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Post by harris90 on Oct 7, 2016 8:52:53 GMT -6
We are a regional school district. We have 3 towns that feed in to our school. Now our 7th-8th grade team has only 5-6 players out of 24 that will come to our school. Our largest middle school produces 2-4 kids a year that play high school ball from the youth program. It is a big soccer, basketball, and baseball town.
What have you done to increase participation and involvement in football?
I am thinking spring football. 8th grade lifting team. Flag football.
Also, has anyone used $ to have coach in place on middle school team to run our systems?
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Post by spos21ram on Dec 30, 2016 10:50:13 GMT -6
If football is 4th fiddle in you're town then you're pretty much screwd. Will spring football lure kids away from baseball if baseball is bigger? I'm not sure if more out of season football will help.
I like the flag football idea. Doesn't require the kids to practice very much. It might get some kids interested in football.
I don't think getting the MS to run the HS system plays any role in retaining players.
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Post by jrk5150 on Dec 30, 2016 14:03:01 GMT -6
I think flag is a nice idea, but be careful what flag org you use. The NFL Play 60 crap is awful, and in my experience hurts tackle. I believe that program gives kids a very unrealistic idea of what football is about, and the real thing becomes less appealing. If you're trying to groom for tackle, make sure your flag rules allow for some level of physicality. You don't want it to just be a version of 7 on 7, or you'll never be able to get lineman to put pads on. And I'm saying that only partially tongue in cheek.
I think increasing the connection between the HS and youth is great, but more from a cultural/participation standpoint. Give the kids something to aspire to/admire. Get them thinking they're part of a bigger program. The schemes are unimportant, you want engagement and participation.
The quality of coaching is HUGE HUGE HUGE. You need to find coaches who are good with kids, level headed, and willing to learn. Football experience is completely unimportant. You want good coaches who can learn and teach simple schemes. Individuals with nothing to prove. Business owners, managers - people who have their own accomplishments and don't need the gratification of winning youth sports championships. Don't get me wrong - competitiveness is VERY important - kids don't play to lose. But you don't need coaches pursuing their own glory, you need them focused on making the kids better.
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Post by tiger46 on Dec 30, 2016 15:38:34 GMT -6
Camps, t-shirts, schemes, etc... Really don't mean that much. A HS football program that wants an increase in youth participation would really be doing itself a favor by focusing more on gathering and instructing the coaches that would be teaching the players at those levels.
Common youth football program issues are things like practice organization, dealing with parents, setting player expectations, dealing with mpp's, fund-raising, etc... And, as a HS staff, if you don't know how to deal with some youth issues, find a site, youth coaches, or whatever and ask questions. This is a good place to start.
When recruiting, one issue that I've seen crop up is that too many youth coaches are salivating over the athletic, fast types. A nice angle that I've used is to focus on the large, brawny/fat kids. They're the ones that will play on your O-line; which is the most important group. Also, they're the ones that have the parents that are most likely sick of watching their kids get passed over, sit the bench in basketball, have little success at soccer, etc... Their parents want to watch their kids excel at a sport, also.
You'll get some athletic kids almost by default. Athletic kids tend to be bold enough to try almost any sport. ex: Skateboarders kick a$$ at youth football, generally speaking. So, don't be afraid to go off the beaten path a bit when recruiting.
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Post by bobgoodman on Dec 30, 2016 19:21:38 GMT -6
I think flag is a nice idea, but be careful what flag org you use. The NFL Play 60 crap is awful, and in my experience hurts tackle. I believe that program gives kids a very unrealistic idea of what football is about, and the real thing becomes less appealing. If you're trying to groom for tackle, make sure your flag rules allow for some level of physicality. You don't want it to just be a version of 7 on 7, or you'll never be able to get lineman to put pads on. And I'm saying that only partially tongue in cheek. Or you could go the other way and adopt American 7s rules (used to be Town Beef), which gives you contact without the pads. It's a somewhat simplified and reduced version of American football with no helmets or stiff pads, no kicking, no snapping, no blocking below the thighs, and no tackling without wrapping. It's like 7-a-side rugby, only with blocking, forward passing, time to huddle, and no scrums, rucks, lineouts, or mauls. |
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