum, but am a long time season ticket holder. You were there during some lean football years my friend! Did you coach here in AL? Are you from here? War Eagle to you. |
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Aug 16, 2008 20:57:05 GMT -6
Coach,
I'm from the Florida Panhandle, and only coached 1 year in Eufaula, I've been in Florida the rest of the time.
Coach,
Your situation sounds tough, but you can make things special for the kids you have.
Hopefully there are a few people around there that care enough to help your kids, most like to help if they know that you will take care of the items they donate.
Nobody wants to donate and see it stolen or torn up.
Good luck. OJW
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Post by cmow5 on Aug 16, 2008 21:04:57 GMT -6
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Post by Coach JR on Oct 24, 2008 15:07:25 GMT -6
I appreciate the help and encouragement you guys gave. We finished our season 7/8th grade season 4-3. We had a real good athlete at QB...an 8th grader that is now contributing on the varsity. A good one at fullback too. Full time job didn't let me help as much as I wanted to, but they appreciated what I could do. I plan to keep it up next year, and am trying to help a little with the finish of the varsity season as they will make the playoffs.
I learned a bunch! Understand more now why coaches talk the way they do, and say the things they say.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2008 22:27:30 GMT -6
I appreciate the help and encouragement you guys gave. We finished our season 7/8th grade season 4-3. We had a real good athlete at QB...an 8th grader that is now contributing on the varsity. A good one at fullback too. Full time job didn't let me help as much as I wanted to, but they appreciated what I could do. I plan to keep it up next year, and am trying to help a little with the finish of the varsity season as they will make the playoffs. I learned a bunch! Understand more now why coaches talk the way they do, and say the things they say. im in the same boat as you, auburn...congrats on getting your foot in the door. this season was the first chance i've been available to get back involved in football, so i went looking for a school to volunteer the couple evenings a week when i am free and learn as much as possible too, i didnt get to start until halfway through the season but they got me learning the video system, doing the film breakdowns into the computer and stuff. unfortunately i'm busy in the office doing that stuff while practice is going on, but i pick up a lot watching the film, and its cool to learn some of the non-football stuff that goes into coaching as well. |
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Post by k on Oct 26, 2008 0:20:31 GMT -6
Hey coach glad you enjoyed your first season.
Ever get yourself some cones? =)
Think of it this way. The slow introduction had to be pretty helpful. My first day ever of coaching was being given 30 freshmen and two assistant coaches and told "have fun."
The first couple weeks were just "uhhh I remember doing X" when I was a player lets do X...
Makes it difficult! =)
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Post by Coach JR on Oct 26, 2008 7:03:47 GMT -6
Hey coach glad you enjoyed your first season. Ever get yourself some cones? =) Think of it this way. The slow introduction had to be pretty helpful. My first day ever of coaching was being given 30 freshmen and two assistant coaches and told "have fun." The first couple weeks were just "uhhh I remember doing X" when I was a player lets do X... Makes it difficult! =) I managed to pick up a cone or two, and even a dummy. Yeah, my first day was like yours except my first assignment from the "real HC" who is a volunteer like me was to go with the "in name HC" who is a wormy teacher that knew nothing about football at the time and do some DB drills. I played 25 years ago in a 4-4 with my hands in the dirt mostly, but some at LB too. I know NOTHING about modern DB play. It was tough making it up from stuff I'd seen and heard, but I think I did ok. |
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