Insight needed -Kids Ignoring the Scouting Report

Has anyone bothered to show the players the purpose of the scouting report?
To many, it could be a lot of useless gibberish.
Ex. "I am a 3 tech. I have been told I have two jobs--Don't get reached, Don't allow a jump through. Why does this matter?"

You have to show them why it matters

The kids know why they are getting the report and how it is used to prepare not only as a defense but as the scout team for the week. Maybe the kids just do not care to know what they are up against??

Give written tests over the week on the info in the report- we give a couple every week with consequences for the number each individual missed (right now it's 15 up downs per missed question) also lets you know where you might want to spend additional time coaching something up. After all it's not what we know it's what they know that really counts Friday.

We do exactly what you do on Monday. Monday is film and game plan insertion in the classroom for 1 hour and 15 minutes. They get a written tendency report.

But you gotta take the next step.

We go up to the field. We walk through their formation, key plays, blocking schemes, key players to stop. How we want them to defend their key plays and adjust to shifts or motions.

I don't think you can get this done by simply handing them a piece of paper. You gotta walk it through. We have JV games Monday, so the first thing we do on Tuesday is have our JV Scout group learn their play sets so when we get to defensive group and team we can coach them up on the game plan and how to executing the strategies outlined inthe scouting report.

People learn in different ways, thats why we show them on Video, give them a written scouting report, have them grade themselves on film, do slow motion walk throughs on play and blocking schemes, have a scout team show them an accurate look at full speed. Then we evaluate whether or not they are getting it.

We are teachers, coaches, it's our responsibility to make sure they know what they are doing on Friday night. It's not their responsibility. They have to learn it and execute it to the best of their ability.

Most of our kids are locked in on Monday. They know the value of this work. When they see a certain type of formation and corresponding motion and can call out the play and then defend it, they know what if does to the other team. It lowers the other teams morale and pumps our kids up.

They get excited that they are prepared.

They also know when the other team has mixed it up. They can come to the sidelines and tells us what is different than film and the game plan. It helps us to make adjustments. A lot of times they are telling us exactly what we are hearing ion the head sets.

I think you need to take the extra steps. Kids need multiple inputs to learn, a written sheet won't cut it.

ahhh .. i would take the same approach the folks in the movie, We Are Marshall, did ..."so and so, you do know what a post is right?"

"No, coach."

"See the goal post. That's a post. Run 10 yards and then break for the post. See that flag over there?"

"Yes, coach."

"Well, that's a flag. A flag route you run ten yards then break for the flag. Got it?"

One little trick that we'll sometimes use is to put in a message for them. In an obscure section deep into the game plan we'll type in, "Anybody who hasn't reported seeing this message to me by Wednesday has fifty up-downs". I make a list and check it twice.

Norm Chow used to give a DVD powerpoint presentation for his offensive players to study. His last slide would say "If you have made it to the last slide call me at 555-1234 (or whatever his number was) and I will give you $100." In all his years of doing this at USC and winning national championships he had one kid collect the $100. It was an all-academic-american center.

OK, how hard is it for a college player at USC to watch a DVD in his dorm room or plush apartment provided by a booster (Reggie Bush). Obviously, pretty hard. My guess is that it is the same everywhere.

I believe that we as coaches should make scouting sheets. But more for us to put everything in a condensed form than for the players to read. If you want your players to know the stuff, then you have to do it on the board and on the field. The scouting sheets while you go over it on the board can be helpful.

I would also suggest that if you really want your kids to read it, keep it to about one to two pages max. I don't think that it really is helpful to draw lead out of all of the opponents twenty formations. Most everything that you on defense should be based on just a couple of keys anyways. Keep it simple.

the scouting report is nothing more than another media attempt to get the same information you are preaching all week.

Even if they didn't read the report, they should still know what your opponent is about just from showing up in practice, right?

I mean, there is chalk talk, field walk-thru, team / group time review, scouting sheets, sending home game film, sending home cut-ups, powerpoint presentations breaking down the game plan..........

thats about a half-dozen ways to get the exact same message across.....if they still don't get it, then they are probably stupid.

Point being, there is no need to get your feelings hurt if people don't think your swell book report is worth reading. YOU don't matter.......getting the information across is what is important. Do the kids know what they are going to see Friday night?

Give them the scouting report AFTER you've watched game film of the opponent with them. This will help them put the whole thing in a much better context.

In my experience, the kids who study the scouting reports are the kids who really don't NEED to study the scouting reports. Your smart kids...the kids with "football" sense...those are the kids who will look it over.

It's like giving extra credit...how many of you guys who are teachers give extra credit assignments and typically, the only kids who do the assignment are the kids who really don't need any extra credit?

The kids who really NEED to study the scouting reports...they never do. That's why I think that it is a lot more important to teach on the field. Most kids will learn most effectively by doing, not by reading.

We are doing something different this year. I give the defense a test on Tuesday. It usually has 4 simple questions regarding the opponent. Often, it includes something as simple as "What is the QBs number?" I want to know that they gave them a little bit of their time. If a kid fails the test on Tuesday, he gets ZERO reps on Team Defense. The next day, he can take another test. If he fails, he gets ZERO reps on team defense. Week one, I had 8 kids fail on Tuesday. This week, I had none.

I've done a mini report in the past hoping it will reach a few. Most of the learning takes place in film and on the field through reps, reps, reps. I've also used the question and answer, rote memory technique. Walk through, jog through, run through the necessary material. Everyone learns differently. I just hope I strike the correct source for each player.