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Post by td4tc on Oct 16, 2008 8:33:01 GMT -6
thanks to all on this site we are having a cinderella season. BUT we are facing a weak opponent coming off the biggest win in our school hx and despite my best efforts we're set up for a let down game.if i was a gambler(and i am) this would be the classic "trap game" and i would take the dog and the points.any tricks to keep the boys focused and avoid the trap??either by speech or practice?i've tried everything and i can just feel something bad coming.
thanks
TC
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Post by phantom on Oct 16, 2008 8:42:40 GMT -6
thanks to all on this site we are having a cinderella season. BUT we are facing a weak opponent coming off the biggest win in our school hx and despite my best efforts we're set up for a let down game.if i was a gambler(and i am) this would be the classic "trap game" and i would take the dog and the points.any tricks to keep the boys focused and avoid the trap??either by speech or practice?i've tried everything and i can just feel something bad coming. thanks TC When are you playing? I'm asking because it's Thursday and most HS teams play on Friday and if you have/had a chance you need to start earlier than that. |
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Post by jgordon1 on Oct 16, 2008 9:53:45 GMT -6
we are having that kind of season too. (It's about time) Don't know if this is good or not but we will still make the playoff even if we lose one game. we are playing a trap game this week and it's our homecoming to make matters worse. we have told the kids this is the first game of our double elimination playoff tournament. We are playing the best team in the league next week. we will be underdogs then. we can not afford to lose twice, The only problem I see with this is that the kids know if we win this week and lose next week we will still make the playoffs. on the other hand, all this info has already been published online.
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Post by coachorr on Oct 16, 2008 11:05:21 GMT -6
Game of inches speech from "Any Given Sunday"
Run a trick play early.
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Oct 16, 2008 12:27:03 GMT -6
There is usually a "trap" game because your team is emotionally tired.
We can't plan for this, we can just work to let them know that this kind of thing can happen to them.
But even in this, emotions are not rational.
I had a trap game a few weeks ago, we are doing well and I thought we were prepared.
But on Friday I noticed that something was wrong.
We had a long bus ride and it was totally quiet. We got there and played flat, uninspired football. Luckily we were only down 7-6 at half.
The guys got together at halftime, no fiery speech from me.
But a staff member's wife noticed was that I wasn't acting like myself. I didn't realize that I was also emotionally tired and that I was sending out these types of non verbals.
I was also part of the problem, if not THE problem.
Well forget that, I exploded into a tirade that lasted the entire 2nd half. I threw everything that I could pick up and throw, I broke everything that I could break, and yelled until I couldn't get air in my lungs, even turned my hat sideways and broke out in the worst rap ever created.
The crowd responded, the staff responded, the boys responded and we pulled away and won 16-7 in a game that wasn't that close. Playing inspired football that has taken us through 2 more games.
These type of trap games do exist, look and see how you and your staff are communicating without words.
OJW
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Post by jgordon1 on Oct 16, 2008 13:31:01 GMT -6
OSJ: funny you mentioned that. our guys seemed tired this week. I overslept this am and was 5 minutes late for our meeting. this is only the second time in 20 years, i have ever been late for a meeting. yup, my 20th year of coaching
kids told me I have after practice conditioning tonite we call it APC
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Post by coachorr on Oct 16, 2008 14:22:05 GMT -6
OJW, I would love to see some video footage of that.
Great story.
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Post by phantom on Oct 16, 2008 20:25:54 GMT -6
If I had an answer about avoiding trap games I'd make a DVD and sell it to every coach in the country at every level. In point of fact we have a chance for one tomorrow. We're unbeaten and have just beaten our then-unbeaten rivals pretty soundly. This week we play a team with a poor record but pretty good talent.
We've emphasized all week that we have high goals and that if we want to reach those goals we have to stay focused, respect each opponent, and play hard all the time. As coaches we've done nothing different as far as break down film and putting together the game plan. Practices have been business as usual, which is to say high-intensity.
I think we'll be OK because we have a mature, hard-working bunch of kids. It hasn't always worked out so well. We've been trapped in the past. Frankly I think that's what it comes down to- the emotional maturity of the kids. Do what you can do and hope the players can handle the situation.
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Post by goldenbear76 on Oct 16, 2008 22:07:09 GMT -6
Coach, honestly, I go into every game thinking its a trap game. I mean sure there are some teams where you watch film and think "wow, if we don't execute vs this team..i'm not a very good coach" but normally, if a team has any kind of offense/defense...i'm in knots the night/week before. It isn't even really about them..its just that no matter how good of a practice week you had...you never really know until friday night comes around. All you can do is be as prepared as you can be, and hope your kids play a solid game. Wins/losses will take care of themselves.
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Post by td4tc on Oct 17, 2008 2:07:54 GMT -6
thanks men. as you can tell by the timing of this email i'm not sleeping well.started out practice(right after strech) with our two minute drill and got the juices flowing running and passing up and down the field. seemed to wake everyone up.i would recommend this and may do it more often
like the idea of an early trick play today even though i'm not normally a trickster.will play some backups early if starters are flat.i'll let u know how it goes but thanks for the help as usual
DOC
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Post by td4tc on Oct 18, 2008 4:55:04 GMT -6
here's the "trap game" story.my starting QB decides he has to have a dump right in pregame when we are running our offense so he gets no real warm up cause he has to go over to the school to the washroom. we start out with a tip for a pick.then i follow the advice of the guys here and run a trick play. it works beautiful but the receiver falls down and can't make the catch (wide open).the first half i thought i was going to commit hari kari but we scored just before the half (turning point)and went on to win 35-0 playing a great second half.thanks for all the advice
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Oct 19, 2008 13:12:37 GMT -6
Great, sound like the ol' "football witch-doctor coaches of the Huey Board" have worked their magic again. (did you try putting the lime in the coconut?)  Congrats, seems like the 2nd half is where you find out of you come out or get eaten by the dreaded trap game. OJW |
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Post by td4tc on Oct 19, 2008 15:44:41 GMT -6
outlaw forgot to mention that you're bang on with the "emotional tiredness" that we tend to forget about.just as important as the physical tiredness .glad to get through it.thanks
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