|
|
Post by coachmsl on Oct 13, 2010 15:06:44 GMT -6
Not mine! Not right now.
What do you coaches do when your nerves get the best of you leading up to a big game. We beat the team we are getting ready to play this weekend. Wow. I am messed up. I feel totally unprepared, even though i know we are better now than when we played them the first time. I am trying to prepare, but spinning my wheels. Help me out here, if i get the kids as nervous as i am there will be trouble for sure.
thx
|
|
|
|
Post by coachbrek on Oct 13, 2010 15:55:58 GMT -6
I wish I knew, I mean this is youth football whats to be nervous about? If we lose is it the end of the world?
Well, I am not wired that way, I am petrified of losing, Every year I swear I am going to quit coaching because of my nerves before a big game or any game for that matter.
Some kids get butterflies before a game, some could care less. Some coaches are the same way.
Once the game starts it all goes away for me, the intensity stays but the worries go away.
All I can say is try and stay busy to keep your mind off the game and prepare as you normally would for any big game. Do not get your kids heads into what you may be thinking.
Back in 2006 I had a team that had to fight to win every game my nerves were shot, I went and talked to some college coaching buddies, about how they deal with nerves when their jobs are at stake. They just laughed at me. (dinks)
|
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Oct 13, 2010 17:29:17 GMT -6
Not mine! Not right now. What do you coaches do when your nerves get the best of you leading up to a big game. We beat the team we are getting ready to play this weekend. Wow. I am messed up. I feel totally unprepared, even though i know we are better now than when we played them the first time. I am trying to prepare, but spinning my wheels. Help me out here, if i get the kids as nervous as i am there will be trouble for sure. What makes you think it'll rub off in that direction, rather than the opposite? Especially when there are a lot more of them than there are of you? If you get a chance to spend some time with them beforehand, maybe you'll become as loose as they are, rather than vice versa. |
|
|
|
Post by coachmsl on Oct 13, 2010 19:43:40 GMT -6
Not mine! Not right now. What do you coaches do when your nerves get the best of you leading up to a big game. We beat the team we are getting ready to play this weekend. Wow. I am messed up. I feel totally unprepared, even though i know we are better now than when we played them the first time. I am trying to prepare, but spinning my wheels. Help me out here, if i get the kids as nervous as i am there will be trouble for sure. What makes you think it'll rub off in that direction, rather than the opposite? Especially when there are a lot more of them than there are of you? If you get a chance to spend some time with them beforehand, maybe you'll become as loose as they are, rather than vice versa. You may be on to something there Bob. Paradigm shift. Not the big undefeated coach attitude, but the i am here to serve these boys attitude. I will try it. Thanks. msl |
|
|
|
Post by mhcoach on Oct 14, 2010 8:25:20 GMT -6
Matt
This all goes to a coach being the consummate actor. Never let anyone see you sweat. No matter what is going on inside your head you need to exude confidence & calmness. You also need to gauge your team. If they are tight then you need to loosen them up & vice a versa.
One thing I always try to remember, it's a game & that is supposed to mean fun. Over 33 years I have coached in almost 500 games. I have coached in front of over 30,000 people( semi pro National Championship) in PA & 18,000 (HS semi final) in Fl. At this point I have it done cold.
When I was first faced with big game jitters I really didn't have an answer. An old time coach told me once you have done everything you could have, just steer the bus. I actually plan my pregame speech a week before I give it. The bigger the game the shorter the speech. Remember once the whistle blows it's a game.
Joe
|
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Oct 14, 2010 9:02:15 GMT -6
What makes you think it'll rub off in that direction, rather than the opposite? Especially when there are a lot more of them than there are of you? If you get a chance to spend some time with them beforehand, maybe you'll become as loose as they are, rather than vice versa. You may be on to something there Bob. Paradigm shift. Not the big undefeated coach attitude, but the i am here to serve these boys attitude. No, not even that. More an attitude of, we're all here to have fun. Or even, the kids are here to help me have fun, the suckers!! |
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Oct 14, 2010 9:13:27 GMT -6
I have coached in front of over 30,000 people( semi pro National Championship) in PA What part of PA? I have this observation that the best football-supporting part of the world for all levels of play is roughly a rectangle centered in Ohio and extending into the adjacent parts of neighboring states. There are places where certain levels of play are supported more than there, but I think the area I've noticed is the best overall. So I bet where that game was played wasn't east of Altoona. |
|
|
|
Post by mhcoach on Oct 14, 2010 9:58:04 GMT -6
Bob
The game was in Scranton in the late 80's. They had TV coverage, post game interviews, & Grucci fireworks @ half time. We were used to playing in front of less the 300, so this was total shock.
Joe
|
|
|
|
Post by bobgoodman on Oct 14, 2010 17:50:37 GMT -6
The game was in Scranton in the late 80's. They had TV coverage, post game interviews, & Grucci fireworks @ half time. We were used to playing in front of less the 300, so this was total shock. Looks like I lose that bet, that's definitely outside the "football belt". That time period, however, puts it during one of the briefest ones of revived interest (meaning $) in minor league adult football. Around that time I saw an international in Shelton, Conn. between the Staten Is. Bulldogs and a supposed Russian national team. The Connecticut Hurricane performed Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony at halftime. Southern New England Telephone sponsored it. |
|
shawnm
Freshmen Member
Posts: 99
|
Post by shawnm on Oct 15, 2010 17:35:48 GMT -6
Nervousness:
I get this big time, This year however I've been been better being my 3 year as HC. I'll still have trouble sleeping when I know we are playing a tough opponent. I'm pretty sure from my observations that if the kids sense your nervous, they play nervous.
My first year I gave a big David vs Goliath speech in our first playoff pregame speech. That was a big time mistake, we had many fumbles kids were too pumped, didn't focus, we lost.
Now I take DC's advice. In Pre-game speech, I talk fairly low key voice about maintaining focus and specific positions about maintaining their focus, doing their job and remembering what their job is today and how they need to use the techniques we taught them in practice. I'm very positive telling them that if we do our jobs the score will take care of itself. I tell them that we are the better team (even if we are not). I think kids this age just need confidence. If some admit they are nervous I tell them that this is a good thing in football because it gives you more energy to play better.
I used to get from the kids "wow those kids are bigger than us". You must dismiss this immediately and tell them they must be looking through magnifying glass or they maybe big but their really weak.
My center eveygame states: "Coach: Their nose guard is huge is he tough coach?" No he's not as big as he looks and he is a powder puff. Stay low and you'll steam roll him.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhcoach on Oct 15, 2010 18:32:37 GMT -6
Shawn
That's a perfect response. On occasion I will challenge one of my superior players.
One trick I learned a long time ago, I will almost whisper my pregame speech. some years they get it some not. I usually plan it a week ahead to fit my opponent. It will morph as the week develops.
I worked for a HC in HS who would vomit & shake before every game. I think my job game night was solely to keep him under control. One year we were very good, & we were playing our arch rivals for the district. When I got to the field(we were playing away) he was outside the locker room doubled over a trash can vomiting. I grabbed him, shook him, & told Look we are bigger faster & better then them. Let's just kick their a$$. He always wrote his pre gamer down, having great quotations the whole 9. That night however, his pregame speech was simple. " We are bigger faster & better, let's just kick their a$$es!" We won by 40.
Nowadays I live for gamedays. Seems what I work all year to get to. I really enjoy them, & make sure my team does too. The last thought I leave my players with is have fun it's a game.
Joe
|
|
|
|
Post by utchuckd on Oct 16, 2010 6:53:01 GMT -6
When I was coaching HS one of the better coaches in the state was a friend of someone on staff and he came down and talked with us one night. One of the things he said that stuck with me was that at the end of Wednesday's practice (assuming Thursday walk-thru) they were telling the kids how ready they were to play the game and how good they looked, regardless of how practice went. Whether they had bad practices or good or whatever, after Wed. practice there's not much you can do to fix it, so you better start pumping them up with confidence. If you start sending them negative vibes at that point, the only place they can take them is to the game on Friday.
I wish my current staff followed this model.
|
|
